Book Review - The Night World Series by L.J. Smith

*Updated post with more links (12:59pm)












What do you call a society of supernatural beings dwelling among us, yet hidden right before our eyes? Ljane Smith calls it Night World. Long before there was even the idea for Twilight, there was Night World. Night World is her mesmerizing, highly addicting series of young adult fantasy books.....only young adults aren't the only ones hooked. How many authors can write a series of nine books so captivating that her readers are willing to wait and are still salivating for the tenth and final book in the series? Oh yes, many authors write compelling series that hook us, but unlike Ljane they write them pretty close together. Ljane (as she prefers to be called per her website) published the first nine books between 1996-98. Here we are in 2009 and we are still breathlessly waiting. In fact, some of us love her stories so much we have purchased the re-released books (as seen above in Vols 1,2 & 3) and fallen in love with them all over again. Now a decade later there is a whole new group of readers discovering her spellbinding work. Luckily, our wait is almost over as Night World: The Ultimate Fan Guide (click here to pre-order thru Amazon)is being released in late October (with a sneak peek of the first two chapters of the final book, Strange Fate) and Strange Fate (click here to pre-order thru Amazon) is scheduled to be released on April 6, 2010.

Let me be your guide into the first nine books of Ljanes's magical Night World.....

Witches, vampires, shapeshifters and other things that go bump in the night do live among us. They are part of Night World and are forbidden from letting us mere humans know they exist and from have relationships with others that are not their specific species. The penalty for breaking these rules is death for all parties involved. But Fate has other plans, creating soulmates that cross those lines. An organization has formed called, Circle Daybreak, that believes the only way for us survive is to all learn to work together and live in harmony. There is a prophecy that says only the Wild Powers can prevent the world from falling into chaos and darkness. Circle Daybreak is committed to finding these four Wild Powers, keeping them safe from Night World and helping them in the coming battle. The only clues they have to find the Wild Powers is :

One from the land of kings long forgotten,
One from the hearth which still holds the spark,
One from the Day World where two eyes are watching,
One from the twilight to be one with the dark.

The fate of the world will be in their hands. Let's begin our journey...

Secret Vampire
James and Poppy have been best friends since childhood. Poppy doesn't know that James is a vampire until she is dying of cancer. Will he turn her to save her, though it is forbidden?

Daughters of Darkness
The Redfern sisters, Rowan, Jade and Kestral, are vampires who flee Night World to live among humans in rural Oregon. They befriend human brother and sister, Mary-Lynette and Mark, who discover their true identities. When Ash Redfern comes to take his sisters back to Night World, he must decide whether to kill Mary-Lynette and Mark for knowing about vampires or accept his connection to Mary-Lynette. Will he follow his duty or will he allow his world to be turned upside down?

*For those who have read Daughters of Darkness, click here for the follow-up story, "Those Who Favor Fire", with Ash and Mary-Lynette.

Spellbinder
Thea and Blaise Harmon are sisters and witches, who are as different as night and day. Blaise is as bad as they come. she has a strong hatred for humans and revels in using her magic to destroy the men in her life. Thea is the good one, who also has disdain for humans but is compelled by her compassion to help them. When Thea heals human, Eric, she discovers he is her soulmate. Blaise is determined to add him to her list of ruined conquest. Will Blaise destroy Eric or will Thea be able to save him?

Dark Angel
When Gillian falls into an icy river and drowns on her way home from school, she meets Angel who guides her back into the land of the living only to coerce her into doing things she isn't comfortable with. Will her long time crush, David, be able to save her from Angel's sinister intentions?

The Chosen
After seeing her mother killed by a vampire, Rashel devotes her life to tracking and killing the nocturnal monsters. When she gets in over her head, it will be the vampire, Quinn, she must accept help from. The bond that forms will make them both question their prejudices, but will it save them or be their undoing?

Soulmate
What do you do when recurring nightmares and strange notes you don't remember writing keep turning up? That is what Hannah and her therapist set out to solve, only to discover, Hannah is a very old soul.... She has been reincarnated many times over the centuries only to die at a young age each time. In this current incarnation, she was unaware of Night World until she discovers she is part of a dangerous triangle with Maya, the original vampire and Thierry, The Lord of the Night World. Will she survive past her birthday this time or face the same tragic end only to start the cycle all over again?

