I hope you guys aren’t going to get tired of hearing about Yasmine Galenorn, because I do intend to try and read all of the Otherworld series, and there are (as of right now) sixteen of them. Here’s a review of the third book in the series – Darkling.
I was happy to see that this book tells the story of the third of the D’Artigo sisters – Menolly. She is a vampire, which means that, as of yet, we haven’t seen as much of her as we have of the other two sisters. As a vamp, she can’t go out during the day, so when they’ve been off doing things, she’s been down in the basement. Because of this, she has in the past come off as a bit of a flat character. In this book, however, we find out why.
All of the D’Artigo sisters have had the experience of being ostracized due to their half-breed status. Menolly has been separated from them even further because of being a vampire. She can’t spend as much time with her sisters and can’t be there for them all the time. She feels very isolated, but doesn’t want to burden her sisters with that fact, since there isn’t really anything they can do about it.
Menolly puts up a strong front, but her isolation is only part of it. We find out exactly how she became a vampire, and boy oh boy . . . it’s not pretty. At all. She was spying for the OIA on a group of vampires led by a man named Dredge. Unfortunately, Dredge catches her, tortures her in every way possible, then changes her into a vampire so she can go back to her home and attack her sisters. Her sisters, by the way, have no idea how bad the attack was because Menolly shielded them from the truth.
Dredge is up to no good though, creating a bunch of newborn vampires to wreck havoc on the city. He’s also most likely in league with Shadow Wing, the greater demon who is trying to destroy everything. Menolly has to face her fears and try to sever her ties to her vampire sire.
This book is my favorite of the series yet. Menolly is definitely a kick-ass heroine, which I always appreciate, but she has a softer side as well. This book allows you to see that. Another thing that was fun – we get to see Otherworld! Menolly and Camille travel through Otherworld, avoiding the fairy queen’s people, to both find out information and to help Menolly escape from Dredge’s influence for good. I hope we get to spend more time there in later books.
Once I get through with some of the other books I have to review, I will definitely move on to book four in this series. These books are so much fun to read!
Categories: Books I've Read
Life With No Plot 
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