Night Life
Copyright: 2007 (Berkeley Sensation); pgs. 289
Series: 1st in the Pharaohs Rising series
Sensuality: Hot
Who: Dr. Christine Day (Egyptologist) and Adrian King/Merneptah Seti
From the back: Venerable pharaoh and ancient god of the Nile, Adrian King once sat upon his throne and led his people nobly, only to be betrayed. But a sacred ritual has allowed him to reawaken thousands of years after his death — as a vampire. Now the owner of the Royal Palace, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, he is haunted by dreams of a beautiful woman — and by the dawning of an evil presence.
Comments: This is another book I picked up, based on the review at All About Romance. With it’s twist on vampire mythology, something I don’t read a lot of — yet, I thought I’d give it a try. I had already looked into JR Ward’s series and took a pass on it. I’m trying to keep an open mind about vampires-as-romantic-leads (beyond Angel and Spike, of course).
This book had a lot of potential. The author is fascinated with Egyptian pharaohs and it shows in the details. It was interesting and I had no trouble picturing the setting. As for the characters, Adrian is larger than life, as befitting a pharaoh. His love for the woman in his dreams inspired him to write poetry in her honor and create a special perfumed oil for her. Christine, born into a family of Egyptologists, has always had a connection to the past, though she never realized that the man in her dreams was Adrian, until she actually meets him. They make a nice couple: Adrian is cultured, well-bred, polite, and Christine is a sensible, intelligent, woman.
One of my issues with the book wasn’t that they got together so quickly, it was with the fact that author didn’t devote some page space to the vampire-lore she was creating. Christine, intelligent academic that she was, should have been asking a thousand questions, on behalf of the readers. I thought that the author would have developed the mechanics a bit more, weaving it into the narrative here and there. Instead, it was vague and a little confusing. The other issue was the antagonist. He shows up late in the book and is dealt with very quickly — and very dramatically (though I liked how that played out).
Will I read the 2nd book? Yes. I’m hoping that the author will be a little more detailed with her world-building. There were several secondary characters that were interesting — people from Seti’s court. They are in a similar predicament as their pharaoh and I’m curious to see what happens to them.
Started: 2 February 2008
Finished: 9 February 2008
Just Ok
Rating: