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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Ok, just couldn't get into this one. Blah. Finished but should have stopped on page 75.
Spin-offs are a tempting proposition. Commercially because its safer to rely on an existing property with a built-in fanbase, and creatively for story worlds brimming with untapped potential. Karen Chances complex world of vampires, demons, fey and mages is exactly the sort of series primed for expansion.
First and foremost, a spin-offs function should be to expound on unexplored regions of the original series, and Midnight's Daughter teeters the line between familiar and unfamiliar territory. Not only is it contemporaneous with Cassie's exploits, its also populated with cross-over characters like Mircea, Marlowe, Louis-Cesare and Casanova. Chance manages to make the interconnectivity between the two series a strength rather than a crutch; instead of feeling superfluous, it allows for a unique narrative jumping-off point—forgoing the necessary evils of laborious set-up that burdens these kind of story introductions.
Our protagonist, Dory Basarab, embodies this idea perfectly. Being Mircea's daughter means Dory is bound to come across characters Cassie has, but in making her dhampir, these interactions are vastly different. While Cassie is viewed as premium political capital for her position as Pythia, and therefore fawned over and condescended to, as a dhampir Dory is a pariah, held in contempt and ostracized by those very same people. It's an interesting funhouse mirror effect.
The plot itself actually wraps up a peripheral story from the end of Claimed by Shadows: Mircea's brother Drac has escaped his imprisonment and seeks to exact revenge on his brother and those close to him. Drac is an imposing presence but is hamstrung by limited page-time. This story acts like a vehicle to explore Mircea as a character, his history and life, a concept antithetical to his role in the original series. Dory makes for a far more accommodating proxy to this end.
Dory Basarab is a fantastic protagonist: her volatility livens up every interaction, as she goes from violent to wry to bleak to positively sentimental within a short exchange. And not always in that order. Especially with Louis-Cesare. Over the course of a day or two their relationship convincingly does a complete one-eighty, as they're confronted by their unexpected similarities, and the lightning-fast no-fuss separation at the end lends it greater authenticity.
My issues with the book are minimal. As I mentioned already, Drac's lack of page-time is disappointing, although Chance makes the most of when he's there. Dory's friendship with Claire is established fine through a combination of guilt and obligation but never quite evolves beyond that for me, the way I think the story wanted it to. And, lastly, there's one abomination of a line that lets down a really strong opening at that point:
Other than that, I really loved this book.
First and foremost, a spin-offs function should be to expound on unexplored regions of the original series, and Midnight's Daughter teeters the line between familiar and unfamiliar territory. Not only is it contemporaneous with Cassie's exploits, its also populated with cross-over characters like Mircea, Marlowe, Louis-Cesare and Casanova. Chance manages to make the interconnectivity between the two series a strength rather than a crutch; instead of feeling superfluous, it allows for a unique narrative jumping-off point—forgoing the necessary evils of laborious set-up that burdens these kind of story introductions.
Our protagonist, Dory Basarab, embodies this idea perfectly. Being Mircea's daughter means Dory is bound to come across characters Cassie has, but in making her dhampir, these interactions are vastly different. While Cassie is viewed as premium political capital for her position as Pythia, and therefore fawned over and condescended to, as a dhampir Dory is a pariah, held in contempt and ostracized by those very same people. It's an interesting funhouse mirror effect.
The plot itself actually wraps up a peripheral story from the end of Claimed by Shadows: Mircea's brother Drac has escaped his imprisonment and seeks to exact revenge on his brother and those close to him. Drac is an imposing presence but is hamstrung by limited page-time. This story acts like a vehicle to explore Mircea as a character, his history and life, a concept antithetical to his role in the original series. Dory makes for a far more accommodating proxy to this end.
Dory Basarab is a fantastic protagonist: her volatility livens up every interaction, as she goes from violent to wry to bleak to positively sentimental within a short exchange. And not always in that order. Especially with Louis-Cesare. Over the course of a day or two their relationship convincingly does a complete one-eighty, as they're confronted by their unexpected similarities, and the lightning-fast no-fuss separation at the end lends it greater authenticity.
My issues with the book are minimal. As I mentioned already, Drac's lack of page-time is disappointing, although Chance makes the most of when he's there. Dory's friendship with Claire is established fine through a combination of guilt and obligation but never quite evolves beyond that for me, the way I think the story wanted it to. And, lastly, there's one abomination of a line that lets down a really strong opening at that point:
Mircea, on the other hand, could put an organization on the search that made the CIA, the FBI and Interpol look like a bunch of retarded children—even more so than they usually do.Yikes.
