Dark Hunter Companion

May 292009
 

The Dark-Hunter Companion is written in the style of a handbook for a newly created Dark-Hunter.   This book gives all the information you could need to survive, understand the whims of the gods, who to tread lightly around and most importantly how to kill soul-sucking Daimons.

As a long time fan of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series, I found this book very useful.  It gives you insights into pretty much every character you’ve come across, even in passing and is a great resource to look up something when you get a little confused as to who is linked with whom.  I loved the tone in which it was written, the sometimes acidly sarcastic comments about particular people made me laugh and were very much in keeping with the flavour of the series.  Nor is it just restricted to Dark-Hunter information but Dream-Hunters and Were-Hunters also, with more information about how the Pyramid of Protection fits together.   The variety of powers are fully explained as are all the gods and where they fall in their Pantheons.  I quite honestly find Sherrilyn Kenyon’s creation of her Atlantean Mythos, Pantheon, etc quite staggering and her obvious love of it all shines through as always.  If you have read and enjoyed even a few of her books in this series, this is an absolute must read.  Plus you get a new short story and some deleted scenes just to put the icing on the cake… or the cover on the book…

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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Chasing the Shadows

May 292009
 

Since the beginning of their relationship, vampire Michael has wanted to keep Nikki safe, and to do that he has to keep her apart from his working life with The Circle.  As a private investigator Nikki knows that sometimes you can’t protect someone by keeping them ignorant or keep them safe without smothering them and this often leads to heated arguments.  When her partner Jake is asked to look into the disappearance of a friend’s wife, she is more than ready to show Michael she can take care of herself and heads to San Francisco.  Unfortunately Michael is asked to do the same thing by The Circle which means there is a lot more going on than kidnapping for money and as the body count rises he is determined to keep Nikki out of it.  With her psychic abilities increasing from being a thrall and being able to find and connect with the victims she is drawn ever deeper and soon realises she may have to make a choice.  All or nothing with Michael.

This is the fourth book in the Nikki and Michael Vampire series and it’s a good one.  Even though sometimes Michael’s chauvinistic tendencies make me want to smack him, his reasoning is good and Keri Arthur’s superb characterisations let you see the argument from both sides and the deep emotions behind them.  Nikki gives as good as she gets though so you don’t have to smack her either for giving in to him.  I also like that for both of them, their abilities aren’t without limit and can have consequences that are often very painful.  Nikki’s business partner Jake is as acerbic as ever and it was good to see him back in the game proving that being a human amongst thralls and vampires doesn’t mean you aren’t capable of holding your end up in a tough situation.  The plot was good, if a little simplistic but I don’t think it actually needed to be any more complicated, it would have detracted a lot from the emotions running alongside it all.  The ending of the book did come as a complete surprise and it did make me cry, so be warned, you may need tissues!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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Memory Zero

May 292009
 

Samantha Ryan is a Melbourne State cop that has no memory of her childhood or her parents, the only thing she has is a child’s drawing of a woman with ‘Mummy’ written underneath.  Things start falling apart when her partner Jack, tries to kill her and weird things start happening around her… and to her.  When Gabriel Stern, a shapechanger of the Special Investigations Unit gets involved, she realises there is more going on than a cop gone rogue and she is right in the middle of it.

I really like Keri Arthur’s work in general, it’s exciting, easy to read and she is very good at creating characters you love and care about.  But after reading and being a bit disappointed with Deadly Desire, I picked this up fully expecting to feel the same way.  It’s the first book in a new series and I have to say it was really good.  Maybe the freshness of all new characters and settings helped but everything felt just right.  The plot was pretty good, if a little twisty at times but the pace of answers being revealed was just right and kept you reading, trying to guess what was going on.  I loved the main characters, Samantha being the one who stands out the most.  Definately not a heroine who gets dropped in the deep end and flounders, waiting for the guy to come and save her.  She can hold her own and I think that worked really well with the character of Gabriel who is alternately confused then impressed by her.  The end of the book felt very unfinished so I really hope there is a second book in the works or I will be left forever wondering.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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