By L.A. Banks
Plot
Carlos Rivera, now a master vampire, strikes a deal with the Vampire Council to bring his friend and desired companion, Damali Richards, a vampire huntress, to the sixth level of Hell. There, the council will use her to gain more power. He also has a deal to bring Damali to Nuit for his own egomaniacal schemes. However, Rivera’s status in ‘life’ or ‘un-death’ is unique, and his actions could forever damn him or save him.
Meanwhile, Damali Richards and her team deal with a new member in their ranks, try to locate the master vampire who is on a rampage, prepare for an upcoming concert that could harm untold thousands of innocents, and try to hold themselves together in the face of Damali’s upcoming birthday which will transform her into a full huntress.
Characters
Same characters as in Minion with an additional cast of:
The Convenant – A group of multi-ethnic warriors who desire a meeting with Damali. Again, as with the vampire council, nobody is really defined or unique.
Rivera is shown to possess much more emotion now that he’s in a quandary with his new ‘arrangement.’ It’s deeper, more personal, bringing up images of his past life.
Dialogue
Same as with book one in that everybody sounds similar when speaking.
Writing
Pretty similar to the first with quick, precise action scenes. A few more connections to characters are made and/or dealt with including the death of one baddie I thought would last longer since she was a unique and interesting character. One thing I noticed, and this relates to Character and Dialogue, is many characters use the same terminology, such as ‘cool,’ ‘It’s on,’ ‘For real, for real,’ and calling Damali ‘D.’ One character maybe works, but several, including a bunch of vampires, using the same phrasing gets distracting and doesn’t sound true.
More explanations to the Huntress legend and history are given, which are interesting even when they slide into philosophical areas. Actually, some deep issues are discussed, such as intentions, words, and deeds all originating in the mind and the spirit. I like this part because it causes one to sit back for just a moment and think. It’s doesn’t come at you like a minister preaching from the pulpit, but just enough to make you consider a few things.
The action scenes at the end are exciting, but end quickly with little detail and I could have used a bit more, just to aide my imagination. The fight at the end, in my opinion, was too short, the big baddie not lasting long enough for the power he was portrayed as having.
My ranking
Green Belt
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