Hello everyone!
BookSirens is really good for feeding my obsession with these every once in a while, and then it all depends on my mood I suppose.
But I will admit that this prequel is a quick and easy read altogether, which definitely works in its favour.
I stumbled across Rebecca Hefner by complete accident when I picked up one of the ARCs she listed on the site, and then breezed through her other series without pausing to take a beat.
Her vampire one hasn't really laid such a claim on my heart and my attention as the first, but when there was a listing for a prequel I thought to myself, well, everyone and everything deserves a second chance, right?
So I went and requested to be added to the team.
It totally paid off.
Without further ado, let's just hop right into it, shall we? The Dawn of Peace, which is a very uplifting title, is up next!
Let's recap!
The Dawn of Peace is part of the Etherya's Earth series of which I've read the first book, The End of Hatred. It tells about a parallel world or universe created by this goddess and where the Vampires and Slayers lived in peace and harmony until an event called the Awakening, at which point the Vampires lost the ability to walk in sunlight and Slayers swore to eradicate them.
Our story happens about five years or so before the main one takes place, and we're introduced to Slayer Kilani, who was taught how to fight by Kenden, the General who basically created the Slayer army from scratch. She's the one who helps teach princess Miranda, who everyone is putting their hopes on to end the war, somehow.
But until that happens - as Miranda is about thirteen in this one - the Vampires continue raiding the Slayer compounds for blood, since they can only survive if they feed off the life-liquid of said Slayers.
This is what happens during one banquet at Kilani's father's estate, right as she and her father are arguing that she isn't really doing what she's supposed to - aka getting married and producing babies - which means that she's useless to him and he'll petition the king to exile her. They can't finish the argument because the Vampires attack first, and Kilani reveals her skills by taking up a sword and defending her people.
This is how she runs into Alrec, who's the commander on this raid.
Alrec's family was killed during the Awakening so now his mission in life is to serve Latimer, the Vampire general, but he's immediately intrigued by the tiny, beautiful Slayer, and despite the fact he could easily kill her, he lets her live. This infuriates her, but she asks Kenden to tell everyone she died defending them and disappears into the night to avoid the fate her father planned to map out for her.
She ends up in an abandoned cottage in the middle of nowhere (that's probably important to the rest of the story and you end up learning about who built it and why, but it isn't explained in this, sadly) where, years later, she finds none other than Alrec, practically dead in the river.
Alrec managed to end up on the wrong side of a Demon's eight-round gun, and apparently the bullets were also poisoned because it takes him forever to heal, but at least Kilani saves his life, ties him to her bed, and then nurses him back to health.
In doing so, the two of them slowly but surely grow closer as they learn more about one another through conversation and sheer need, seeing as they're living together now, and eventually she agrees to let him take their nightly walks without his bonds. This leads to a kiss but she doesn't let him take her to bed until later when they figure out the problem with the plumbing (the cottage has none of it, and see? This is part of the reason why I keep getting confused, this world has plumbing and computers but they keep hacking away at each other with swords!).
Eventually though the attraction comes home to roost, and they give in to it while he's still there, but both of them understand he has to return to his people when the time comes, even though it breaks both their hearts.
Kilani sends him on his way, but Alrec is pretty much useless when returned to the Vampire compound because he left behind the love of his life, and eventually Latimer cooks up a new assignment specifically for him, which is that he'll be a spy and report back every six months or so, but for the rest of the time he'll try and figure out more Demon weaknesses and other things that could be useful in the war.
In the meantime, Kilani manages to find herself a wolf stray to take in, but she's overjoyed when Alrec returns and picking up strays seems to become a thing for her ... AND they work on the spying thing together AND they also adopt a boy eventually! So they end up creating a family together despite their differences, something that pleases the goddess who's watching this all happen, and gives her hope that the hatred between species could be coming to an end soon.
And with that foreshadowing, the book ends!
I ended up really, really liking this one.
I realize this could be considered weird given that I wasn't the biggest fan of The End of Hatred but it's got to be the rather concise, short-story sense of this as well as a storyline that's both connected to the main and stands apart from it.
But maybe it's just Kilani, whom I ADORE. She's the type of heroine I can absolutely get behind, and so is Alrec as the hero to her gumption.
Plus I'm a sucker for a good ole fashioned would-be Romeo and Juliet style, though I will admit that I was SUPER impressed they actually went and parted ways, honouring their duty and their species. I was kind of worried there would be some sort of easy get-out-of-jail card for that, but there wasn't, and my respect for the characters went up even higher!
Overall, I prefer this story to the first book, and I'm really happy that there's a HEA at the end. The reason I'm docking one star is because I'm still a little bit confused as to whether the world is supposed to be medieval, modern, steampunk, something in between? It seems to be sort of fantasy historical one moment, then turns decidedly super modern in the next and it keeps throwing me for a loop. I don't know what it is that I can't seem to anchor to the world in this one as much as I'd like!
But it's a very well written story, the author's strength in writing really wonderful characters shines through without too much of the main storyline hanging around the main arc's neck, and all in all it's a really good book for a lazy afternoon read!
I realize this could be considered weird given that I wasn't the biggest fan of The End of Hatred but it's got to be the rather concise, short-story sense of this as well as a storyline that's both connected to the main and stands apart from it.
But maybe it's just Kilani, whom I ADORE. She's the type of heroine I can absolutely get behind, and so is Alrec as the hero to her gumption.
Plus I'm a sucker for a good ole fashioned would-be Romeo and Juliet style, though I will admit that I was SUPER impressed they actually went and parted ways, honouring their duty and their species. I was kind of worried there would be some sort of easy get-out-of-jail card for that, but there wasn't, and my respect for the characters went up even higher!
Overall, I prefer this story to the first book, and I'm really happy that there's a HEA at the end. The reason I'm docking one star is because I'm still a little bit confused as to whether the world is supposed to be medieval, modern, steampunk, something in between? It seems to be sort of fantasy historical one moment, then turns decidedly super modern in the next and it keeps throwing me for a loop. I don't know what it is that I can't seem to anchor to the world in this one as much as I'd like!
But it's a very well written story, the author's strength in writing really wonderful characters shines through without too much of the main storyline hanging around the main arc's neck, and all in all it's a really good book for a lazy afternoon read!
Plus it kind of accepts some of the things that sound a bit gimmicky in the main series and points them out, which I can admire and respect, so what more do you need?
xx
*image not mine
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