Product Description

At the request of the Coven, Mira finds herself in Venice with Danaus 'for their own protection'. Yet, the home of the nightwalker rulers is anything but safe when Mira discovers that the Coven has made a deal with a splinter faction within the naturi. Mira must deftly maneuver through Coven politics while protecting Danaus from both nightwalkers and the naturi. And before the end, she must find a way to stop the naturi without being stabbed in the back by her own kind.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32746 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Review
"An unflinchingly self-assured first novel, chiseled with subtlety and irony into a darkly suspenseful and blessedly surprising story. In exacting detail, and with prose as silky and enticing as her protagonist, Drake has composed a love letter to the vampire genre. I wish I'd written it." --Vicki Pettersson

Customer Reviews

Dayhunter
Mira has been a nightwalker (a vampire) for centuries. But she has a secret that makes her a very valuable commodity, or target, depending on the person -- the unique ability to summon fire. Fire being fatal to all nightwalkers but her. Enter the enigmatic Danaus (a vampire hunter) with his own mysterious past. However, Mira and Danaus have learned to put on hold their killing ways to work together to stop the naturi from opening a portal between worlds. Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth -- and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of the manipulative vampire Coven and protecting those she cares about.

I really enjoyed this book; it was as entertaining and nicely written as 'Nightwalker' but also built on the characters and effectively expanded the world. I liked meeting one or two lycans and the Coven were an interesting bunch. There were a lot of side plots in 'Dayhunter' which seemed to be setting up things for future stories. This didn't bother me in the least, as it looks as if the side excursions will likely bear fruit at some point in the future of the story. The talk of the Great Awakening pointed to some tough times ahead.

We see most of the characters from the previous book reappear here: Danaus, Tristan, Jabari, Sadira etc. I liked learning more about Tristan and hope we can see him develop into a stronger nightwalker. His weakness as a vampire was emphasised a great deal, and he needed Mira's protection to function under the watch of the Coven. This kind of underscored the Coven as a brutal political and ruling force, but I'd like to see him become stronger. I was glad to see Ryan again, although we didn't get to learn much more about his character... other than a very impressive display as to just how powerful he is. Rowe was surprisingly interesting as well. Drake did an efficient job of adding in shades of grey into the characters here; it made things a little more compelling and shook things somewhat.

The novel ended on an intriguing note. I look forward to seeing the inevitable occur!

Better than the first
Dayhunter is the second in the Dark Days series and picks up where Nightwalker left off. Mira is a mess really, she doesn't really know who's on her side and she's discovered she can be controlled by a lot of people, against her will. She's a weapon to be used by the most powerful. She wants nothing more than to be able to return home to her domain, Savannah, but instead she is forced to play the games the ruling vampire coven want her to. At the risk of her own life and those she's sworn to protect.

I liked Nightwalker, I found it hard to get on with in places. Mira and Danaus both really annoying me at times. But I liked this a lot more. Everyone seems to be hiding big secrets and have many different motives and desires. You think they want one thing, and then you realise it's the opposite. No one is really showing their true colors. There are members from each side of the fight ready and willing to do their best to destroy their own race it seems. But Mira and Danaus are doing their best to stop it all. And then they'll kill each other. Or so they keep reminding themselves.

Mira seems to regain some of her fire throwing, kick ass self that she lost towards the end of the last book, and by the end of this one, she's back to being on top. She's had enough of the games and wants to do it her way, as much as she can when others can control her actions if they don't like it. Danaus, the hunter, is finding that not everything is black and white. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in the next book.

Overall, still not one of my favourites, but I still really enjoyed this book. I'm really looking forward to the next one, Dawnbreaker, I think it could be the best yet. The ending of Dayhunter certainly left real promise for it.