Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Den of Shadows Quartet

FOUR COMPLETE NOVELS—ONE CAPTIVATING WORLD
In the Forests of the Night
Three hundred years ago Risika had a family—a brother and a father who loved her. Three hundred years ago she was human. Now she is a vampire, a powerful one. And her past has come back to torment her.
Demon in My View
Jessica isn’t your average high school student—she’s an acclaimed published author of vampire fiction. Now two new students at her high school strongly remind her of her favorite characters. But those characters only live in her imagination—right?
Shattered Mirror
Christopher Raneva and Sarah Vida may look like a normal high school couple, but he’s actually a vampire who’s sworn off human blood and she’s an incredibly powerful, vampire-hunting witch. As if that weren’t enough to prevent their love, his past and her future collide when they get tangled up with Nikolas, one of the most reviled vampires ever.
Midnight Predator
Once a happy teenager, Turquoise Draka is now a vampire hunter. Her current assignment is to assassinate Jeshikah, one of the cruelest vampires in history. But to do that, she’ll have to enter Midnight, a fabled vampire realm, as a human slave. . .


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Amelia Atwater-Rhodes has a very unique writing style. Aside from a few slow spots, I enjoyed reading this. The Den of Shadows Quartet is, in all sense of the word, a quartet. Four full novels make up this book, each one better than the last. I love how she writes her own version of vampires and witches, and here's what really caught my attention (other than the cover) is that the enemies of the vampire are NOT werewolves, but various witches. This novel has the first four books in the series, with one other book, the fifth one called Persistence of Memory, (not included) its own novel. If you understood that.
Amelia is also the author of the Kiesha`ra series, where she introduces another world that she thought up with her own brain.
Overall -- I give the book a 4 out of 5, and it is on my suggestion list. It might be missing a point, but that's only because of how the book started out.

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Individual ratings
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In the Forests of the Night
This is a story about an unwanted turning and where hatred flows throughout the character`s story. There are no humans or witches in this one, but a rivalry between Risika (or Rachel, as she was originally called) and Aubry (he is also one of the main character`s in Demon in my View), two "powerful" vampires. Basically its a story about Risika finding her true self and gaining back what she had lost.
I give this story a 3 out of 5 because it was absolutely confusing. Sure, Amelia tried her best to catch the reader up with various flashbacks, but I was still lost despite her efforts. The real action doesn't happen until a few chapters before the book ends, so that's another reason why I give it a low rating. And, as I noticed in all the books, a surprise ending that makes everyone wish they knew more concluded the book.

Demon in My View
Jessica is a loner, an adopted girl who everyone seems to hate. One thing about the description is that two of her characters are not from her books (although one, who is a witch, was familiar to her because of her bloodlines), but one, who is Aubry from the first one. Instantly Jessica is drawn to him, and its the first book inside the novel that even hints to a love interest (and is the first one that even has the characters kiss). I ate it up, I will admit.
I don't want to give any spoilers away, so I will not say anymore. My rating for this book is a 4 out of 5. It was better than the first one, but there were still questions I had to ask, though the ending was strong.

Shattered Mirror
Psssttt! I hate being lied to. The description is all wrong, but I guess it can hint towards the right direction. This book is about the daughter of one of the greatest witches (the cousin of one of the heroins in Demon in my View) and so it can connect to the previous book. This one goes more in depth with the witches and their world, and has its own "star crossed lovers", between a witch and a vampire. This is one of my favorite books in the series, with a 5 out of 5. It goes in depth and I didn't want to put it down. Another thing that made me love, love, love this book is that there isn't really a happy ending. It is unlike any other vampire/ witch book I have ever read, and I didn't want it to end. This is defiantly a MUST read.

Midnight Predator
This I will also say is a 5 out of 5. I loved it, and it introduces shape-shifters and human vampire hunters.  Who doesn't love those? Basically the description is right, but one thing that it doesn't mention is that the person who Turquoise is sold to also has his own dark path. There are plenty of OMG moments in it, and I guess you could say that that's what made me want to not put the book down. Trust me, I didn't put it down even when my hands fell asleep. This is also a MUST read (emphasis on the must) and I wish Amelia would write another book with these characters so I can see what paths they (mostly Turquoise) chose to go down.

<3: Ce-Ce Wroth

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