Other than that, I really loved this book.
2.5 stars. This book was kind of all over the place. There was a lot of action which kept the plot moving forward quickly, but the transitions weren't very smooth so it felt like there was a lot of jumping around. Also, the explanation of what happened to Claire was very rushed and was hard to follow. On top of all that, I just didn't really feel a connection to any of the characters. This wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either.
As with all Karen Chance's books this was a good one. It's the first in her Dorina Basarab, Dhampir series. It takes place in the same universe as her Cassie Palmer series. There are some character cross overs such as her father Mirta and Uncle Drack who's now dead. She's a Dhampir because her father is a vampire and her mother was human. An enjoyable series and they did good on the selection of narrator. I'm sure I'll get the next one.
This is the review I wrote in dA shortly after finishing the delicious book.
This book isn't my first of that genre but it definitely freshened my appetite for the genre. It is a series but I just indulged myself in it. It was sexy, very well-written as the author was experienced in that type of genres, the fighting was exciting, the facts about Vampires and the new supernatural creatures she introduced me to were all very amusing to read.
What I love the most about this is the lead female. From movies, I often experienced dread of seeing a female lead because of their too-rough of a personality. Dorina was not. She was rough but she had a past that went for centuries that supported how she reacted to anything. She was witty and damn courageous I felt so much love for her. I even got so excited when she became connected to Louis-Cesare --the male protagonist.
I can't wait to get my hands on the second book of the series and also try some of Karen Chance's other series.
This book isn't my first of that genre but it definitely freshened my appetite for the genre. It is a series but I just indulged myself in it. It was sexy, very well-written as the author was experienced in that type of genres, the fighting was exciting, the facts about Vampires and the new supernatural creatures she introduced me to were all very amusing to read.
What I love the most about this is the lead female. From movies, I often experienced dread of seeing a female lead because of their too-rough of a personality. Dorina was not. She was rough but she had a past that went for centuries that supported how she reacted to anything. She was witty and damn courageous I felt so much love for her. I even got so excited when she became connected to Louis-Cesare --the male protagonist.
I can't wait to get my hands on the second book of the series and also try some of Karen Chance's other series.
I found out about Karen Chance through her Cassandra Palmer series and I absolutely love it! The Dorina Basarab series is a spin off and a really awesome one at that!
Dory is the daughter of Mircea, who is one of the main characters in the Cassie Palmer series. Dorina is a kick ass character with a lot of attitude. She is a Dhampir, half-human and half-vampire. She has beaten the odds and not gone insane as the other known dhampirs have.
Her father shows up and right away we get sucked into their dysfunctional relationship. It was really interesting to see their dynamic and though it is very clear Dory is a very strong woman, you can't help but relate with her helplessness when it comes to her father.
She is asked to help capture her escaped uncle, who is none other than The Dracula himself. She is joined by the French vamp Louis-Cesare and all hell breaks loose.
I don't want to get into plot details, but this book is full of action and keeps you at the edge of your seat every second. The chemistry between Dory and Louis was awesometo watch and I can't wait to get more of it on book 2!
Dory is the daughter of Mircea, who is one of the main characters in the Cassie Palmer series. Dorina is a kick ass character with a lot of attitude. She is a Dhampir, half-human and half-vampire. She has beaten the odds and not gone insane as the other known dhampirs have.
Her father shows up and right away we get sucked into their dysfunctional relationship. It was really interesting to see their dynamic and though it is very clear Dory is a very strong woman, you can't help but relate with her helplessness when it comes to her father.
She is asked to help capture her escaped uncle, who is none other than The Dracula himself. She is joined by the French vamp Louis-Cesare and all hell breaks loose.
I don't want to get into plot details, but this book is full of action and keeps you at the edge of your seat every second. The chemistry between Dory and Louis was awesometo watch and I can't wait to get more of it on book 2!
"Dorina Basarab is a dhampir- half human, half vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing.
Now Dory's vampire father has come back into her life. Her uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), infamous even among vampires for his cruelty and murderous ways, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with the gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.
Vampires and dhampirs are mortal ennemies, and Dory prefers to work alone. But Dracula is the only thing on earth that truly scares her, so when Dory has to go up against him, she'll take all the help she can get... " - Book Cover
The book cover provides a pretty good resume of the story so I won't go down that path, instead I'm gonna tell you what I liked and what I didn't about this book =)
First of all, I've read other books about dhampir and it's the first time I've seen them with such a violent temper. I think it's a very original idea to provide this unique race a background and a good explanation for their low population, combine with the fact that vampires kills them on sight. On the other hand, I felt bad for the poor Dory, she got beat up pretty bad all the time, I don't think there was a chapter without her having an injury. Yes she is a bad ass, but sometimes I felt it was a bit to much.
