Genre : Urban Fantasy/ vampires/ bad elves
Series : Dark Days, Book Two
Publisher : Eos (April 28, 2009)
No. of page : 368
In the first book, our Nightwalker, Mira, learnt about the returning of Naturi, the bloody- thirsty, cruel elf being, from Danaus the Vampire Hunter. Both Mira and Danaus had to halt their natural antagonism and help each other fight back the coming-back-to-the-world Naturi. Still, a certain event/ situation at the end of the book, had strengthened their alliance, especially since the guy became the only one Mira could trust and rely upon.
In Dayhunter, Mira was ordered by Jabari, one of the three powerful elite Nightwalkers, to attend before the Coven in Venice. (The so-called Nightwalkers' capital, since the Liege, their absolute leader, and the Coven, the group of elites called Elders, live there. Read more on the the Coven and the Liege ) And she had no choice but to follow it by bringing Danaus and Tristan along with her.
Nevertheless, being surrounded by her own kind may not be less dangerous than battling with Naturi. Her reputation as well as her relationship with other Nightwalkers were never considered great from both her ability to control fire and her 'emigration' to New-World America, while the others preferred remaining in Europe. Consequently, not only did she need to survive from the fangs and nails of the same kind, but also had to play along the thoughts and plans of the three Elders, of which all seemed to had very agenda of their own for their own interest. And a series of great betrayals was about to take place, while the plan to come back of Naturi was also still on.
While the former focuses on battling the herds of Naturi constantly attacking the main characters, this book mainly sees the confrontation between Mira and the Nightwalkers in Venice. And so, the situations changed from fighting with swords and guns to leveling intelligence and wit, particularly when the Nightwalkers' society solely judged by power in form of strength, with the highest intensity in the court politics of Coven.
The relationship of Mira and Danaus was among other things developed in the book. As the former book both of them needed to fight together to detain Naturi, here they needed to join hand to survive from Nightwalkers around the Coven. This increased the level of their co-operation which in turned raised their trust in order to fight side by side even more. (Such degree was even seen by as a group of Nightwalkers that she betrayed her own kind by joining hand with the Hunter and/ or Mira was so strong and powerful that she could control a notorious Hunter.) For Mira herself, she clearly stated that her trust and confidence upon him became somewhat higher than that being put on her own kind. Like, from her thought ...
"He had hovered close on so many occasions while I slept that I now hated the idea of him not being there when the sun broke above the horizon. Danaus was my only sense of security in this world that was changing too fast. He threatened to destroy everything that I protected. But as the same time, he seemed to be the only one left trying to protect me." (p. 329)
Such trust and confidence was so much that she almost forgot the hostility between her and Danaus. Yet, his 'error' (Spoiler) [of believing a Nightwalker would kill human to save another Nightwalker, Danaus himself made an ill judgment by killing that Nightwalker before Mira .. without considering her attitude/ action towards the situation.] brought about a dangerously high level of disappointment and of being betrayed inside her.
Nevertheless, in the book it finally stated 'what our Nightwalker hunter really was' (Not just WHO he really was!) and that was not far from what I did expect. (Spoiler) [The man was Bori, the race similar to angels and demons; and his mother made a contact to gain power from demon and getting him as a result from the trade, which made him half human-half demon, or with the book's own terms, half human-half Bori.] And this is why he held religious belief dear as a life principle. He also did believe in absolute right and wrong, absolute good and evil without such gray area until knowing Mira. And for that, if we see her life went upside down once she met Danaus, his life then changed with no very different volume, and even far more unstable since what touched his life altering him was about faith and attitude.
Still, his distrust in the end of the book (Spoiler) [Actually it was about not trusting other Nightwalkers, rather than not trusting Mira. ] might confuse readers upon confidence and bond of the two. But at the deeper level, it does explain the profound connection between them. Reading through Mira's point of view may not clearly give us thoughts of Danaus, yet there were countless scenes that our Hunter became so concerned about her well-being and safety, and too concerned for just the one watching her back. One possible explanation is the man had been searching for her for long time and that determination in finding her had built at least the so-called attachment towards her (But this is not at all obvious beyond the wild interpretation of readers).
