Daughters of Darkness

This is the second installment of L.J. Smith's Night World series, which debuted in the mid 1990s, and featured a hidden world of vampires, witches and shape-shifters. When Rowan, Kestrel and Jade Redfern - three beautiful but unearthly sisters - come to live in Briar Creek, Oregon, Mary-Lynette Carter and her brother Mark find themselves drawn into their dangerous secret. Vampires on the run from the restrictive Night World, the three girls and their new friends must confront a possible vampire-hunter, as well as the sinister Ash Redfern, come to recapture the runaways...

Smith continues her world-building in Daughters of Darkness, revealing more about the "Night World," with its male chauvinism, and "species bigotry." She builds upon show more the "Soulmate Principle," which also appeared in Secret Vampire, and in a trend that would continue throughout the series, featured the previous installment's "villain" as the romantic lead.

The teen melodrama is a little thick at times, but Smith's narrative has much to recommend it, and I find that I prefer it to the more current (and much more well-known) Twilight saga. At heart, Night World is about the redemptive power of forbidden love, and features fairly complex characters, some of whom start out bad, but end up good. The girls are usually smart and strong-willed, and the romantic resolutions are not always smooth.

Daughters of Darkness stands out in this respect, and has always been one of my favorites. Mary-Lynette is a strong, caring, and very intelligent young woman, and despite her overwhelming "pre-destined" attraction to Ash, she does not surrender any of her principles. Prejudice, whether between different human groups, or between vampire and werewolf, is an "ugly thing," and she has no hesitation in condemning it, even in her soulmate. A brilliant amateur astronomer, she quotes Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew), and responds to Ash's declaration of love with references to Pride and Prejudice.

Perhaps most impressive of all, Mary-Lynnete decides to stay exactly who she is: "She was Mary-Lynette, and someday she'd discover a supernova or a comet or a black hole, but she'd do it as a human. And Ash would come back next year. And she would always love the night." In short, L.J. Smith offers everything that is missing in Stephanie Meyer's work, and I highly recommend this series to any reader who was dissatisfied with the latter. show less

Daughters of Darkness, the second entry in LJ Smith's Night World series, is the perfect antidote to the well-worn, overly traditional depictions of female characters that plagued the first novel. Where Smith gave us just one female character in Secret Vampire--and a submissive, ill, and impotent female character at that--in Daughters of Darkness she introduces four strong, well-rendered, and independent heroines. Perhaps this is deliberate; three of these characters are fleeing an oppressive male-dominated supernatural society. But it's in her depiction of a human that the message of female independence and strength is at its strongest.When Mary-Lynette, an amateur astronomer, genius, and protective older sister, goes outside one night show more to watch the Perseid meteor shower, she spies three girls burying what seems to be a body in her neighbor's backyard Her tireless investigation of the mystery plunges her into the Night World, a shadowy society of vampires, werewolves, and witches that operates just below the surface of our own. As with all Smith's human heroines, Mary-Lynette is destined (doomed?) to be the soulmate of one such creatures, the piggish but undeniably awesome vamp Ash.Unlike Poppy of the previous volume, though, Mary-Lynette is unsettled, rather than overjoyed at the sudden appearance of her soulmate. She wavers between treating Ash dismissively and aggressively, finally settling on what seems like a healthy acceptance of this relationship. Again, she differs in Poppy here--rather than making the choice to be thrust into the Night World herself, she chooses to stay human. She even lets Ash go at the end of the novel, urging him to "give me time to finish growing up." Wisely, she reminds him, "I'm still in high school, Ash."Maybe Daughters of Darkness lacks the wishy-washy romanticism of the previous volume, but it's a much better message for teenage girls--that they, and their partners, can be separate entities and still enjoy true love, that they can be independent and still fierce and fiercely lovable. show less

Mary-Lynnette lives to look at the night sky. More than anything she wants someone that can be with her and understand what she sees in the constellations and planets. But, she has accepted that for now, things will be as they are. Instead of concentrating on her own lack of companionship Mary-Lynnette is more concerned with bringing her brother, Mark, out of his shell and into the social world. When a neighbor tells Mary-Lynnette that her three nieces are coming to live with her she is hopeful that perhaps Mark will perhaps meet someone he can like. However, when Mary-Lynette meets the three sisters and the brother that has followed them there, she feels there is something more to who and what they are than the surface. Something dark show more and deadly. Soon things are getting out of control and with each strange occurrence Mary-Lynnette and Mark find themselves drawn deeper and deeper into the Night World.