Huntress
When Jez Redfern discovers she is a rare human-vampire halfbreed because her mother was human, she turns her back on her past and the human hating gang she leads. She joins Circle Daybreak and begins living with her long-lost human relatives while hunting down the renegades of Night World. When she gets word that the new leader of her old gang, Morgead Blackthorn, claims to have discovered the identity of a Wild Power, she will go undercover, back to her old life as a vampire to bring The Wild Power into the protection of Circle Daybreak. Will she find the Wild Power before her old gang discovers what she is really up to?

*For those who have read Huntress, click here for a story, "Jez and Morgead's Night Out", from the character's past.

Black Dawn
Maggie Neely's brother is missing and presumed dead after a mountain climbing trip with his girlfriend, Sylvia. Maggie thinks Sylvia is hiding something and when she confronts her, she ends ends up unconscious only to wake up in a slaver's cart in the mountains headed toward a hidden Night World Kingdom, ruled by vampire Prince Delos. She will manage to escape with three other slaves, one who is a mysterious young blind girl. Will she be able to move past her brothers disappearance and her own kidnapping or will she be drawn back into the fate of Prince Delos and the people of in his kingdom?

Witchlight
Werepanther, Keller will lead a team of supernaturals to retrieve the third Wild Power. Even a team of a shape-shifter, witch and vampire will have there work cut out for them retrieving "lost witch", Iliana. It is prophesied that she is the Witch Child who will marry the son of the First House of shape-shifters, Galen Drache, to unify the shape-shifter and witch families. First of all Iliana wants nothing to do with being a witch or fulfilling her destiny. Keller has fallen in love with Galen, whom Iliana must marry to secure peace. Finally, one of the original shape-shifters, a dragon, has been awakened and he is not on their side. Will Keller be able to deny her own feelings for the sake of her duty? Will Iliana come around and embrace her destiny as a witch and the betrothed of Galen? And what does the awakening of the dragon mean for the fate of the Wild Powers and the prophecy?

*For those who have read Witchlight, click here for the continueing story, "Thicker Than Water", with Keller and Iliana.


The answers to all of the above questions are in her books. We must anxiously wait until Strange fate is released to get the final answers to the fate of the world.

This is one of the most captivating series I have read. It definitely gets five out of five and I urge everyone to purchase, check it out from the library or mug a friend who has a copy (not really, but maybe sweet talk them and borrow it.) Everyone who loves fantasy should read these intoxicating stories. Click here for a list of all LJ Smith's books.

DVD- True Blood Season One

A few years ago I read the first book in Charlaine Harris' southern vampire series, Dead Until Dark. While it was okay, I didn't enjoy it enough to read any more in the series. Since the books were turned into a series by HBO, I have heard from countless people that it is a must see for anyone who loves vampires. I do love vampires and shape-shifters and other assorted mythical creatures, well the stories about them anyways. Not having cable, I had to wait until the first season came out on DVD and then I finally broke down and watched it. While it is no Buffy, Angel or even the short lived, The Kindred, I can see why people are hooked on it. It's quirky. It's cheesy and it's fun. It's basically an entertaining bit of fluff for vampire lovers. It is rare for me to like a movie or TV show better than the book it was based on, but in this case, Charlaine's stories are just more compelling on the screen than in print.

The story takes place in Bon Temps, LA. Bon Temps is a small southern parish, full of what one has come to expect from a small town in the deep south. The accents are strong, the sheriff is a bumbling fool, there are Bible beaters, wife beaters, small town hussies, dumb jocks, rednecks, racial tension, gays hiding in the closets and plenty of intolerance in general. Being a southerner myself, if not from that far South, I want to be offended that Hollywood can't seem to stay away from those stereotypes. Unfortunately, growing up in and traveling extensively in the South, I have seen places and people just like these stereotypes. The cast and crew have captured these nuances beautifully.

As the story begins, due to a Japanese firms development of synthetic blood, vampires no long have to feed on humans to survive and have come out of hiding. Makes one question, what other mythical creatures are real? Future episodes will reveal some. With vampires becoming fellow citizens, religious and political leaders take sides, often to radical extremes. The people of Bon Temps are no exception.

