In Review: Midnight’s Daughter by Karen Chance

Released 10/7/08            384 pages

Publisher: Onyx

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 978-0451412621

The first book in the Dorina Basarab series, takes place in the same world as Karen Chances’s other series that follows Cassandra Palmer. Because of that series many of the secondary characters are already known to readers. Dorina’s father is the famous Mircea Basarab, brother of Dracula, and she’s asked to track down her uncle, who’s escaped his prison. She agrees to help when her father offers to use his influence to help locate Dory's missing, Claire, who has gone missing, even through Dracula is the only thing that truly scares her.

Dorina is dhampir- half human, half vampire hybrid whose been on her own kicking butt for about 500 years. Unlike Cassie, she knows full well what she’s capable of. The heroine is strong, almost too strong making everyone else seem weak, naïve or incapable at best.

Along for the ride is Louis-Cesare, the dueling champion for the vampire senate. Together there’s tons of heat and chemisty, but more than most others, he comes off as inexperienced. The Frenchmen showed vulnerability in the Cassandra series, but here it was like he was stuck in a miasma of emotions.

Just as with all her other books, this one is extremely fast paced. And while the story works well in this format, the inconsistencies between the two series are a little distracting, but the dialogue is sharp and entertaining.

To new readers, it may be hard keeping track of all the characters and politics without having first read the Cassandra books, but there is enough explanation that they’ll be able to follow the story, though they may feel as if they are missing something. The Dracula storyline works well, those the secondary one concerning Claire is a little inconsistent, mostly being wrapped up with Claire explaining where she was during a battle scene which was probably not the best time. Not my favorite book by Ms. Chance, but a nice first outing for Dory.