Monday, September 16, 2013

The Midnight Breed Series Companion (Volume #1) (Midnight Breed #0.5 - Gideon and Savannah) by Lara Adrian

Usually I'm not into these companion sort of books but I guess after 11 books you kind of get "mixed-up" with everyone.. who's got which special power, what was that "guy"'s woman, how someone ended up etc. 
So it's nice to have this compilation you can check up the details of the characters, not only the main ones but much more than that. 


It could be a spoiler if you haven't read most of the books. I checked up Reichen when I first read about him because I was wondering if he's going to join the order.. It wasn't such a big spoiler but just keep that in mind and read about characters you already read about... and don't read about villains that are still "playing out" (aka Dragos..) if you haven't finished all the books... (yeah, I wish I hasn't done that too :D)

I haven't read all of it, just read what I was interested in, but it's really nice to breeze through from time to time, and when the 12th book would be out I will surely read through the summaries of the previous books.. (now its easy for me since I started when there were 11 books out.. now I'm on my 10th)

I liked the way this book is organized and all the knowledge it contains. 

Also, I would say the price is VERY reasonable (I'm reading everything on my kindle so I'm referring to the e-book edition).

It was nice getting the story of Gideon and Savannah. 
Here is the review I wrote: 

Sweet story. 
I really liked this one. even though it was short (a novella..) it wasn't lacking in action but also we had time to see the development of Savannah and Gideon relationship. 

When I think of how Gideon is behaving in the 3 books I've read, I think there is apparent calm about him. I can guess it's because of the resolve in this story and of course finding Savannah. He doesn't "itch" to battle. he is fine in his lab of the Order. 

The only thing "bad" I have to comment is that there is about a day (maybe a little less) that Savannah and Gideon stays in a house. I find it a little funny that she didn't eat all day long :D because there is no way there was any food there and none of them went out to bring any :D

I liked the fact that the technology was pretty basic but Gideon was obsessed with it even then and wanted to see how the technology builds up through time (which naturally he has a lot of ;))

Savannah's gift is pretty extraordinary! I see how she can help out the Order. Though it would have been cooler if she was more a fighter like Elise is. well, Elise is my favorite from the ones I've read :]





Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 300 pages, 16 September 2013 / On GoodReads
 
 
ABOUT THE MCs
 
Gideon
Breed male, Order member. Born in England in 1602. Renown for his skill with a sword, Gideon had worked independently to eliminate Rogues, but sought out Lucan to join the Order after Gideon’s young twin brothers, Simon and Roderick, were killed in a Rogue attack outside their London Darkhaven. Gideon is the Order’s resident genius, responsible for all the technology and even performs as the compound’s medic when needed. No longer runs combat missions due to irreparable brain injury sustained during the rescue of his Breedmate, Savannah thirty-plus years before the timeline of Kiss of Midnight. Gideon still carries a bullet lodged deep in his brain after that confrontation which has crippled his ESP talent and impacted his eyesight so that he must wear some form of sunglasses at all times.
Hair: blond, cropped/spiky cut  Eyes: sharp blue, usually glancing over the rims of pale blue or silver shades
Unique ability: power to see life energy through solid mass (talent lost due to injury)

Savannah Dupree
Born and raised in the swamps of Louisiana, Savannah has been blood-bonded to Gideon since 1974, when he saved her life at the age of eighteen while she was attending university as a freshman student. Savannah has an elderly human half-sister, Amelie Dupree, who still lives in Louisiana. Savannah never knew her father, a wanderer who was little more than rumor in the family. Savannah is a nurturing woman and is the heart of home for the Order’s compound in Boston.
Hair: tight, short black curls Eyes: dark brown
Breedmate mark: on her left shoulder blade Bloodscent: magnolia
Unique ability: Psychometry.
 
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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