The Awakening (Vampire Huntress Legend) [Mass Market Paperback]

L. A. Banks (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 28, 2004 | Series: Vampire Huntress Legend (Book 2)

A battle is brewing in the underworld, and at the center of it all is Damali Richards, spoken word artist and vampire huntress. But she is not just any huntress; she is the millennium Neteru, a woman so powerful that the vampire world is about to start a war-one that threatens to spread onto her streets-in order to possess her...

Fallon Nuit, a rogue vampire who is one of the most powerful Damali has ever encountered, has allied himself with the deadly Amanthra demons in order to claim her. But the Vampire Council has plans for her as well. And now an unlikely variable has entered the equation: an ex-lover turned master vampire with an agenda of his own. Damali must risk trusting him once more if they are to survive.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this follow-up to Minion (2003), Banks proves that vampire novels, like their vampire characters, often spawn progeny all too much in their own image. Events begin precisely where they dead-ended in the first novel, with rock 'n' roller cum vampire-slayer Damali Richards the prey of renegade vampire-master Fallon Nuit, who wants her eliminated for the grief she's caused him and his hybrid demon-vampire minions. The Vampire Council also seek to vampirize her and the child they scheme to seed her with before her 21st birthday. The council is depending on newly un-dead Carlos Rivera, Damali's ex-lover, to find her weak spot-but Carlos has his own agenda to retrieve his soul before he becomes an irredeemable vampire, and he secretly plays the council, Nuit and even Damali and her band against one another to achieve his goal. For all the double-crossing intrigue, choreographed bloodshed and physical mayhem, readers will find little in the plot to distinguish this novel from its predecessor. The author devotes most of her energies to fleshing out minutiae of her weird world, which includes elaborate hierarchies and biological imperatives that govern its hordes in the afterlife. The result is an ambitious but often slow-going fantasy that will appeal mainly to Banks's loyal minions.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Picking up where Minion [BKL My 1 03], which launched her Vampire Huntress series, left off, Banks throws her heroine into the middle of a vampire power struggle. Damali Richards is about to turn 21, and if the vampire council can get to her, they can impregnate her with a child who will grow into a daywalker--a powerful vampire that can withstand daylight. The council wants to use her former love, Carlos, now a master vampire, as the lure, but Fallon Nuit, a fugitive from the council who wants to start his own vampire empire, also expects Carlos to deliver Damali. A group of Templars claims to want to keep Damali safe. Carlos is torn. He still cares for Damali, but his lust for her blood is growing more powerful each time he is with her. With The Awakening, Banks solidifies her intriguing, dark series as a project worth watching, and readers will be pleased to learn another installment is on the way. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312987021
• ISBN-13: 978-0312987022
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #716,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #91 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Vampires

More About the Author

Me, I'm a bit out there, I guess you can tell by the books:) I like keeping some things close to the vest--my favorite things to do among them... guess it's that whole mysterious author groove, LOL... but I like the good guys to win in the end.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A new reality. January 17, 2004

By The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Format:Paperback

Fast on the heels of MINION, the predecessor to the vampire huntress
series, is THE AWAKENING...the tale continues. Every one thousand years
a Neteru is born, divinely created and specially anointed, a female
vampire slayer with all the powers of the world of light. And should
she willingly host a vampire seed during her entrance into womanhood,
she will produce a 'day walker', a master vampire who can dwell
topside as a human, with the power to also transform other undead into

day walkers.

Carlos Rivera, a third generation vampire, has been summoned by the
Vampire Council and escorted to the sixth realm of hell. He is elevated
to a master vampire because the Council needs him to bring them the
huntress. Carlos is tormented, Damali Richards is the huntress and he
has had an attraction for her long before any vampire madness occurred.
When they were teenagers he promised to be her protector; now he is
destined to deliver to the world of darkness, the one woman he vowed to
protect.

