Night Reigns

Immortal Guardians Series #2

By: Dianne Duvall

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the second installment of Dianne Duvall's Immortal Guardians series, when Marcus Grayden's grief over the loss of the woman he loved causes him to become reckless, he is assigned a new Second, who proves to be immensely distracting. Contains mature themes.

Also listen to the first book, Darkness Dawns: Immortal Guardians Series #1.

©2011 Dianne Duvall (P)2011 Tantor

Great listen!!!!!

I absolutely loved this book. I was not able to stop listening to it. I was so engrossed in this book I finished in a day. If you love romance, vampires, and steamy romance you will just find this book addicting. The story had suspence and intrigue which kept it from being predictable and made me unable to stop listening. I found myself sitting in my living room telling my family to just let me listen to my book. They all know my love for romantic vampire and supernatural genre so they respected my wishes. This book was addicting! I can't wait to listen to the next book in the series.

Good Book but a Little Preachy

Liked the book but I was a little put off by the preaching of vegetarianism, recycling, etc. It's not that I disagree with the concept, but I don't particularly care for it in my fantasy books. I also found it a little unbelievable that an Immortal would own a Prius. Hot men drive a Jag, Hummer, Mercedes, etc., but not a Prius!
Otherwise, I thought this book, and the first in the series were very good and I plan to buy the third when it is released.

Superb narration but the story... not so much.

I was absolutely blown away by the awesomeness of Darkness Dawns so when I found myself in a reading slump I decided to give Night Reigns a try hoping that it would jump start my book reading engine. Once again, Kirsten Potter's superb narration skills left me hanging on her every word; unfortunately Dianne Duvall's story did not have the same effect. I still thoroughly enjoyed this installment but the chemistry between Ami and Marcus is no where near as compelling as Sarah and Roland's. Even though this novel isn't on the same level as its predecessor it still did manage to get me interested in reading again.

The mystery surrounding Ami's character had my head a buzz with possibilities up until the end when Duvall sheds some light on this enigma. She has both vampiric and immortal qualities and yet I still wasn't able to figure her out without Dianne's help. I enjoyed this side-plot more than the main one. My curiosity was overwhelming and I do love a book that makes you think! After finishing Darkness Dawns I was anxious to learn Marcus' tale but that feeling slowly died as this story progressed. I'm having a hard time putting my finger on what exactly dampened my feelings for Grayden; perhaps it's because the focus was more on Amiriska. Either way, I was disappointed by the lack of attention Marcus received in this installment. He's a fascinating character with a heart wrenching back story and I wish that he'd been portrayed better or at the very least shared the spotlight with Ami.

The main plot is well-developed and ties in with what happened in book 1. Bastien was defeated in the previous installment so Duvall had to introduce a new big bad. Her choice was a good one and really helped with the continuation of the story. The non-stop action and steamy romp scenes that I've come to expect from this series are back for another round in Night Reigns. Plus, readers get a few more snippets as to the origins of immortals and I must say, I like where this series is going!

I've only experienced a handful of books audio-style but Kirsten Potter is hands down my favorite narrator so far. She seamlessly switches between characters while making slight adjustments to her tone so that it's easy to identify who's saying what. I absolutely adored Potter's sound effects; from the vibrating cellphone to the ringing door bell. It's rare to come across a woman who not only makes sound effects but who's actually good at them. I think part of the reason why I'm diggin' this series so much is because of the narrator.

Overall this book left me feeling lukewarm. I enjoyed watching Ami open up and make a home for herself among the immortals and the preternatural battles left me in awe but the romance between the two main characters paled in comparison to what Roland and Sarah shared in the first book. I'm reluctant to give this series up just yet because of how much I loved Darkness Dawns. I'm still holding out hope that this series will bounce back but knowing that Bastien's story is up next has me feeling skeptical. Night Reigns was an enjoyable read but it was no Darkness Dawns.

Preaching

Vegetarianism and Preisus are fine, but I don't need to have every mention of food to preach the gospel of organics and condemn any other way.

Dark Hunters + Lestat meets Michael Moore

A noise moved thru my head as I listened to this book over the weekend. It went something like "no! don't say it....she's going to say it....["PRETERNATURAL"]....again!" This word must feature on every page in the hardcopy. Since I finished it yesterday and sat down to buy another book, I remembered this book and my new subtitle for it "preternatural hunters".
I enjoyed the dialogue in the first book and of course, marcus gives off all the right noises of being a wounded protagonist that will be fun to follow up with in this book. What I remember most about the book was the camaraderie of the characters.
Duvall was obviously a fan of Sherilyn Kenyons Dark Hunter series (a fave of mine too), because imitation is the best form of flattery. Here we have an uber mysterious background figure who possesses faintly omniscent powers (like Acheron) and deals secretly with a potentially more powerful being. You have various characters who are older than fossils (all current w/ modern slang, however). Megalomaniac would be king-of-the-hill types that draw everyone together, even the previous book's bad guy to slay the latest. And you have the 'seconds' who are called "squires" in Kenyon's books.
There are many things I liked about listening to the book, but I can't get past the Anne Rice's holdover of the use of "preternatural" everything. There are so many other words that can be used in its stead.

