Dawn's Bright Talons

By: Nerine Dorman

Narrated by: Greg Patmore

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

They are as night to day - but blood will tell when facing a common enemy.  

A sought-after dancer in the upmarket Moonlit Garden, Isabeau Letier, has not given her future much thought. All that matters is the art of dance, and charming wealthy patrons into parting with a few extra coins. She has her exotic good looks and her youth. What could possibly go wrong?  

When a mysterious nobleman pays her undue attention, Isabeau’s darker, bloodthirsty nature awakens and she kills him with her bare hands after he follows her home. Even worse, she drinks and enjoys his blood. Her brother, Eric, returns home to this disturbing tableau yet remains calm even as the corpse sifts to ash in the morning sun. Isabeau has no choice but to follow her sibling’s lead.  

Not many people know that Michel Roux, owner of a slightly down-at-heel theatre in the District of Paper Lanterns, is a vampire. He prefers to keep things that way and steer clear of the petty politicking of the city's vampiric subculture. When his estranged sire, Tomas, goes missing, and his grandsire gives him the task of solving the mystery, Michel is unwillingly dragged into all of the very dangerous games he thought he’d left behind him.  

Isabeau and Michel become unlikely allies as they try to wriggle their way out of being the pawns in a game where they don’t know the rules. Isabeau’s ancient heritage is a danger, not only to herself, but to the established hierarchies at odds with one another in the city of Ysul, and the elders are desperate to either control her - or kill her.  

As events unwind, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate friend from foe, and as the two flee for their lives they must also explore the true nature of the bond that they've forged and uncover the ages-old secrets that have pushed them onto this path. Warring factions are about to overturn centuries of custom, and two young people are marked to pay the price - in blood.

©2014 Nerine Dorman (P)2018 David N. Wilson

Unique vampire listen

Not your typical vampire in this excellent listen. Great story and relatable characters and the suspense kept me wanting to know what happened to the characters next. Great narrator too, he brought the story to life with emotion and unique voices for each character. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Dark Gothic tale

The book is a lot more darker and violent then I was expecting and the author did surprise me a few times. It is an interesting read but I found it slow going. I would have liked a bit more action or a faster pace. But other then this the author really knows how to write a dark, gothic book. I believe the slow pace might have been intentional to make it feel heavy and give it a gothic feel.
This is more for 18+ due to mature content.

A wonderful surprise!

When I saw this book, honestly I didnt really give it a second glance. I ended up coming back to it only out of few options at the time. I am so glad I did!!! This is a jewel of a story! From the narration to the pace to the story itself, every bit of it was wonderful. I stayed up until I couldn't keep my eyes open listening and had to jump back on it as soon as I had the chance. DO NOT MISS THIS BOOK!

*I requested this book and am voluntarily leaving this review

Magnificent

A beautifully written gothic tale, complete with vivid atmosphere and engaging characters. Prose this good is a rare treat nowadays. The narrator did a masterly job portraying the characters. Excellent voice work!

Different world of vampires

What happens when suddenly due to a person’s unwelcome advances turns you into a vampire that’s never been seen before? What do you do when you are trying to find out who killed your sire and get caught between two others that want to use you for their own means? What about if you suddenly find yourself blood bonded to the one sent to kill you. This book enters a world of vampire that’s definitely never been seen before.

Evocative

The exquisite descriptive writing brings this story to life. The narration is excellent, even if the accents take a few chapters to get used to :)

Dark, gothic vampire tale

If you are into the old style vampire tales that have a dark gothic feel to them then you should really like this one. It has a good, interesting storyline that (to me) moves along slowly and with the narration felt very dark and heavy. I liked the story but I had some difficulty getting through it. I like a book that's a bit more fast paced. This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

Dark and Gothic fantasy vampire setting

Vampires can never die. The heinous creatures have fascinated us for over a century thanks to the work of Bram Stoker and Sheridan Le Fanu. Whether Dracula, Carmilla, Blade, Angel, Lestat, or Edward Cullen--they're not going anywhere. This is a novel whic goes back to the Gothic roots of the novels with Isebeau and Michel. I feel a bit weird describing it as "Interview with a Vampire meets Buffy" because that is a mind-breaking combination but it works well as such. This is a fantasy novel and that also adds an extra dimension to the universe. Fans of the D&D setting "Ravenloft" and the old World of Darkness will like this somewhat sensuous setting of colonized as well as colonizer.

I really want to read more in this world.

The Narrator is a bit overstated but does an excellent variety of voices that evoke the backgrounds of the characters.

I was given a free copy of this book at my request.

Entertaining tale of Vampires

This book has the usual mix of ingredients for a vampire book such as star-crossed lovers, rival factions politicking behind the scenes of a mostly unaware human population and so on, but these things are just the basic foundation of this book which has its own interesting twists on the usual vampire mechanics and mythology along with an enjoyable main cast to elevate it from those beginnings.

When a narrator uses strong accents for characters in a book it can often drift towards parody, but despite the dramatic shifts he makes between Isabeau and Michael, it does actually work well with this book and helps to bring the characters to life more.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and well-performed book that struck a good balance between tying things up in this book and leaving enough room to carry it on in subsequent book.

[Note - I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.]