Everyone's awaiting Damali's twenty-first birthday, the day of her
ovulation when she enters fully into womanhood, and the night of
reckoning for the darkside. There is dissention in the vampire ranks,
both The Vampire Council and a master vampire turned rogue, Fallon Nuit
want Damali. Ready and waiting to do battle with both powers is
The Covenant, the guardians sent to protect her. Whichever is victorious
will rule; and Carlos is the catalyst. Because of her love for him,
Damali openly welcomes him across her threshold, into her fortress. And
because of his love for her Carlos compromises himself and reveals that
he too is a master vampire, but he has a plan.... He becomes a vampire
double agent and strikes deals with the Council, with Fallon Nuit whom
he now hates, and also with The Covenant. And so the battle begins.
Damali knows that the fate of the world rests on her shoulders and that
Carlos, although she feels in her soul, is the nemesis, or is he? Time
is running out, Carlos and Damali have choices to make.

THE AWAKENING is a masterful tale of hybrids: half demons, half vampires
and half humans, graced with guardian angels. The battle is still the age
old battle of good versus evil, but the players are caught somewhere
between the old world and the new millennium. L.A. Banks creates an
intriguing world of probability, one that invokes eerie inhuman interest
with all the possibilities she ignites.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers Read more ›

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of Banks' Series! June 19, 2005

By Kelly Houser VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I take back what I said about "Minion." "The Awakening" was excellent and definitely the best of this series. I had some struggles with the first novel in this series, "Minion," but "The Awakening" blew me away. I would strongly recommend a familiarity with African American literature before you attempt to read L.A. Banks. Her use of dialect could be hindering for the reader who is not used to it. Other than that, the novel is dynamic. Excellent character development and delivery. The protagonist is very sympathetic, thus the reader can easily relate to her. I would highly recommend this novel and its precursor to anyone who enjoys fantasy and vampire fiction.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Someone please find an editor July 24, 2004

By horizon_233

Format:Paperback

Overall, this book lacked plot depth. It relied too heavily on the tried and true vampire cliches without developing the real character tension I'd like to have seen.

What destroyed all enjoyment of this book for me was the constant stream of typos, grammatical errors, and shifts in Point of View. If it weren't for the generally above average character development, I would have given this book a single star and thrown it at the wall.

As it was, Carlos thoroughly intrigued me throughout the book. His internal conflicts kept me reading to the end. Damali is at least somewhat different than the usual vampire novel heroine and I appreciated that. It was the overall lack of development of tension between them and the bad guys and the lack of development of a coherent trilogy length story arc that never really turned me on.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Carlos All The Way July 19, 2005

By Joshua Koppel

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Although the series is a Vampire Huntress Legend, this second volume is really all about Carlos. The Huntress shows up for only a few scenes. Most of the book is more stage setting for the conflict to come. Carlos, one close to the Huntress, is a target for a lot of powerful factions. They all want his help and can offer him different rewards.

Most of the flaws of the first book are still here. Characters continue to change their speech patterns left and right. We learn a lot more about the Huntress and her role in history but most of the effects of her Awakening aren't seen in this volume (although they should be).

The big conflict that the first volume was building for cam off as a disappointment although I am sure there will be more repercussions in the next volume. After all, the whole story only lasted a couple of days. Although the predicted conflict of the first book is over, this volume predicts more troubles ahead so you will want to have the third volume waiting when you finish this one.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awakened! January 27, 2005

By Allison Hobbs

Format:Paperback

I haven't picked up a good vampire novel in quite a while. After reading the work of the authors whom I considered the masters of vampire fiction: Anne Rice, Stephen King, and even Robert McCammon, author of "They Thirst", I really didn't have high expections for this novel or any others in this genre.

What a surprise to discover that a Philadelphia sistah has written a bona fide, nail-biting vampire novel that is equal if not better than Anne Rice, et. al.

Damali, the Huntress is a black woman with locks. The multi-racial cast of characters added depth to this superbly written tale.

For me, one of the high points of the story is when Carlos, Damli's former friend now turned vampire invades her compound. There is unexpected erotica during this encounter that left me breathless.

The cover illustration is phenomenal. I heard there's going to be a movie (or perhaps movies) I'm not sure, but I hope so. I'm so excited I have to back track and pick up Minion and I'll read The Hunted next.

Kudos to Ms. Banks for reawakening my love of vampire novels.