This book is the second installment of L.J. Smith’s Night World series. If my faulty memory serves I do believe the character of Ash first made an appearance in Secret Vampire and it was nice to see some follow through here. Although I didn’t find the book quite as intriguing as Secret Vampire it still held my interest and moved along fairly quickly. Mary-Lynnette’s first reaction to Ash was odd to say the least, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or if I should cringe on Ash’s behalf. The sisters were also a bit unusual but all things considered I think this was to be expected. This book did kind of have a non-ending with things a bit up in the air. I will be curious to see if this story thread has a resolution further along in the series. If not, I suppose I can just ponder what happened in my own little mind.

I think any of L.J. Smith’s stories would make great fill-ins for those waiting for Stephenie Meyer’s next installment and highly recommend her Vampire Diaries and these Night World books to lovers of young adult vampire and urban fantasies. show less

Sisters Rowan, Kestrel and Jade Redfern are vampires who don't really feel like playing by the misogynistic and old-fashioned rules of the Night World any more. Unfortunately they're part of a very important family and can't just be let to go visit their aunt who left the community years before. Their brother, Ash, is sent to retrieve them. Mary-Lynette and her brother Mark are initially suspicious of the girls, especially after their Aunt isn't present. However, relationships may be brewing between the two humans and two of the vampires, due to the recently re-energized 'soulmate principle'
The major themes of this series are becoming clear: A Night World member will (either reluctantly or enthusiastically) fall in love with a human, show more reveal the secret and they will go on the run. I assume this eventually ends with the human-friendly Night World folks at war with the 'humans are food' camp. Should be a fun ride. show less

This is probably my least favourite book in the whole series. Despite it being the second, I didn't read it until long after I'd read all the other Night World books, but my distaste for it isn't solely due to the fact that it can't really compare to the novels that came after. This book not only can't stand the test of time (do teenagers even know what a Walkman is anymore?), but had a good number of flaws that would have been evident even at the time of writing.

For example, there's a scene quite early on in which two teenage boys start in on their attempt to rape three girls. When these girls reveal themselves to be vampires, one of them shouts, " How the freak did you do that? What the freak are you?" Freak? Really? A guy who's about show more to rape someone isn't going to play by PG language rules. If you can't have swearing in your story, don't try for swearing. Toning it down and substituting words just makes the whole situation look absurd, and is rather insulting to the intelligence of the reader.

Second example I can think of is when characters are wondering who might be the killer they're all looking for. They land on a character who was mentioned only once or twice before that, and in passing: Bunny Marten. They suspect Bunny because of her name; born-vampires tend to have names related to nature in some way. Bunny is obvious, of course, but one character then says, "And isn't a marten a kind of weasel?" Yes, it is, but the spelling of her last name was never mentioned, and it's not as though a more common spelling isn't "Martin." It may have the same root, but it's one heck of a leap, and a leap that only makes sense if the character suggesting it knows the odd spelling. Which she doesn't.

The story itself wasn't particularly engaging, either. Standard whodunnit mystery involving the death of a vampire. The killer turns out to be a mad werewolf who doesn't display any signs of actually being insane until he's triggered by jealousy, but apparently he was unhinged all along.