Personally, this conflict was neither for separating nor alienating the relations between both of them, but instead for displaying constant confidence and 'oneness' shown as 'You and me against the world' throughout the book. (Spoiler) [Not only did the betrayed feel betrayed and hurted, but also the mistake maker felt so guilty that he came unarmed to her in order to say sorry. Had he not trusted her, he could not have come to her without any single weapon. (Though he did possess the ability to kill Nightwalker from distant, as we learnt!) And that apology was not from guilt of killing, but from guilt of hurting her. ] Although the couple had been saying they were protecting each other in order to kill each other after ending the Naturi concern, it is more than obvious they could not kill the other afterwards!
Jabari's betrayal on Mira seemed grave and unforgivable in the first book, especially when he had been using her as a tool. Still, one thing on my mind is that the Nightwalker became so focused on result with no much consideration on means that he viewed exploiting and using people around him as acceptable and harmless. And thought he posed cold and indifferent front towards our Fire Starter through Book Two, deep down his confidence on Mira was rather strong, even this was for him seeing Mira as the one who, either knowingly or unknowingly, but eventually, moved and made the situation according to his directions and plans. This is particularly true since Jabari was a mastermind who both foresaw the outcome and knew Mira almost completely.
Dayhunter sees less-than-expected role and action of Tristan, but he by all means played his rather-significant role by motivating Mira to 'display' her power to other Nightwalkers around the Coven, and therefore gained their fear, and even respect. More importantly, the need to protect her so-called younger brother (if we consider that both Mira and Tristan shared the same 'Maker'.) drove her to accept him as part of 'family', or being under her protection, which was something our Fire Starter had tired to avoid. (Read more about the concept of Family ) This also led her to the confrontation with their Maker, Sadira, resulted in the latter seriously injured from her fire. Nevertheless, I must say I still see the potential of the younger Nightwalker in the future, even though he was poorly-made for entertaining reason, rather than carefully-made to be strong like Mira.
Off from the characters to the storyline, my own feeling is she was no different from conventional fantasy heroine for the reason that she needed to fight evil, and protect mankind with no choice. (Somewhat this came from her honor and inner responsibility as seeing no one intends to play the job, and so she needed to do it.) But what makes it urban fantasy still is beyond-imagination/out-of-control and one-thing-leads-to-another- and-another situations. This is because in Nightwalker, her goal was only seeing the Elder, particularly Jabari, to inform him about the coming of Naturi before heading back home. The set mission was clear just that, but that she was a seal to detain the entire Naturi race from entering the world. Although not realizing the truth before the end of the book, she was at that time commanded to find the triad creating the seal. In Dayhunter, she believed the task of coming to Venice was only for reporting the Naturi situations to the Elders in the Coven, but eventually the reason was Mira herself was an important 'pawn', (and player?) to set the outcome of Coven politics.
I must say Coven politics greatly added excitement and dimension to the book. Each character has his very own agenda set clearly in the mind; and even in the Coven, every Elder has truly different aims and goals. This means, in order to survive, Mira had to keep up with the game with all her might and wit, and be able to read others' minds. Such a survival is especially true with a number of great betrayals in the book. (Big Spoiler) [Since the Elders decided to join hands with a faction of Naturi already living on earth who enjoyed the status quo so much that they did not want the rest of their own kin to return. In return for being in the same league, those Naturi would kill the Liege for the Elders. This was because the Liege decided to advance the time of the 'Great Awakening' in, which would allow human to learn about the existence of the Nightwalkers, and therefore would also let them know about other kinds. (Witches, werewolves etc) As all the non-human races committedly agreed on the timing together, changing the time would undoubtedly bring war from all side towards Nightwalkers. This made the Elders needed to kill The Liege to end the conflict foreseen. Still, the decision of the Elders was divided, clearly seen from Macaire and Jabari. ]
As for the former, (Spoiler) [Macaire gave his full support in cooperating with Naturi because he believed that killing the Liege would destroy the present status quo and therefore made him the most powerful among both the Elders and Nightwalkers.] But for the latter, (Spoiler) [Jabari did not want any gathering with the Naturi and even did not want any changes in status quo. From past to present, he was the one with most power and most strength of the Elders. Yet, he wanted Mira to take the remaining seat, for him to be able to control her meant he took control over the Coven still. ]
And even taking the Coven seat was never ever in her mind (There were four Elders' seats, and one remained unoccupied still.), her capability and strength together with her independence from the Elders in Europe and influence in 'New World' made others strongly believed that she desired the seat. (While ironically, she wanted no involvement at all from the Coven, let alone wanting to become one!) Nevertheless, (Spoiler) [in the end, situations forced her to take the seat to help tip the balance anyway. ] Normally, being an Elder was possible only when the certain Nightwalker was an 'Ancient', who reached over age of million years. (Yet, in her case, being carefully made to ensure her ability to control fire remained, plus having several makers of Ancient Nightwalkers truly gave her strength beyond her age.)
