REVIEW: Darkness Comes this Way by Pixie Lynn Whitfield

  

Author: Pixie Lynn Whitfield

Series: The Guardians of the Night

Pages: 380

Genre: Paranormal / Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Self

Amazon: Darkness Comes this Way

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Zarah Duncan is a Guardian. It’s an elite job that protects humans and the untainted vampires from the real monsters: those lost to the bloodlust. Rogues infest the city. Missing humans, unsolved cases…Zarah knows what the real cause is and she’s been trained since childhood to destroy them.

But she has a haunting past that catches up one day. Zarah was Rogue once, and until her, no one else has ever cured from the poisoned state of mind before. She’s been labeled a miracle, and the mystery only builds. She gets the awful feeling there’s more to it than just a lucky magical come-back. There are deep, dark secrets being kept. Maybe her boss Nathanial knows something? When she gets paired with a partner, Draven Kinsley, it only adds more difficulty. He hates her and swears that with a single look, she’ll poison him. To make matters worse, her Rogue brother has to show up, and he brings with him a shocking announcement. What Zarah learns from him rocks her entire world upside down. She not only begins to question who and what she is anymore, but it can possibly change the Vampire race forever.

The scary part: someone else knows too…and they’ll do anything to get her special blood, spelling disaster for the humans that Guardians have secretly been protecting for decades.

Vampires, fallen angels, war, betrayal, and romance fill this Paranormal/Urban Fantasy debut, the first book to a high-action trilogy.

REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars

Darkness Comes this Way was kindly provided to me by the wonderful Pixie Lynn Whitfield in exchange for my honest opinion.

Zarah Duncan is a reformed rogue vampire, one of a kind and changed back without knowing the reasons as to how and why. She is now a Guardian working alongside elite vampires trained to kill those who hunt and kill humans.

Draven Kinsley is a Guardian, he is gruff and unforgiving with a strong hatred for the tainted rogues, his feelings towards Zarah are of disdain and hatred; he doesn’t know why she has been cured and prefers to keep her at arms length but when he is forced by his boss, Nathaniel to partner up with her he gets to know more about her past and her as a person and is surprised she is different to what he had originally assumed.

I wasn’t a Draven fan initially whatsoever (although his physical appearance was certainly appealing), I found him to be rude and horrible towards Zarah who I thought was wonderful. As the story progressed and they became closer I started to enjoy their growing friendship and found myself hoping they could be together as more; the twist on their bond was certainly interesting as well.

There were hints at a brewing romance between Zarah and Draven but nothing progressed which I found to be refreshing; the relationship wasn’t at the forefront of this story which I actually quite enjoyed. It gives me something more to look forward to in the next installment.

The general gist of the plot revolves around a group of intelligent rogues wanting to use Zarah to find a cure, there are secrets being kept and the mystery surrounding her and her miraculous cure is known to a few who want to use her for their own purposes; of course it is a lot more complex than this but I’ll avoid the details to prevent spoilers but it was intriguing and certainly different to any vampire book I have read more recently. I enjoyed the spin Ms Whitfield placed on what we generally know and read of vampires and with the possibility of a new breed of vampire/fallen angel; it is certainly an interesting concept that I am eager to learn more about.

I really enjoyed the cast of supporting characters, I especially loved Zarah’s brother Thomas; I felt for what he had been through and respected the decisions he made. The fallen angels, although their appearance was quite brief have me curious; Seth in particular.

I started to read Darkness Comes this Way and I couldn’t put it down, so I ended up finishing it in one sitting. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Whitfield’s writing; it was detailed and had me engrossed from the very beginning. The pacing flowed well and I found the plot to be unique and entertaining.

All in all, if you are after an enjoyable Paranormal/Urban Fantasy that has a cast of memorable characters, a solid entertaining plot and wonderful world-building then Darkness Comes this Way is for you.

I am eager to get hold of the next book in this series.