The only thing I really liked about this novel was the way to romance between Mary-Lynette and Ash was handled. The two are soulmates, which means that they're bound together whether they like it or not, and can't be truly happy without each other. Problem is that they don't get along, and outside of a few moments of teen lust, even admit that there's no way they can handle each other. But rather than refusing to acknowledge that, they agree to spend some time apart until they've both matured and come to grips with themselves and each other before exploring their connection any further. It was a refreshingly mature approach to the soulmate concept, and I really enjoyed seeing it.

Aside from a brief mention of a few characters in a later book, this is one that can be skipped over without losing anything of the series as a whole, and I highly recommend doing so. You don't miss much, and you get to spare yourself the trouble of reading a clumsy novel that was subpar even for a decade and a half ago. Overall, not really worth it. show less

Quick Summary:
There's something strange about the new girls in town. Briar Creek, Oregon, has never seen anything like the supernatural grace of Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade, three sisters who move into the dilapidated old house next to Mark and Mary-Lynnette Carter. Mark is obsessed with Jade -- but she and her sisters have a secret. And when Mark and Mary-Lynnette follow them into the woods one night, they are plunged into a nightmare beyond their imagination. Because the sisters are fugitives from the Night World, and their brother Ash is hot on the trail behind them. He's ruthless, gorgeous, and he has orders to bring the girls back at all costs. And when he sees Mary-Lynette, he decides to take her too. . . .

My reaction: I have read show more all the books in the Night World series and this one is my favorite! I first read this in the seventh grade. I have read each book in this series every couple of years since then. Such a fun read! Also, it's by the author who wrote the books that the Vampire Diaries TV show was based upon. In my opinion, the Night World is a much better series than the Vampire Diaries. I wish they would have made it a show.

Daughters of Darkness is the second book in L.J. Smith's series. It focuses on the crossings of paths of a few groups of people. Mark and Mary Lynette Carter are two siblings who are obsessed with astronomy. Rowan, Kestral and Jade Redfern are three vampire sisters who are on the run from their previous life at a secluded vampire colony, where women are still treated archaically. Ash Redfern, the book's resident hottie, is the girl's older brother. He has come to town to drag them home, kicking and screaming.

When the girls arrive at their great-aunt Opal Burdock's house in Briar Creek, they find she has been murdered -- staked, actually! They panick and bury her body in the garden, outside. Little do they know, the next-door neighbor, Mary-Lynette, is star-gazing and witnesses the burial. Mary-Lynette assumes the girls murdered her poor old neighbor. Mary-Lynette is a small, spunky brunette. she will not just let her poor old neighbor be murdered without someone being held accountable, so she and her brother investigate. Mary-Lynnette and Mark are befriend the visiting vampires and promise to help find the murderer.Who in Briar Creek would do such a thing? Especially, in a town where Mary-Lynette has known everyone her entire life.

It's a fun story involving vampires, werewolves, and star-crossed lovers. What really drives this book, however, is Ash and Mary-Lynette. Mary-Lynette and Ash's conversations were humorous (see my quotes from the book, below). The bad boy and the spunky geek made for lots of laughs. The sisters also serve as interesting characters -- they are fugitives of the "night world," and have fled their home to live normal lives with humans. Despite their heightened abilities and thirst for blood, Smith describes their behaviros as sort of alien, since they have grown up in a vampire colony, away from modern society. The ending was realistic, but still hopeful. When you read this book, you will meet characters that you will encounter in the other novels in the series (Quinn). I love watching how Smith's characters develop throughout the series. changed by love! Swoon! Please, do yourself a favor, and check this one out. It's such an easy read, but it's a short and sweet one. so much fun!

Who I would recommend this book to:
Lovers of paranormal romance, YA fiction, vampires, or Twilight.

Worth buying? Yes. I have my own copy!

Quotes from the book:

Mary-Lynnette: "You have not read 'Pride and Prejudice'."
Ash: "Why not?"
Mary-Lynnette: "Because Jane Austen was a human."
Ash: "How do you know?"
Mary-Lynnette: "Well Jane Austen was a woman, and you're a chauvinist pig."
Ash: "Yes, well, that I can't argue.""