Personally, I enjoyed Dayhunter more than Nightwalker. This is partly because I feel more familiar to the characters and the world created; yet importantly, I do fancy the 'battles of brain' throughout the book. Other Nightwalkers added to this book also helped me see how their world really functioned (The first book took place beyond their realm and therefore left us with no clear picture of Nightwalkers' society.) The book too showed relationship between Mira and other Nightwalkers and their attitude towards one another.
For me, the society of the Nightwalkers seemed ice-cold, selfish and power-thirst. This therefore let us see Mira clearer and better, particularly when she was very different from the others by holding honor and pride dear to her. (She emphasized on this two, while others on 'power'.) Still, the thing that we can not ignore is her ability to use fire greatly made her strong against other fire-feared Nightwalkers. Besides, being under Jabari's protection also gave her even more topdog position. Unlike other Nightwalkers, both luxuries spared her from bitterness and blissed her to go on her life happily, and more important, normally. And this is also a reason why I like her , when she tried to live, and live happily. Still, it is made clear that Mira herself had no intention to hurt/ strike anyone first, yet if attacked, she would not stay still, but did fight back. This is especially true if the attacked was what she protected, the return would be much higher and deadlier. Such a scene “Who am I?” I snarled, tightening my grip. Her eyes stared at me, confused and terrified. ….. She too has fed on poor, chained Tristan – she deserved to die, consumed in the flames that surrounded her. And she knew it.
“You are the Fire Starter,” she whimpered in a strangled voice.
“Tell them what I have done,” I commanded in a low, grating whisper. “Tell them that if anyone touches what belong to me, I shall hunt them down and collect their hearts for display in my domain. Remind them of what I am …” (p.161)
I see in the 'teaser' (Still, what is it to call?) that one selling point promoted by the publisher was a shade of paranormal romance in the series, with the cat-and-mouse chasing game between Mira and Danaus. From my view, I see the possibility between them, which made the series even more enticing. Yet so far, the relationship and the connection of the two were in forms of friends/ partners who tagged together against the world rather than in forms of lovers. (Of which one great connection was feeling each other's feelings and emotions, telepathy, as well as Danaus being able to control her.) Still, such partner relationship makes the story more alluring than lover ones. (And yes, I like it more!) However, when thinking of the series as paranormal romance, in terms of relationship of only two characters, such romance was not yet happening. It seems that Mira had the so-called 'history' with a number of male characters, such as Jabari in the first book (though between them only occurred a good, good feeling and nothing more) and Valerio in the second one. Still, considered that the heroine herself had lived for more than 500 years, this was simply normal. (On the contrary, if she had NO relationship/ affairs at all, that would call NOT normal!!) Also, in the book, there was also a scene when she used sex for stress-releasing with not-Danaus character. Dayhunter is graded as B++ (not so sure if there's much different from B+/A!). I can't wait to read Dawnbreaker released in September 2009. As the Seal has now been broken, and no different than Nightwalkers' side, there has also been a great betrayal among Naturi; more betrayal/destruction are just promised in Book 3. Somehow, the series become one of my most addicted and most favorite UF. (If being asked what I want to read most as UF series, I would say Dark Days / Sign of Zodiac/ Outcast (NOT in that order!) as my Top Three. And my sum-up for the book is "Politics and power struggle had never been this fun!"
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