Karen Chance

On of my favorite paranormal/urban fantasies ever. It had wit, it had laughter, it had pain, it had sex appeal, it had intrigue and danger, it had a f****** complicated and fleshed out and sensical(!) plot and the greatest characters, and it had much, much more...and this is only the first book. Wow, this was a work of mastery.

One of my favorite things was Dory. I mean, the fact that she actually was dynamic as a character and didn't just remain the crazy half-breed that she was introduced show more as, instead learning a lot about her family's past and gaining a lot of compassion while still holding true to her own character, was fabulous and unexpected. Looking back at my highlighted sections from the beginning of the book to how she was towards the end...I loved it. And the secondary characters--what great development and level of uniqueness they each had! I am very, very excited to continue their stories and see what becomes of each.

Okay, I'm not going to rant more or post all of the many, many quotes that I highlighted and am cracking up reading through now. I'm just gonna say read this. Read this now. Thank me later. show less

Death's Mistress starts off with Dorina doing mercinary work with the Senate. She now hunts down the vampires that are breaking Senate rules, cuts off their head, and drops the head onto Mircea's desk while collecting her money. Immortals have to pay their bills and this is steady work.

Claire has been gone from Earth for about a month to seemingly be happily wed in Faerie. In Midnight's Daughter she was being hunted by Aesubrand for becoming pregnant with the future heir. It shouldn't be a show more surprise that her time in Faerie hasn't been all that pleasant. The time streams of the two worlds do not match up and Claire has been gone long enough to have had a 9 month old son, Aiden, that mysterious Fey are trying to murder. The resolution to this problem should have been the rune all the heirs to the throne wear after their first birthday. The rune makes the wearer impossible to kill. The threat to Aiden's life is unending and the ceremony to put the rune on him is moved up, but not fast enough. Aiden's babysitter is killed and Claire grabs her kid and books it out of Faerie to hide with Dory.

The oh so important rune is stolen from the royal Fey, taken to Earth to be sold fast, and instead becomes the motive in a large number of murders. Every head honcho in the supernatural community wants this rune. Mircea and Ming-de are two of the very select interested parties at the auction. It was being passed from the Fey that originally stole it onto the runner of the auction when murder happens, and the rune goes missing. Again. It could be anywhere with anyone and Aiden is still vulnerable. Dory becomes the official envoy of the Blarestri princess and kicks down doors looking to get it back.

Death's Mistress is golden. A unique aspect of the Dorina series is the inclusion of the Fey in the story. Typically supernatural species stay in their own stories. A dhamphir knows vampires better than demons so why stray from those characters? Chance builds up two complex worlds and tangles them together masterfully. Plenty of characters from the first novel appear in the second. Olga sells weapons in a beauty shop. Stinky is losing his baby teeth and being a strange fluffy child. Mircea and Marlowe make some appearances individually and together. Ray, the auction holder, is a highlight of the book. We get to meet Christine, L-C's former mistress and eternal damsel. I'm sad that we don't get to see her again. She was such a fun ditzy character turned psycho.) Aesubrand remains a perfectly terrifying villian.

All around a wonderful addition to a fun series. show less

I ordered this book because I enjoyed the author’s Cassandra Palmer series. Though at times that series strained my patience with constant time traveling, it was still a fresh urban fantasy with new twists on vampires, fey and whatnot. Midnight’s Daughter is the first in a spin-off of that series starring a new protagonist, the half vampire (dhampir) daughter of the master vampire, Mircea. Dhampirs are natural enemies of vampires, and subject to homicidal rages that they don’t show more remember. Cool.

I was happily surprised to find I like this series much better. Dorina Basarab is a more independent heroine who is aware of her own power and limitations; unlike Cassie, she isn’t in near constant need of rescuing, and winning battles isn’t out of sheer luck. Dory has lived on her own for over 500 years. Mircea shows up to ask his estranged daughter for a favor – help recapture Uncle Dracula. She only grudgingly agrees after he offers to use his influence to help locate Dory’s best friend and room mate, Claire, who has gone missing. Dory helped capture Drac last time he escaped, and he is the only thing that truly terrifies her. A huge bonus for me was the inclusion of master vampire Louis-Cesare in the plot as a main character. He first appeared in "Touch the Dark" and I liked him immediately. I’m not even sure why - possibly because even then there seemed to be a vulnerability about him. Mircea has ordered them to work together on this. Naturally, they are attracted to each other and the sexual tension is high. But both of them are emotionally damaged, and get on each other’s last nerve. It’s a battle of wills from the start, with lots of sexy and funny confrontations. The dialog is sharp, and no holds barred. The author doesn’t do a disservice to the characters either by having them become devoted lovers at the end. They have a tentative understanding, even friendship, that could become more (and I REALLY hope it does) in later books. Readers get more history on Mircea and his family than in the other series, and the world-building is continued; the Fey figure prominently in the plot.

The book is fast paced and action packed with a lot of combat. There is more blood and mayhem than the Cassie series, but it worked well for this new protagonist. There were a few things that I didn’t care for – the author frequently invokes memory flashbacks that entailed several pages of italicized text. Once or twice that’s fine, but it happened a few too many times here and wasn’t really necessary. The second problem was that the ending felt rushed. Claire was missing the entire book, with many scattered clues as to what may have happened to her, and she just shows up at the end “here I am” and proceeds to tell Dory, in the middle of a battle, where she’s been? Despite these small flaws, I enjoyed the book a lot and can’t wait to read the next one.

Highly recommended – but new readers should start with the first 3 Cassie Palmer books. This can be read as a stand alone, but a lot of nuances would be missed. I didn’t read the short story in “On the Prowl,” but intend to now. show less

Dorrie is unique- as a dhamphir she has inherited some vampire strengths and human vulnerabilities making for an interesting character. She appeases her own violent nature by hunting vampires and other creatures that step over the line, but maintains a friendship with her housemate, Claire. When Claire goes missing, Dorrie relunctantly collaborates with her father to hunt down her Uncle Drac (the Dracula of legend) in order to ensure her safety. Chance cleverly uses the relationships to show more reveal Dorrie's family background and how it has affected her without slowing the pace of the story. Dorina, who is used to working alone, must team up with Louis-Cessare to track down Drac in the midst of political warfare between the Light and Dark Mages and coup attempts in the world of Fae. This provides lots of action as they battle their way through the various factions in their goal to bring down Dracula. Initially Louis and Dorrie are wary of each other but eventually trust and then attraction develops. This happens quite naturally given the background they share and i look forward to the partnership developing in future books.Midnights Daughter is a fun read, witty and fast paced, with a host of supernatural characters, a good start to a new series show less