Usually when I receive an Advance Reader Copy of a book, it’s because I’ve signed up to receive one. In the case of Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake, however, I don’t remember doing that. That actually made me excited, though. Maybe I’m making a mark as a reviewer, finally?

Anyway, Nightwalker had the unfortunate luck to arrive in the mail on the same day as a huge ($150) order from Amazon. (I’d come into a couple of gift cards. I don’t usually have the cash on hand to order that many books from Amazon all at once.) What was that you say? Amazon sells things besides books? Pshaw!

Needless to say, it took me awhile to get on the ball to read this one. What spurred me to make the book a priority was the fact that Kim Harrison recommended it on both her mailing list and website. It was a pretty compelling read. Not ground-breaking spectacular, but good enough to keep me intrigued over the second half and through to the end.

Nightwalker seems, at first glance, to be your usual tale from a bloodsucker’s point of view. There were some interesting twists. Only one other author that I know of has done elves and vamps in the same story before (Kim Harrison herself, but in a completely different way). The first half or so of the book, though, isn’t all that remarkable. Don’t get me wrong. The storytelling is solid.

It was good. Just not remarkable. For the first half.

Once we’re over that mid-book-hump and truly get into the action, the story really started to pique my interest. I’ve seen many a tale of poor tortured vampires before, but not one of a vampire actually having been tortured. Then again maybe I just haven’t been reading the right vampire stories. I’d rather do horror or urban fantasy then paranormal romance any day of the week.

One thing I found particularly interesting was how characters who appeared to be enemies in the first half turned into allies in the second. And vice versa.  I’ll say no more about that so as not to spoil the ending. I will say that I’m pretty interested in what’s going to be happening next.

Overall, I’d have to give this book a pretty solid mid-rating. This author isn’t going to bump down any of my Top 10, but I’ll most likely be looking for the next installment of Mira and Danaus’ adventures. From a first novel point of view, I don’t think that’s a bad place to be at all.

Want to know more? Go to the author’s website.

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