Night Lost, Lynn Viehl

I read this a few weeks ago. Lynn Viehl's Darkyn books are always my reliable, go-to vampire novels. Fast paced & yummy with a side order of edginess. At least they are for me anyway. :) Excellent world building with an overarching plot that continues in each novel. It isn't necessary to read the series in order, though. I like some emo angst driven vampires, but once in awhile I want grown up adults who can handle their business. Ms. Viehl's Darkyns are that. Night Lost is the fourth book in the Darkyn series. Correct series order is listed HERE. The first book in the Darkyns is If Angels Burn, the fifth book is Evermore.

Nicola Jefferson is a tormented young woman, now an art thief, religious art being her specialty. In the course of looking for a particular relic that has personal meaning for her, she has freed several Darkyn. Thus making her an enemy of the Brethren of the Light, the Roman Catholic order sworn to eradicate the Darkyn. Nicola also has a particularly strong dream life, often seeing and talking with someone she calls 'the green man'. In rural France she enters a derelict church and finds Gabriel Seran imprisoned there.

Gabriel is a captured Kyn who has been abandoned by his fellow Kyn. For those readers who like to know, Gabriel's l'attrait (each Kyn has a unique scent called l'attrait) is evergreen. I love that unique Darkyn trait, somehow it makes them..I don't know..more accessible? I'm a gardener and scent gardens are a particular favorite of mine, so maybe I'm different. I don't know. Anyhow, somehow he has managed to hold on to his honor despite being locked in a church cellar and tortured by the Brethren. Gabriel too has dreams of an ethereal young woman, a woman who may be able to free him, if only she can find him.

Meantime the overarching plot continues apace. Alexandra Keller, the physician heroine from the first book, has been kidnapped and locked up in Richard Tremayne's (the Kyn leader) castle in Ireland. Alex's estranged brother John is imprisoned there as well. Michael Cyprian, Alex's lover, several of his men as well as Brethren, Gabriel and Nicola all converge in Ireland. Makes for some serious fireworks.

This book has a more sinister tone to it than the last one. I enjoyed that. Vampires should be edgy, should make you feel unsettled a little. This novel delivers that and heat. A fabulous combination! Winner. Also, probably a keeper.


Image found on Fantastic Fiction.

If Angels Burn; Lynn Viehl

Written by Lynn Viehl and published by Signet in 2005, If Angels Burn seems to me more urban fantasy with strong romantic elements as opposed to paranormal romance. Whichever label you hang on it, whatever subgenre you care to place in in, I really love it.

Scotchopping across the eastern US, IAB pairs an emotionally wounded & prickly plastic surgeon heroine with a 700 year old Darkyn Suzerain (a leader of a group of Darkyn) in New Orleans. Alexandra Keller must literally remake Michael Cyprien in to the man he once was. Michael resorts to kidnapping her to force her into operating on him.

Never once does Ms. Viehl, whose blog can be found here, insult the readers intelligence by waving her magic wand and erasing Alex's intelligence or suddenly making Alex succumb to the magic of Michael's l'attrait (the scent that marks all Darkyn, unique to each individual) or, worse, wiping her personality blank as soon as they have sex.

Michael isn't used to human women except as er.. mobile blood banks or as easy to control sexual partners. When Alex enters his life permanently, Michael seems as much confused by this new & different relationship as Alex wonders what in the hell is happening to her. Luckily, Philippe, a member of Michael's jardin in New Orleans convinces Michael to give Alexandra some space & time & eventually Michael & Alex come to an understanding.

Now, by preference I'm leaving alot of things out. Alex's brother is a weirded out Roman Catholic priest who has some serious sexual & psychiatric perversions. The Catholic Church, like many old bureaucratic institutions, is full of odd perversions & hides many old & venal sins. I was a little uncomfortable with this, but the Church as enemy works under Ms. Viehl's pen. I wish more attention had been paid to Alex and Michael's relationship, specifically, I wish he'd courted her more. This is marked as paranormal romance so I expected it to be heavier on the romance side than it was. One other quibble, the scene at the small church near the end wraps up a few too many loose ends in a neat bow- a few loose ends would have added to the sense of foreboding.

Overall If Angels Burn is tightly plotted, with a modern heroine I feel is realistically drawn, a Darkyn any red blooded woman would like to meet in a New Orleans cemetary and an evil menace worthy of late night shivers.