Dayhunter by Jocelynn Drake

Back cover:

A new day dawns blood red.

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally--the human vampire hunter, Danaus--have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflict is in the wind...with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows.

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 shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature she dares to trust is something more than the man he claims to be...

Review:

Some authors fast-forward through years, other few months, but Jocelynn Drake only skipped a few recovery hours from the very end of her debut-novel Nightwalker to continue the series in Dayhunter. Just hours after the carnage with the naturi, Mira and Tristan are already hunting and trying to overcome as much of the after-shock of the battle; to confront their next challenge, The Coven. In many ways this sequel canters around Mira's and Danaus's "relationship"; but there are still a bundle of memories that Mira cannot recall from Machu Picchu or from her human times, without a little shove of her past; read Rowe. Now that Rowe has become somewhat of an obstacle in Mira's fight for survival, there is no questioning the connection he bears, with Mira's memories.

In Dayhunter you grasp more of a background of the some of the character's that have a place in The Coven's game, mostly though: Mira, Danaus, and Rowe. Like from the synopsis on the back cover, you get to find out what Danaus truly is besides human; and it's nothing Mira initially anticipated. As I mentioned before, there are events in this novel that mainly center around the hunter and the Fire Starter, and that effects their "relationship" in a way that: if one were to become furious about a certain happening or because of one specific person, the other would sometimes unintentionally put out the "fire" to the other's rage.

I have to say that in this novel of dark pleasure, blood and violence, that there are many sides to deal with, when it comes to being a nightwalker. For example: "the complete lack of remorse" Mira feels after a bloodbath in Venice, the joy she feels of an act "laughing like a madwoman struck by the moon." How can she compare that to what she thought she knew about what it took to just survive? To having something that would have horrified her to do, now be a constant happening. To not have your conscience there, when you thought it would be there the most, nagging at you. Now it's missing; and it's disappearence is what petrifies you the most, because without having to think about facing the consequences...What exactly is going to tell you when you've crossed the line from sanity to becoming a "madwoman"?

The series does have a sort of double-meaning to it, also. In this particular sequel you get a deeper sense of Mira becoming just a weapon and the ability of not just taking care of her own survival, but also of the creatures she has now sworn to protect with her life. I would say it isn't possible for this book to be stand-alone, because you will need to have a sense of history before going any further into the series.

My review leaves a lot left to desire of the novel but not nearly enough as to what the book has to offer.

Grade: A

LiLi