The main character of the story is Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie is a waitress, with the gift of telepathy, at the local watering hole, Merlotte's. She is naive, way too trusting while at the same time being strongly opinionated and impulsive. I have never been a big fan of Anna Paquin, but she is perfect as the title character, Sookie. Her boss, Sam Merlotte, is secretly a shape shifter and not so secretly in love with Sookie. In another brilliant casting decision, he is played by the charming and sexy, Sam Trammell. Rounding out this particular love triangle is the vampire, Bill Compton, played to brooding excellence by Stephen Moyer. These three characters are the main driving force behind season one, although many notable supporting characters keep the show flowing and the entertainment from getting stale. There is Sookie's best friend Tara, who always has something to say and it's usually the wrong thing. Sookie's brother, Jason who can't seem to keep himself out of trouble or his pants on. On that note, I have to comment on the odd sex scenes, the directors of these episodes think we need to see. I'm no prude, but most of the sex scenes are just annoyingly weird and while Ryan Kwanten is cute, I don't need to see him naked in every episode. When did HBO decide to channel "Skinamax"? I digress, other note worthy supporting characters are my personal favorites, Lafayette Reynolds, superbly played by Nelsan Ellis. His character puts the spice in the show. Last but definitely not least, the exquisite Eric Northman, played by Alexander Skarsgard. No offense Tom Cruise, but Lestat you were not. Is it just me but where was Alexander Skarsgard when they cast Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire? He would have been the perfect Lestat. As Lafayette would say, "I'm just saying!" Northman is the brooding sheriff of the Area 5 vampires. He has a certain benevolent look to him that disguises the darker side that oozes out when you least expect it.

While some of the minor characters are portrayed by less talented actors, it is the excellent casting of the main characters that drives the series to its success. For all the paranormal lovers out there, it is definitely a show worth watching. I give it five out of five silver crosses.

Book Review - King By Right of Blood and Might by Anna L. Walls

What if the world as we know it catastrophically destroyed and only a small number of humans were left to survive in a world practically taken back to the stone ages, or more precisely the ice age? Those survivors would be charged with rebuilding the world and dealing with the effects of starvation, radiation poisoning, genetic mutation, re-learning how to survive without all our modern conveniences. Now imagine if you will thousands of years into the future. The modern Ice Age has ended and future generations have learned not only to adapt but to reform societies again. Those genetic mutations have taken the form of people gifted with the power to move objects, shape shift, heal, read thoughts and bend minds. Have they become more highly evolved beings or is mankind still destined to follow the footsteps of those who lived through the dark and middle ages of history?

At first glance, King by Right of Blood and Might looks like your typical medieval tale. Don't let the cover fool you, this book doesn't take place in the distant past, it takes place in the distant future after the world has healed from a global devastation. This is the first novel self published by Anna L. Walls.

The first thing that struck me as unique was finding a Table of Contents. Outside of textbooks, non-fiction books and anthologies, it is not something I often find in fiction books published today. Seeing so many short chapters, my first thought was, "uh-oh, this is going to be really choppy." In reality her shorter chapters flowed beautifully and kept me up most of the night because I'd say to myself, "the next chapter is only a few more pages and I have to see what happens." Then at the end of that chapter, "Oh, I can read just one more.." Needless to say I finished the book in one night.

King by Right of Blood and Might, is the journey of a sixteen year old boy. A prince who has led a sheltered life inside the walls of palace. Prince Harris is the only son of King Aidyn and Queen Lucida of Penn. In the beginning, Harris appears to be an over-protected, bored child. His father obviously loves him but lets his fear for the safety of his family from allowing them to grow and flourish. King Aidyn goes through the motions of being king, allowing other to make the decisions by merely signing whatever is put before him. He knows he can not let his kingdom continue this way, so when King Carroll of the Carolinas sends his envoy and 3rd son, Prince Jonathan to Penn, suggesting they foster each other's sons, King Aidyn sends Harris south to Carolinas. Before he leaves, Harris begins what will be a lifelong bond with Prince Jonathan.

And so the adventure of Prince Harris begins as he is thrust into a kingdom nothing like his own. He will learn what it really means to be a diplomat and a ruler from King Carroll and his family, while back home his own kingdom is crumbling to ruins. He will need all these valuable lessons as he must face the challenge of united former foes to create an army to save his people and rebuild his Kingdom. Some of the interesting characters who will join him along his journey will be Sholeh, the healer; Juan, the son of the Nomad leader, Duncan; Safi, a truthsayer child who will become his ward and bodyguard; Evan, the nomad shapeshifter and many more.

Does Harris have what it takes to bring a truce to all the kingdoms and bridge the gaps and prejudices of the different races? I could tell you, but I want you to go out and buy this fabulous book for yourself. You will not be disappointed. Anna Walls succeeds in taking the reader on an epic journey and leaving them wanting more. Luckily she has another installment in the works. This book is a great read for any age, but would make a great gift to any young adult in your life.

Since it is self-published the best place to find it is on Amazon or ask your local book seller to stock it.