Monday, August 12, 2013

Veil of Midnight (Midnight Breed #5 - Niko and Renata) by Lara Adrian

I'm not sure why I'm giving this book 4 stars. Renata is really cool. I differently like her! and Niko is an interesting guy, I think his gift is "cute" and works well for me with the ending of the story (I'm speaking of the last chapter - and I'm not saying more!).

We are introduced to a new character which as I understand will be a "regular" and also we are introduced to a situation which I guess will lead to another "regular". so this book is important in the "scheme" of things. But somehow the book didn't "held me up" as the previous ones did.


Renata's story is the darker one of all the ones we've read about before. Yakut and his "gang" are real SOB.. :/ 

I loved that we have a female fighter now. much more then Elise which I doubt Tegan will let her actually fight... but Niko and Renata will differently be a fighting couple which is sweet :)

getting myself prepared for the next one. REALLY intrigued with the next character, I think he's going to be a favorite! :) (though there is NO WAY he is going to "out weight" Tegan! :D)





Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 370 pages, 11-12 August 2013 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THE MCs
 
Nikolai

Breed male, Order member. Born in Siberia approximately eighty years ago, no surname taken. Niko is a thrill-seeker and a gearhead. He loves weaponry, gadgets and things that go boom. Niko custom crafts a lot of the Order’s specialty ammunition used for combat missions and killing Rogues. He is impatient and a little cocky, full of explosive energy, but far from reckless. Nikolai is the one you’d watching your back in the heat of battle, but you would more than likely find him ahead of you, blazing the trail clear of danger before you even got there. Together, Niko and Renata are parents to orphan Mira.
Hair: sandy blond Eyes: glacier-blue
Unique ability: telepathically generates rapid growth in plant life.

Renata
Left by her mother as an infant at the orphanage of the Montreal convent of the Sisters of Benevolent Mercy, Renata has no family and never knew her father. At the age of fourteen, Renata was living on her own. As of the timeline of Veil of Midnight, she is a twenty-something street-smart scrapper who’s used to taking care of herself. She didn’t know she was a Breedmate, didn’t know about her unusual ability, until two years ago when she was swept off the streets along with several other humans and taken to be live, illegal, game for a cruel Breed elder (Sergei Yakut). She fought her abductors, and in the process unlocked her unique ability. Since that time, she was forced to serve as a bodyguard for her captor. It was in this capacity that she crossed paths with a member of the Order, Nikolai, who was on a mission in Montreal involving Renata’s employer. While serving her abductor, Renata also came into contact with another abductee, a young Breedmate girl named Mira, whom Renata took under her wing. Renata carries four custom-crafted daggers that each bear a quality that guides her life: courage, faith, honor, sacrifice. The blades were given to her by a human friend (Jack) who gave her shelter when she was a young teen on her own. Since her mating to Nikolai, Renata has become an integral player in the Order’s missions, thanks to both her powerful ESP talent and her skill with weaponry.
Hair: glossy black, chin-length angled bob Eyes: jade green, almond-shaped
Breedmate mark: inside of her right wrist Bloodscent: sandalwood and rain
Unique ability: mind-blaster (only works on Breed).
 
ABOUT THIS SERIES
 
Midnight Breed by Lara Adrian is one of my absolute favorite Paranormal Romance Series. Like many of the series in this genre, we have a group of vampire warriors who are in charge of defending their race. 

The Order mainly protect the general population (vampire AND humans) from rouge vampires. Vampires whose crave for blood have reached a point of no return meaning they can no longer control themselves and since there is nothing to be done about this situation these rouges vampires have to be put down. Besides obvious risk to the human population, rouges / rabid vampires also are a treat in the sense that vampires live in secret groups (called Darkhavens) there they can live their separate lives without probing human eyes. Naturally they are a part of the general population but the way they live, in a sort of community, helps them maintain their traditions and way of living. 


In the recent years, the Order became infamous. There is no respect for the members of the Order and moreover they are treated like "barbarians", the vampire population doesn't believe that they are even needed but boy oh boy they are wrong.. dark days are ahead.. 


