Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151084 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

Customer Reviews

Hot!
This is the start of a new vampire series - Lucan is the oldest of his kind (Gen One)they call themselves the Breed and their "mates" are Breedmates - identified by an identical birthmark - women who bond with vampires and can give birth to a new generation but not "turned"

This is the story of Lucan and Gabrielle who is totally ignorant of vampires despite the fact that her mother was sent mad by claiming she had been bitten by one! She then abandoned Gabrielle and killed herself on being committed to an asylum.

As a start of a new series it takes sometime to get into the characters hence the 4 stars rather than 5 - the back ground is similar to J R Ward's series (which I highly recommend!) however once you do get to know them I can't wait for the next!!

Well written , Jessica.
This is a surprisingly terrific little novel. For a paranormal romance. I actually got a feeling of suspense and danger whilst reading it. There are some great ideas in the book...the vampire suicide bomber was a nice touch...as was the gay bes' friend. I particularly enjoyed how the heroine used her past issues to help the hero and actually move the plot along. Very clever.

And the hero and heroine spend lots of time and chapters together. (Unlike in the Ward series) But best of all the heroine is not a doormat (like in many of the Kenyon series) and gives as good as she gets from the hero especially in the relationship. The hero behaves like a doofus only a couple of times...and there is very little "I'm not worthy" rubbish from either of them. Amazingly in this novel the vampire warrior actually gives the female human a choice about becoming his 'mate.' Such a refreshing change from many other paranormals. A word about the tatts...boootiful.

Thank goodness the setting up of the sequels is minimal and forms an integral part of the story.

It's actually a much better story than either of the aforementioned series with their chaotic meandering subplots but that's because it is obviously written by one person and not a committee.

Derivative but still a great read
There's absolutely no doubt as to the readership to whom this book is meant to appeal - the commendation from J R Ward, author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, gives a big clue. This book is very, very similar to the Black Dagger Brotherhood and will no doubt be enjoyed by those who like those books; the similarities are very marked - a small number of warrior vampires live together in a compound and fight against strong and numerous adversaries. This is the first in the series and it's very akin to Ward's "Dark Lover" (in fact at one point the heroine describes the hero as her dark lover), in that the hero is the leader of the band of warriors, that he isn't looking for a romantic involvement and yet he discovers that a woman is linked to the vampire nation although she herself is oblivious of that fact. There are even mentions of a Red Sox hat, there's a computer expert vampire, a monosyllabic and weird vampire, the death of one of the six warrior vampires... the comparisons with the BDB go on and on.

And yet this is a book in its own right and it has its differences. There are several good things about this book when comparing it to the BDB. The first is that the characters don't have silly names but just unusual ones - the hero is Lucan, we also meet Tegan, Nikolai, Dante, Rio, Gideon and Conlan. Secondly there aren't loads of odd words with extra letter h peppered throughout the text which I always found rather cheesy. Thirdly the sections dealing with the Rogues, those against whom the warriors are fighting, aren't as extensive (I always find myself skim-reading the Lesser sections in the BDB) and in this series the Rogues are vampires gone bad rather than a separate species.

There are some aspects about this book that didn't feel as accomplished as the BDB. The characterisation felt somehow less authentic although it was hard to put my finger on why. Gabrielle, the heroine, was a plucky woman who seemed able to cope with an awful lot of scary information in one go, perhaps too much. Lucan's conflicted nature about not wanting a mate and being afraid that he's about to lose the plot from Bloodlust was perhaps overplayed in the book but was necessary for the suspense in the plot. And in some ways perhaps that's my chief disappointment with the story, that the overall idea on which this book hung didn't seem quite developed enough. It was a good read with some spicy scenes between hero and heroine, some fighting, lots of blood and gore and awkward relationships amongst the vampire warriors but somehow it didn't quite grip me as much as the BDB. However J R Ward's novels definitely improved as she got into her writing stride with them (with the exception of Vishous' novel) and I have hopes that Lara Adrian's books will equally mature as she continues the series.

For those who like the Black Dagger Brotherhood this is a worthy read alongside that series. For those who haven't read that series, read this one first, and enjoy it, and then read the BDB and enjoy it too. For those who don't like the BDB this book probably isn't for you. Some people may moan about the similarities between the two series but I think there is room in this genre for other books of a similar type as long as they have their own individual differences as well and as long as plot and characterisation are well-written. This is a good start to the series and I have already purchased the sequel.