Shadowflame (Novel of the Shadow World) [Mass Market Paperback]

Set in the present day in Texas. Miranda Grey-Solomon has been the Ninth Queen of the Southern United States for only a few months now. Over their first year together, the new Pair will be visited by the Primes, Queens, and Consorts of the other world territories. In the meantime, Miranda is kept busy as she tries to juggle her budding music career, her new royal duties, and her combat training. Life with her new husband, Prime David Solomon, is still in its honeymoon stage.

Prime David spends most of his downtime going over the latest diagnostics of his various (geeky) inventions. David is a genius. Since he became Prime everything was beyond state-of-the-art, because if David did not have the technology he wanted, he simply created it. But when an unknown assassin begins to target his Queen, Miranda's safety gets his full attention.

Being Queen to a Prime is not the only new role in Miranda's life. She became a vampire only a week or so prior to the Signet proclaiming her to be David's Queen. Miranda still has much to learn about being a creature of the night. The attacks could not have started at a worse time either. (Not that having a target painted on your back could ever be considered a good thing.) Prime James Hart of the Northeast United States comes to visit the new Pair. He brings along his harem of vampire women whom he terrorizes into obedience. The women are only given enough blood to survive. They are kept near starvation. The last thing Hart expects is for one of his women, Cora, to get brave enough to ask Queen Miranda for asylum or for it to be granted. Being female automatically makes Queen Miranda less than dirt in Hart's eyes, but for Miranda to actually consider herself to be his equal is an insult. Prime David supporting his Queen is simply too much.

David and Miranda hardly have time to catch their breaths before another royal Pair arrives. Prime Deven O'Donnell of the Western United States and its adjacent territories is welcomed to the Haven. Miranda already knows that David and Deven have long been friends; however, she did not know that they had been lovers for several of those years. When Deven's Signet had proclaimed Jonathan Burke to be his Consort (same as Queen, but male), David had been devastated and fled the territory. David and Deven had parted company with no closure, so the current visit begins awkwardly, but is not intolerable. For various reasons, Miranda and Deven often find themselves clashing; however, both silently agree to give friendship a chance to develop for David's sake. After all, time is one of the things that vampires have an abundance of. Surprisingly, Miranda and Consort Jonathan become instant friends. It is Jonathan to whom Miranda goes to for personal advice when things become strained with David.

Even though the assassin from Auren's Court had been dealt with, another has come forward, aiming at Miranda. But this time the Red Shadow is involved. It is the most notorious network of assassins in the world. Deven and Jonathan may be able to help David figure out who sent the evasive assassin. Things get worse when David and Deven give in to their feelings for each other. The momentary lapse in good judgment causes only a minor ripple between Prime Deven and his Consort, but threatens to crumble the fragile bond between David and Miranda.

** TWO STARS! This is the second story of the Shadow World series. If you have not read the previous title, Queen of Shadows (Novel of the Shadow World), you may find yourself lost often. As with the first tale, this one has a brief physical assault scene and not all of the relationships between various characters are male/female. There is also adultery. Consider yourself warned.

More of David's history is revealed, but so is a major lack of moral strength. As the reader, I have lost all respect for Prime David. Several new characters are introduced to the series. One or two will obviously cause problems for David and Miranda in future stories, but some will just as obviously e allies. (I would enjoy seeing Cora again someday.)

All-in-all, the story does not move forward much, but new characters and subplots are set up and placed in position to cause chaos in the next story. **

Reviewed by Vanessa Storme for Huntress Reviews.

I loved the first book in the series but this book absolutely destroyed it for me I'm afraid. David is a massive let down and I'm so disappointed in Miranda.

This is the follow up to queen of shadows. I actually enjoyed this more than the first book, not that there was anything wrong with that but I was drawn into the sequel very quickly and wanted to see how the relationships would play out. In the first book it was pretty clear that Miranda and David would get together and the signets would be flashing but this felt more unpredictable because of past loves intruding in the new marriage. Miranda is coming into her powers and David is welcoming the additional depth that comes from being a pair. But trouble arrives first in the visit of a less than pleasant prime from another district but then more importantly from attacks on our hero and heroine and on the humans close to Miranda. Add in David's emotional turmoil and mirandas understandable feelings of hurt and betrayal. It's an interesting mix and I recommend.