A couple other things bother me that leave my rating at 3 stars. First, never have I been so hit over the head with environmentalism before in a fiction book. Fine, the immortals (good vamps) like organics, and recycle. They don't eat much meat. Great, I get it. And like Christine Feehan's various worlds, nobody drinks anything substantial than TEA or blood (and another soapbox on poisoning the body). But then we get the soliloquy from one character about how the earth is consuming its resources, blablabla (michael moore meets al gore) and I went and did a load of wash. I'm a bleedin' heart lib (my dad's pronouncement), but I want to escape in these books, NOT be preached at. Plus, this is just so incongruous.

A final disquiet that isn't really restricted to Duvall's Immortal Guardians but was definitely annoying in this one:
Why the absolutism about virginity? What are all these femmes of DECIDEDLY adult years (cause I don't wantt to give anything away), still virgins, but NONE of the males are? How is it that 21st Century romantic fiction is still co-opting this paternalistic victorian notion? I'm so puzzled. We do get the heroine explaining in one scene about the overt sexuality present in modern day society, and her more conservative views. This could have been done much less preachy.

I would recommend the book to others, with some caution. Its ok. The writing is respectable, and a lot of the dialogue very intersting. The narrator did a very fine job. Its definitely part of the paranormal genre. However, even for those in the choir, this was a little too preachy and something of a soapbox for the author's views.

Loved It...

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. This was a really great listen. The storyline is interesting and the romance is steamy (not raunchy, which I like too - but she gives a great balance for those who don't like sexxxy romances) The highlight in this book is the cool little secret revealed about Ami and the development of new enemies to the group. I actually think this one was better than the 1st... and we'll get a part 3 (no release date yet, but I can't wait)

Just ok

It's cute for a quick easy read/listen however it's a bit preachy. In expressing that the female main character comes from a more "conservative" massaginistic society the author tends to lean into going on about no sex before marriage and women needing to cover themselves. There's also too much virtue signaling about organic or vegetarian food. Eat healthy yes, food shame others? No. Overall it's an ok book but I was annoyed at the way some of the ideas were expressed. In addition the centuries old immortals all joke and speak about sex and sexuality like teenage boys. I feel like they would have evolved emotionally after hundreds of years.

Avoid this author if offended by patriarchal swill

First off, kudos to Ms. Potter - her reading was excellent, her voice was pleasant and, frankly, if her reading hadn't been as good as it was I would have turned the book off sooner.

Now, I gave the story 2 stars because it has the bones of something worth listening to. There was just a lot of crap that needed to be dropped to get down to those bones. The most offensive of that crap, at least to me, was the underlying assumption that the world would be a better place if we just went back to the bad old days of the manly protector taking care of his (enslaved by law and social customs) woman.

Don't get me wrong: I like burly men with strong protective instincts - when they respect women as being more than just pets with sex-toy perks.

As I stated, Ms. Potter did an excellent job narrating this tale, to the point I was able to just roll my eyes at the cheap-shot pseudo-moralizing about modern American eating habits, city vs. country living rudeness, &ct., and go along with the main plot points - until the patriarchal swill got so over the top I deleted the book with 30 minutes remaining to the end.

If it had been a paperback, I would have used the book for fire starter.

More of the same

this is your is your usual paranormal romance. unlike some other reviews I did enjoy the narrator.

Too Preachy.

What did you like best about Night Reigns? What did you like least?

Pros: It's an original and interesting take on the genre. I also find some of the characters to be compelling and look forward to their development in future installments.

Cons: I'm on Book 3 and the organic/vegan-loving Prius-driving Eco-rants in all 3 so far are over-the-top obnoxious. A real turn-off. Also, the author lectures about how near-perfect Ami's world is and how awful earth is because of the violence and greed, meanwhile a good portion of each book (that she writes for profit) is filled with gory details of the violence perpetrated by everyone -- good & bad guys alike.

In short, I think this series has promise. I prefer to be entertained without being lectured to, but I'll keep reading (listening) until I can't stomach the sermons anymore.

Would you recommend Night Reigns to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not.

Which character – as performed by Kirsten Potter – was your favorite?

I liked all of the male characters. I've liked the main female character in each of the first 3 books until about halfway through, then they just start grating on me (which isn't the narrator's fault).

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Maybe.