Twilight Prophecy

If you know me, then you know I enjoy vampire fiction. But like any other reader, it still needs to be good. I'm fairly open-minded; Stephenie Meyer wants her vampires to glitter in the sun, J.R. Ward's vampires only drink from each other and not humans. I can get behind both of those, because both authors are using the power of imagination.
Maggie Shayne's Twilight Prophecy is WONDERFUL. She carefully and artfully blends history with her imagination to tell the compelling, riveting story of a race on the brink of an apocalypse, and likely, extinction. These vampires do not glitter in the sun, they do not stalk teenager girls whilst asleep. Oh no, these vampires are real. And they live undetected among you and I, eking out an existence show more by pretending to be the very people they are not.
What I truly loved is that Shayne takes characters, and certainly, villains, from our history and tells us, "They are not what you think." Vlad, the Impaler, for example: he wasn't just your ordinary Romanian dictator from the Middle Ages. Legendary Gilgamesh? Not your everyday Sumerian ruler. You might think it's pretty outlandish to include characters that have a far-reaching history in our world, but Maggie Shayne crafts a story of a race against time & history that is so well done, you just might stop to think that anything's possible.
I really enjoyed this story and I can't wait for the next book in the series! show less

Twilight Prophecy is the 17th book in the Wings in the Night series. The premise behind this book sounded interesting enough that I’m glad I decided to read it. There is a Prophecy that states, in essence, that One Light, One Dark, One who is the Destroyer, and One who is the Salvation shall either destroy or save a race (vampires). But the prophecy itself is only part of what actually happens over the course of this book, and the ending was not what the reader will expect.

James and Brigit Poe are twin vampires as well as part human on their mother’s side. The mother is half human and half vampire who was experienced on by a covert arm of the government called the Division of Paranormal Investigations (DPI). DPI has attempted to show more cover up the fact that there are actual vampires living among mortals. They do everything they can, including assassinating a former agent, to keeping this information secret, and then giving it to vigilantes. Of course, things don’t always go the way you want them to, and vigilantes quickly fall into a feeding frenzy and an all-out assault on the vampires, and those they suspect of being vampires, including innocent humans.

James and Brigit are able to exist in the daylight because of their human blood. They are able to eat normal food; they don’t have to worry about the sunlight killing them like full blood vampires; and they have the ability to live forever. James, the golden one, tried to put his vampire nature behind him, traveling across the country and world healing sick and dying people, and not touching blood at all. Brigit, on the other hand, is the badass vampire with the superpowers to throttle anyone who messes with her. She is known as the prophesied destroyer, and she loves the taste of blood. It gives her quicker reflexes, speed, and strength as well as the power to blast things into oblivion.

As the story begins, James is healing a very sick little girl who is dying from cancer. After he heals her, Brigit escorts him out of the hospital and tells him that it’s time to put his big boy pants on, and become the vampire he really is. The vampire race is in grave danger, and they are the only ones who can save it from imploding if it’s not already too late. There is another key to that equation; Professor Lucy Lanfair.

Lucy is a professor of archaeology at Binghamton University (Central New York) who is also a translator of ancient texts. She discovered and recently translated a tablet that was found to be in Sumerian. The table itself is 4500 years old. Lucy’s parents were also archaeologists but they were killed in a dig in Iraq when she was 11 years old. She basically has her work, and her dog to keep her company.

We soon discover that Lucy is one of the Chosen; a rare mortals who possesses the Belladonna Antigen and with it, the potential to become a vampire. Vampires can sense her kind, smell them, and could not fight their instinct to protect them. With Lucy’s rare blood type, she can expect to die in her mid-30’s unless, of course, she becomes a vampire. The antigen also makes Lucy prone to being a night owl, sleeping during the day, staying up all night. It makes her grow more and more sensitive to the sunlight.

This book is a cross between romance between James and Lucy. A mystery as to who the destroyer really is and who the savior of the vampire community is. Suspense to see how far the vigilantes and the government will go to rid the world of vampires and the Chosen ones, and a paranormal who’s who of vampires from across the ages starting with the very first vampire, Utanapishtim, leaping forward to James and Brigit and throwing in such legendary vamps as Vlad and Gilgamesh the King of Ancient Sumer.

Thoughts: I thought Lucy’s character development from the timid scholarly professor type who stumbles acrossed a deep dark secret and then watches in horror as someone is shot to death in order to keep the secret from getting out to the public, to the end when she realizes she will have to sacrifice herself in order to save the man she has come to loved. She also realizes that the vampire community is the victim in this, and quickly learns to trust them, and fight for them.

James, on the other hand, after making a very bad decision in reviving a long ago King after some faulty translation, finally embraces his so called dark side and becomes the vampire he was meant to be. James is an interesting character to review, but really he is kind of bland without Lucy around.
His healing abilities are unique, and amazing, but his brooding is annoying at times. His desire in using Lucy to order to get answers that the vampires need to save themselves, was a bit disconerting.

Still though, I enjoyed this story and definitely will recommend it to anyone who enjoys the PNR storyline. Twilight Fulfilled is expected to be the next book in this series, and releases September 2011.

Expected publication: May 1st 2011 **recvd ARC from publisher** show less

James and Brigette Poe discover that the Vampire race is in danger of being exterminated and they'll do whatever it takes to make sure that it doesn't happen. Professor Lucy Lanfair unwittingly becomes a part of the plan to save the Vampires from certain doom, trouble is bravery is not her strong suit, where others may race toward a fire to save lives, Lucy has always run away. Before it's all said and done Lucy will find strength she never knew she had and love that she never knew existed. Will the prophecy be fulfilled?

This is my very first time reading Maggie Shayne and I can hardly believe that I hadn't heard of her before. Twilight Prophecy is a wonderfully entertaining. I will most certainly be reading other books in the Wings in show more the Night series. Maggie is an incredible storyteller. Each character has three-dementional and original in their own light. Once I started reading...I didn't want to stop! Twilight Fulfilled will be released later this year and I can't wait.

I received this book free from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review, the opinions expressed are my own. show less