Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fourth in series, 29 Mar 2008
Lara Adrian has really hit her stride! This is the fourth in her series about the Breed, vampires who battle the rogue members of their kind and who, one by one, find their mates. The first couple of books seemed to rely very heavily on J R Ward's "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series for ideas but it seems, in this book and to some extent in the last, that Lara Adrian has found her own voice. Yes, many aspects of the Breed's life seems like that of the Brotherhood but as Lara Adrian has explored her world more fully in these books they seem to have taken on more of a life of their own.
The hero of this book is Rio, scarred and wounded after the betrayal of his Breedmate Eva. Rio was meant to have destroyed a cave which contained the hibernation chamber of one of the Ancients in the middle of nowhere in the Czech Republic but as the story opens he hasn't yet done it. Several months have passed with Rio living in the cave almost like some kind of animal, suffering from the blackouts and mood swings as a result of his injuries in the explosion in the first book, trying to work up the energy to destroy the cave - and himself with it. Unfortunately for Rio the cave is discovered by a young American woman on holiday with some friends; not only does she discover the cave and see Rio, she photographs the contents. Rio desperately needs to do some damage limitation to prevent the photographs being shared with other people and the existence of the Breed perhaps being made known to the world. He tracks the woman, Dylan Alexander, but when he finds her he discovers things are worse than he had feared - she's a reporter and has sent the photographs back to her editor in America who has passed them on to some other people.
Rio realises all he can do is destroy the cave, kidnap Dylan and take her back to the Breed headquarters in Boston to get the other warriors to help to scrub the minds of the people who have seen the photographs before they are printed in the magazine. Things are even worse when Rio discovers Dylan is a Breedmate and that she has a very strong reason not to settle into the Darkhavens but to carry on her life in New York City. As Rio and the other warriors try to keep their secrets under wraps, investigate some strange murders and keep Dylan safe, things get very complex indeed.
This story was stronger on characterisation than some of the others in this series. Rio plays the damaged, wounded man very well - and he's also remarkably close-mouthed when it comes to secrets. Dylan, being a journalist, is full of questions, most of which aren't answered to her satisfaction. She is described very well so that we understand why she doesn't fear Rio as much as she might and how she is able to cope with and accommodate to the drastic changes in her life.
The other characters from previous novels are in this book, including Andreas Reichen in Berlin and Sterling Chase, the Enforcement Agent-turned-Warrior. However the vast majority of the pages focus on Rio and Dylan and their interactions; the 'baddie' in this book gets a few pages to himself but this isn't a distraction from the overall central plot - Rio's post-trauma problems and Dylan's life choice. It was a great read overall, probably the best in this series so far. I look forward to the next story, focusing on Nikolai, due to be released in December 2008.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent - Midnight series is even better than JR Ward!!!, 3 April 2008
I first picked up Lara Adrian as my friendly local librarian had bought the series in and had reserved them for me, thinking that I might like them, given that I like most paranormals. I tried out the series, and immediately saw a resemblance to the BDB series by JR Ward, but the characters seem more believeable (Noughties-living guys, but not freakishly huge like the BDB, believeable romances and some hot sex!!)and seem to move on quicker. So far, Midnight Rising has been my fave, as Rio is a tortured soul and Dylan helps him come back and believe in himself. I think that when eventually Tohrment's book comes out, it will not be dissimilar to this one. I strongly recommend reading the entire series, in the order published for continuity, and look forward to the Dec 08 release. Hey, amazon.co.uk., why don't you have it available to preorder yet?
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rio is to die for!, 4 Jul 2008
I just finish reading the breed series and what can I say but WOW!!!
I'm glad I got all 4 bks first, because as I got into the story, I just devoured them.
I least expected to like this series, especially after reading JR Ward's BDB books.(the 1st 3 were excellent) But I didn't care much for the BDB books that followed after the 3rd one. In the Breed series, I loved everyone of the books. And Dec is too darn long to wait for the 5th bk, in my opinion.
Onto the book.
All the heroes in this series are wonderful but Rio, he just steals your breath away. He truly does.
When you first meet Rio from bk one he is the happy go lucky guy, with a perpetual smile. (later on you realise there is more to him and the torment and darkness that he hides behind his smiling fascade. He allowed no one to know the real man, until Dylan.)
All that changes when he's betrayed by his mate, Eva, and he nearly loses his life in the explosion. As he recovers he's filled with pain, rage and hatred and changes drastically.( Who can blame the poor guy?)
Besides the horrendous pain and terrible blackouts he has to live with, the explosion leaves half his face and body badly scarred.
In hate and bitterness, he lives in isolation for a long time. When he can't take it any more, feeling he has nothing to live for, he finally decides to end it all. That is the day when Dylan accidently stumbles upon him in his cave. And his life changes once again.
And Dylan, she discovers a world she never knew existed and falls for a man who was like no other.
This series is gripping stuff. It has everything, Alpha heroes, strong heroines, wonderful loves scenes and a HEA. And don't forget those sexy vampire markings-whew!!!
This is my kinda book.
I like that this books doesn't devote pages upon pages to the Rogues (the Breeds enemies). Lara Adrian does this in a more forthright manner and she make it still interesting. And you have a mystery-threat which doesn't continue tediously throughout the series, which can be frustrating, but is solved by the 3rd book and a new threat comes from the closure of the last problem. It makes for exciting reading.
I like the way LA created her vampire race and how they came to be in existance. And the fact that they are warm-blooded, have a heartbeat and are half human. Its their human half that makes them the truly wonderful heroes they are. It tempers the other half that would have made them vicious and dangerous and true vampires.
The story between H/H could have been a bit more indept and longer, and Rio should have gotten rid of Eva's presence in his apartment before Dylan got there. Yes, I know he does that in the end, but still it bothered me that they could stay there with her presence all over. But I suppose LA needed to do it this way, so Dylan could come across the photos and know that Eva was the vision she had seen who led her to the cave where Rio was. (All breedmates have an ability, and Dylan's was seeing the dead.)
I did not like what Eva had done, I'm glad she redeems herself in the end.
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