""Even when we're apart, we'll be looking at the same sky!""

"Ash? Get bent and die."

"Jeremy: "Who did it? Wait-you think I did. Don't you?"
Ash: "It did cross our minds at one point. Actually, it seemed to keep crossing them. Back and forth. Maybe we should put in a crosswalk.""

"I don't need to kill goats to say things. I CAN talk."

"The thing is- and I know this is going to sound strange-that I seem to love you sort of desperately." show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A slow but exciting plot supports the dynamic development of a forbidden relationship.

Opening Sentence: ”Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade,” Mary-Lynnette said as she and Mark passed the old Victorian farmhouse.

Review:

It’s not uncommon for me to be unsure of how I feel about a book before I finish it. This is one of those instances because looking back, I don’t actually remember feeling one way or another about what was happening. All I know is, I could’t stop reading. It wasn’t the murder mystery that kept me inticed. It wasn’t the need for Mary-Lynnette, a simple astronomy loving girl, to get to the truth about the three mysterious sisters that moved into the home near hers that show more kept me turning pages. I kept reading this story because the whole thing just flowed so smoothly from one point to the next that I never felt like there was an appropriate place for me to walk away. So I didn’t, I kept right on reading happily.

The biggest saving grace for this story has to be the characters. The three sisters, Rowan, Kestrel, and Jade have very different, very defined personalities which don’t actually change at all with the development of the story. They are the characters that readers can kind of choose to side with in a way. Rowan is described as gentle and wise, where Kestrel is fierce and intimidating, while Jade is young and innocent. These girls speak to all the teenagers out there who just want to see if they can make it out in the world alone. They have to make a lot of decisions that could determine the rest of their lives, but they don’t actually develop in any way. Usually their lack of growth would bother me a lot, but their brother Ash goes through enough change to pacify me.

Ash Redfern is the usual vampire bad-boy type with the better than everyone mentality and the usual predjudices against humans and other creatures of the night. He’s a loner who only uses human girls for food and whatever else he wants from them. However, his whole personality is challenged when he meets Mary-Lynnette, a human girl with a fighting spirit he’s never seen before. The development between these two is fast but realistic. At first, they hate each other pretty completely. She hates cocky guys who appear to get by only on their looks, and he hates girls who are…well…human. So naturally their relationship is tense, but then we are introduced to the Soulmate principle. The principle comes up in this story’s prequel, but it is far more exciting in this situation. It describes the feeling of love as shocking and intense. Soulmates recognize each other through the instant electricity they feel at contact. If two souls accept this “forever love” the feeling can cause extreme ecstacy and warmth, but if the two try to fight it, it becomes a bit terrifying with lightning errupting within each of them as they fight what’s meant to be. I doubt I’m the only one who thinks this, but watching a sexy man struggle to protect the woman he loves from not only himself but also the evils of the world while trying to also keep her at a distance to protect is own heart, is possibly one of the hottest things ever.

Anyone who loves watching a forbidden romance grow without dominating the storyline will enjoy this book. And everyone who enjoys reading about hot guys should take heart and know that Ash shows up again later as the series continues.

Notable Scene:

Rowan and Kestrel were looking at each other, and then at Mark and Mary-Lynnette. And their expressions made Mary-Lynnette’s throat close.

“You shouldn’t have followed us,” Rowan said. She looked grave and sad.

“They shouldn’t have been able to,” Kestrel said. She looked grim.

“It’s because they smell like goats,” Jade said.

“What are you doing?” Mark shouted again, almost sobbing. Mary-Lynnette wanted to reach for him, but she couldn’t move.

Jade wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Well, can’t you tell?” she turned to her sisters. “Now what are we supposed to do?”

There was a silence. Then Kestrel said, “We don’t have a choice. We have to kill them.”

FTC Advisory: I purchased my own copy of Night World, Vol. 1. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less