At some points I had a hard time to follow the story, specifically when there were descriptions of past events or story backgrounds of other races (fae, trolls etc). Maybe it's just that my English isn't good enough? I don't know. It didn't stop me from enjoying the book but it was a bend in the road if I may say.
And a totally insignificant thing that bothered me is the name of one of the main characters. Louis-Cesare. I just don't like his name, and he have doesn't have a nickname in the book either. I guess the author wanted a very french-like name for the French vampire, but honestly? I'm french and I've never seen anyone with that name. A simple François or Antoine would have been just as good. But hey, that's just me =P
While I'm talking about french, I'd like to point out that unlike many other books, the french lines of the book were correctly written, so kudos for that!
Now that I am done complaining, I can say that overall I liked that book, the action was good, the tension between the main characters interesting and believable, and it was an interesting story in a book world full of vampire stories.
I have Death's Mistress sitting on my TBR shelf, so stay tuned for a review of the next instalment.
Now Dory's vampire father has come back into her life. Her uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), infamous even among vampires for his cruelty and murderous ways, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with the gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.
Vampires and dhampirs are mortal ennemies, and Dory prefers to work alone. But Dracula is the only thing on earth that truly scares her, so when Dory has to go up against him, she'll take all the help she can get... " - Book Cover
The book cover provides a pretty good resume of the story so I won't go down that path, instead I'm gonna tell you what I liked and what I didn't about this book =)
First of all, I've read other books about dhampir and it's the first time I've seen them with such a violent temper. I think it's a very original idea to provide this unique race a background and a good explanation for their low population, combine with the fact that vampires kills them on sight. On the other hand, I felt bad for the poor Dory, she got beat up pretty bad all the time, I don't think there was a chapter without her having an injury. Yes she is a bad ass, but sometimes I felt it was a bit to much.
At some points I had a hard time to follow the story, specifically when there were descriptions of past events or story backgrounds of other races (fae, trolls etc). Maybe it's just that my English isn't good enough? I don't know. It didn't stop me from enjoying the book but it was a bend in the road if I may say.
And a totally insignificant thing that bothered me is the name of one of the main characters. Louis-Cesare. I just don't like his name, and he have doesn't have a nickname in the book either. I guess the author wanted a very french-like name for the French vampire, but honestly? I'm french and I've never seen anyone with that name. A simple François or Antoine would have been just as good. But hey, that's just me =P
While I'm talking about french, I'd like to point out that unlike many other books, the french lines of the book were correctly written, so kudos for that!
Now that I am done complaining, I can say that overall I liked that book, the action was good, the tension between the main characters interesting and believable, and it was an interesting story in a book world full of vampire stories.
I have Death's Mistress sitting on my TBR shelf, so stay tuned for a review of the next instalment.
Mircea has a daughter! That’s who Cassandra saw in the photos in the "Cassandra Palmer" series.
Dori is quite the rebel. She drinks beer and smokes weed , in part to quiet down the negative side effects that being a Dhamphir can cause. Dhamphir's are susceptible to blackouts and uncontrollable rage. In the book her best friend goes missing. Along with a friend of Mircea, she sets out to find that friend and do her father a favor that can cost her, her life.
Another great K.C. novel.
Dori is quite the rebel. She drinks beer and smokes weed , in part to quiet down the negative side effects that being a Dhamphir can cause. Dhamphir's are susceptible to blackouts and uncontrollable rage. In the book her best friend goes missing. Along with a friend of Mircea, she sets out to find that friend and do her father a favor that can cost her, her life.
Another great K.C. novel.
Set in the same world as the Cassie Palmer series, Dory Basarab's exciting, action packed romp provides a new perspective into the same world.
I really enjoyed this book, and I can't wait until the next in the series comes out. It has the potential to be better than the Cassie books. I found Dory to be a more compelling, darker character, and I liked Mircea more through her eyes (although she despises him).
I really enjoyed this book, and I can't wait until the next in the series comes out. It has the potential to be better than the Cassie books. I found Dory to be a more compelling, darker character, and I liked Mircea more through her eyes (although she despises him).
I would have abandoned this book after the first 50 pages, but I was in transit with nothing else to read. And I did end up finishing it - it got a little better as it went on, enough so that by the time I had to option to find another book I was interested enough to read the end. But it was just so dark and depressing and ANGRY, with nothing to lighten the mood. Although the sex was pretty hot.