Nightkeepers (The Nightkeepers, #1) in Vampires, Weres and Fae!

Feb 24, 2010 Melindeeloo rated it really liked it

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(3.5 stars) Though suffering a bit from a ponderous amount of world-building, Nightkeepers kicks off a very original new paranormal romance series building its mythos on the 2012 Mayan doomsday prophecy. Despite its tendency to be exposition heavy at times, NightKeepers had a lot going for it.

Both of the leading characters, Strike and Leah, were very well done. Strike is great as the leader of the few remaining Nightkeepers who are sworn to save the world by battling the evil forces try to brin (3.5 stars) Though suffering a bit from a ponderous amount of world-building, Nightkeepers kicks off a very original new paranormal romance series building its mythos on the 2012 Mayan doomsday prophecy. Despite its tendency to be exposition heavy at times, NightKeepers had a lot going for it.

Both of the leading characters, Strike and Leah, were very well done. Strike is great as the leader of the few remaining Nightkeepers who are sworn to save the world by battling the evil forces try to bring about the predicted doomsday. Strike has survived the slaughter of his family and almost all of his people, but I found it very refreshing in the light of all the dark tormented leading men I've read lately, that he is not so much tormented as struggling with his destiny as King and torn by his own personal desires wishing he could pursue a normal life with Leah.

Leah is a much better than your average romance heroine. She is brave tough and smart and her cop background means that even though she needed Strike to rescue her as she lay bound and moments from ritualistic slaughter by the Mayan cultist who murdered her brother, Leah fully expects to be able do that herself next time and prepares herself for that battle. And it is Leah's insight that spurs Strike to become the leader that he must be and turn the remaining NightKeepers into a team united with a purpose instead of a ragtag group of loosely connected magic users.

There are also quite a few interesting supporting characters and relationships among the rest of the Nightkeepers and the `winikin', who are their protectors and mentors, to breathe life into the Nightkeeper world. Most notible in this book were Strike's sister Anna, who has fled from her Nightkeeper heritage but who must return to the fold or there will be no chance of victory, Red Boar and Jox, among the handful of the adults who survived the Nightwalker massacre both having sacrificed much personally for the cause but who can't help question whether Strike will fall prey to the same 'visions' that caused Strike's father to fail so cataclismicly, and Rabbit, shunned by his father for being only half Nightkeeper but who brings another type of magic to the mix. And with some obvious pairings in the remaining cast, Anderson has left plenty of stories to tell in the upcoming books.

The one problem I had with the book was the pre-prolog, and I suspect that the mixed reviews for this book are largely a result of this `first impression.' It is obvious that the author did some major research before writing this book, and tried to work most of it in. The author begins the book by introducing the history and mythos of the Nightkeeper world in a textbook-y kind of way. For me this was daunting enough that I put the book aside for a few days which in the long run worked to my advantage, because once the book actually starts, it jumps straight into the action and I had had enough time to digest all the world-building crammed into the pre-prolog and loose myself in the story. And once Nightkeepers got going, I enjoyed this fresh world and its inhabitants well enough that I will be reading the next book, Dawnkeepers: A Novel of the Final Prophecy to find out what happens next.

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May 22, 2011 Sarah rated it liked it

This is a good start to the series. I will be giving the rest of this series a go :D

There was a lot to absorb regarding the history and back story of the Nightkeepers, which was a bit distracting at times, but overall gave the story some depth.

I really enjoyed Lara and Strike. Red-Boar not so such ;P

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