Fangs for the Fantasy

Though this book was written in the first person, a style I really don't prefer for a story, it had a very large world. Drake takes care to include lycanthropes, vampires, witches/warlocks and the fae. The fae in this story are called the naturi and as a group from the antagonist, though they are split into several different clans like animal, and earth for instance. Nightwalker is essentially the story of an ongoing war between the fae and all other supernatural creatures. The fae have the ability to control lycanthropes essentially turning the into slaves and there goal is to open a door to a dimension that was previously sealed by the vampires. Their goal is to rule the earth and eradicate the Nightwalkers.Mira is alone in her own kingdom ensuring that the vampires obey the rules and keeping peace between the vamps and the lycanthropes. She is 500 years old and is the oldest vampire in the Americas. What sets Mira apart from all the others is not only her age, but her ability to start a fire with her mind. As long as she can see someone, or an item for that matter, she has the ability to incinerate it. Mira is also one of the few nightwalkers to win her freedom from an ancient. Her fragile world is ripped asunder when a hunter named Dannus enters her territory killing vampires, and bringing the news that the Naturi are back. Having once been captured and tortured by the Naturi, Mira suffers from PTSD. It manifests in things like night terrors. I think that this is key, because far too often in urban fantasy, characters suffer absolutely traumatic events and then walk away as though the event itself was as harmless as taking a nap. Drake does an excellent job of making the reader feel Mira's pain and her fear. There is no rising above to conquer the past, it is simply something that Mira must negotiate throughout the story.We also have a budding romance between Dannus and Mira, though they have sworn to kill each other. At this point, we have no idea what Dannus is, though he belongs to a sect who have been studying the supernatural for centuries. Dannus was alive during the Roman Empire, and is even older than Mira. He is an extremely interesting character. Dannus begins the story seeing the world in a simple binary of Black and White having had much of life's path influenced by religious figures but once meeting Mira, he must consider that the world is filled with greys he had not previously considered. Their relationship suffers set backs of trust and respect is something that slowly earned rather than given. Unlike many authors, Drake avoids the whole love at first woo woo and takes the time to build a relationship.Read More