In the beginning, years and years ago, a group of highly strong vampires crushed on Earth. They are the base of the vampire population nowadays. As is seems there are no female vampires, only males. The females that can reproduce with vampires are called "breedmates" and they can be distinguished by a certain mark (crescent moon with a drop) that each breedmate has somewhere on her body. Each breedmate also has a special (inhuman) ability which she transfers to her vampire son. Thus every vampire has a special ability passed to him from his human mother. Breedmates need to drink blood in order to enhance their special ability and sometimes so they can control it and it won't take over her life.  It takes time until the ancestry of the breedmates is explained, it adds another layer to the story and brings the Order with another adversary they weren't expecting. 


Each book has it's separate story in which each warrior finds himself a breedmate / compatible mate. As you can guess, the Order isn't notorious for no reason.. most of the warriors are somehow "damaged", preferring to live a life in the Order rather than build a life of their own. Finding their mate makes them deal with their past and free themselves from its bindings. Beside the personal plot line there is also a bigger plot line about the main villain progressing from the first book until the 10th. From the 11th book (till the final 18th installment) there is a very significant change following a progression in 20 years changing the whole setting of the series with different villains as well as introducing new characters to the series - some the sons and daughters from the first 10 installments and of course we get to meet the older version of the parents as well. 


The main issue I had with the series in the beginning was the similarities between it and the general setting of the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward. It only feels this way at the first, it takes a TOTALLY different direction plot-wise and character-wise which after reading enough of the two series I gotta say I MUCH prefer this one (I actually abandoned that one a while back..). 


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!

When the whiffs of the end of this beloved series started to get suffocating Lara announced a Spin-Off called "Hunter Legacy". The series will consist of stand-alone novels of the "Last Boys" - the Gen One Hunters who were bred as weapons of war by Dragos and were freed by The Order round the middle of the series. 

Books:
0.5 A Touch of Midnight [Gideon & Savannah] (published 15 July 2013) ★★★★★
1. Kiss of Midnight [Lucan & Gabrielle] (published 1 May 2007) ★★★★
2. Kiss of Crimson [Dante & Tess] (published 29 May 2007) ★★★★★
3. Midnight Awakening [Tegan & Elise] (published 27 November 2007) ★★★★★
4. Midnight Rising [Rio & Dylan] (published 25 March 2008) ★★★★★
5. Veil of Midnight [Niko & Renata] (published 30 December 2008) ★★★★ 
6. Ashes of Midnight [Andreas Reichen & Claire] (published 26 May 2009) ★★★★★

7. Shades of Midnight [Cade & Alex] (published 29 December 2009) ★★★★  
8. Taken By Midnight [Brock & Jenna] (published 28 September 2010) ★★★★★
9. Deeper than Midnight [Hunter & Corrine] (published 28 June 2011) ★★★★★
9.5 A Taste of Midnight [Danika & Malcolm] (published 5 December 2011) ★★★★★
10. Darker after Midnight [Chase & Tavia] (published 24 January 2012) ★★★½ 
 --- The Midnight Breed Series Companion (Volume #1) (published 26 June 2013) ★★★★★

 
11. Edge of Dawn [Mira & Kellan] (published 21 February 2013) ★★★★★
11.5. Marked By Midnight [Mathias Rowan & Nova] (published 30 June 2014) ★★★★

12. Crave the Night [Nathan & Jordana] (published 5 August 2014) ★★★★★
12.5. Tempted by Midnight [Lazaro & Melena] (1001 Dark Nights #10) (published 14 October 2014) ★★★★★
13. Bound to Darkness [Carys & Rune] (published 30 July 2015) ★★★★
13.5 Stroke of Midnight [Jehan & Seraphina] (1001 Dark Nights #26) (published 13 October 2015) ★★★★★
14. Defy the Dawn [Zael & Brynne(published 1 June 2016) ★★★★★

14.5 Midnight Untamed [Ettore & Bella] (1001 Dark Nights #47) (published 11 October 2016) ★★★★
14.6 Midnight Unbound [Scythe & Chiara]
 (published 14 March 2017) ★★★★½
14.7 Midnight Unleashed [Trygg & Tamisia] (1001 Dark Nights #69) (published 10 October 2017) ★★★½ 
15. Claimed in Shadows [Aric Chase & Kaya Laurent] (published 23 January 2018) ★★★ 
16. Break the Day [Xander Raphael "Rafe" Malebranche & Devony Winters] (published 30 July 2019) ★★★★½ 
17. Fall of Night [Micah & Phaedra] (published 31 January 2021)) ★★★★½
18. King of Midnight [Darion Thorne & Selene the Atlantean Queen] (to be Published 31 March 2022)

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