So guys, I've been thinking that so many people haven't read the Night world and still they read the fan fics. So, I reviewed all of the nine books. Then maybe, I'll start a fic of my own. Enjoy and comment!
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Night World No.2
Dark Angel, The Chosen, and Soulmate
by L.J. Smith
This is the second set in the newly reprinted collection of the Night World series by L.J. Smith that was first published in 1996. The series is being reprinted now in three volumes, each containing three Night World stories that were originally published on their own separately. Included in this set are the fourth, fifth, and sixth novels of the series: Dark Angel, The Chosen, and Soulmate respectively.
The next three tales in this series continue on where the previous left off. While each is a separate story that revolves around new individuals and the adventure behind finding their soulmate, L.J. Smith continues to masterfully tie in aspects from the previous tales. In doing so, not only does she establish a loose time line, she also manages to give the readers a glimpse of the changes being wrought throughout the Night World while delving even deeper into it.
The following three stories contained in the second volume of the set are progressively darker then their predecessors. In some instances the lines between good and evil are all but obliterated and in others it's as though the differences couldn't have been more stark.
In Dark Angel, Smith's protagonist is once again a human who has unwittingly stumbled into the Night World. Gillian Lennox, a shy and timid young girl in high school has a near-death experiance one day. As she is walking home from school, Gillian hears what sounds like a child sobbing in the woods. Bravely she treks through the snow covered woods only to end up in a freezing river and desperately clinging to life. As she dies she is greeted by what would appear to be an angel, the angel informs her that it wasn't her time yet and that she can still live. With the angel's assistance, Gillian returns to her body, without suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite, and manages to stumble into a nearby road to flag down a car.
That evening it becomes apparent that "Angel" has tagged along and is still with her. A young man who only she can see and hear and he's determined to help her turn her life around as well. Not to mention upside down. Gillian, like most girls her age, is insecure and longs to be one of the popular crowd and Angel happily whispers the secrets to success. Everything comes with a price however, and it soon becomes apparent that Angel's price is rather dangerous. Gillian begins dabbling in dark magic spells, under Angel's guidance, in order to protect the boy she loves, her soulmate David. As time passes however, it becomes clear that Gillian may have to begin using everything she knows to protect herself and David from Angel.
While definately not one of my favorite tales in the series, Dark Angel is definately an enjoyable tale that will resonate with anyone who has ever found themselves wishing to be able to change everything in their lives for the better overnight. Initially, Gillian's naivety and immaturity might grate on the reader's nerves, especially as seems so cliche and two-dimensional. However, as the story progresses, Gillian's character growth will more than make up for it. Now, while both Secret Vampire and Daughters of Darkness were mostly told from the point of view of a human character who had stumbled upon the Night World as well, in Dark Angel Smith manages to take a fresh angle on the same scenario regardless. The downside with this tale, however, is that if you paid attention during the previous stories you can almost immediately connect the dots the moment hints are subtlety dropped.
The Chosen is, by far, my favorite tale in this series. While all of the females characters introduced in previous stories had an inner strength and could not be truly called weak, The Chosen is the first story that the female lead is not only strong mentally, physically, and emotionally, she's also a fighter and survivor. A warrior in every sense of the word.
On her fifth birthday, Rashel Jordan and her best friend Timmy were taken to a carnival by her mother. While climbing through tubes, Rashel lost sight of her friend Timmy. She immediately climbed out and searched for him, when she found him he was in the arms of a vampire who was feeding on him. At this point her mother located them as well and was quickly killed by the vampire. With nothing else to do Rashel made a run for it with the vampire in hot pursuit. She manages to make it to a heavily populated area and does the only thing a child her age can do - scream her lungs off and point at the vampire chasing her. Immediately the adults gather around to see who is hurting the child and the vampire is forced to flee, but not without sending a telepathic message to young Rashel warning that he would be back for her. That night, as she tries to sleep in her Aunt's house, the vampire tracks her down again and sets fire to the house. Rashel barely escapes, her aunt is not so lucky.
Fast forward to the present time, Rashel is a seventeen year old young woman who has been bounced around from foster home to foster home and is hell bent on finding the vampire that took her loved ones from her. In the mean time, she's cutting down every vampire that she comes across in her quest for justice. Rashel is one of the few humans who know about the Night World and are actively fighting against this "evil". Rashel is a lethal vampire hunter who has been expertly trained in the martial arts, and while the name "Rashel Jordan" is unknown to the vampires of the Night World, her moniker of "The Cat" is not.
Things are never so simple however, not everything can be neatly labeled as "good" or "evil" and the world is not just black and white. With Rashel's tale, Smith takes the opportunity to take all of the preconceived notions of good and evil and flip them on their head. In previous books, Smith had done a good job of setting up several prejudices in her fictional world, all of which get smashed with this tale. One of the first shocks to the system comes within the first few chapters when a group of vampire hunters that Rashel is working with manage to surprise and capture a vampire - Quinn. Yes, the lethal, cold, and completely anti-human, Quinn that makes his first appearance in Daughters of Darkness. What's more, Rashel's honor code will not let her stand by and watch the others torture the vampire for fun and possible information. Instead she moves to give him a swift clean end, only to find herself staring at the face of her soulmate.
The Chosen is perhaps the darkest of tales in this series as the heroine and her comrades move to not only go undercover in order to determine what the vampires are plotting, but attempt to stop what amounts to a giant slave ring and large scale massacre. The political machines of the Night World are in motion and it becomes even more apparent that there is something much larger at hand than just humans and Night Worlders finding soulmates with each other.
Soulmate rounds off the stories in this set with a bang. As the suspense and excitement spills over from the previous tales, Soulmate does a wonderful job of continuing on in the same vein and adding to it as well. Hannah Snow's life has begun to fall apart. She's got friends, wonderful grades and a chance at making her dream of studying paleontology a reality. Problem is, she's going insane, or at least she thinks she is. After all, don't you have to be insane to be writing yourself letters, that you don't even remember writing, that all say the same thing - you'll be dead before seventeen?
As the story progresses, however, it becomes readily apparent that there is more to this story than just a crazy girl writing herself death notes. In reality, Hannah Snow is what Night Worlders refer to as an "old soul", someone who has been born to many different lives throughout the ages. The letters she is writing to herself are actually warnings of what has happened in every single life she has lived, she is always killed before her seventeenth birthday and by the same man as well. A powerful made-vampire, the first of all made-vampires, by the name of Thierry who just so happens to be her soulmate as well.
Say what?!
If that doesn't sound promising enough, then try this on for size. At long last the ancient history of the Night World is laid out before us. The readers are given the chance to glimpse Hellewise Hearthwoman, the same Hellewise from who all witches are descended from, and her sister Maya. The origins of the vampires is also laid bare and a great deal of it all revolves Hannah, Thiery, and Maya and the first lives they ever lived. On top of all this, Circle Daybreak is no longer just a group of folks who want to see humans and Night Worlders live in peace that is mentioned in passing, we are given the chance to see, first hand, just how well organized they are and some of the members as well. Members whose faces and tales we have glimpsed in previous tales.
With Soulmate Smith is given the oppurtunity to wrap up any loose ends that the previous tales might have left behind and begin a new chapter in the series, an oppurtunity she makes wonderful use of. The readers are able to see what has become of their favorite characters from the stories past, history is at long last revealed and explained, not to mention the stage is set for the next chapter of the series. All of this on top of an already intriguing love triangle between Hannah, Thierry, and Maya that has spanned decades and been the cause of much strife.
While I've never much cared for Dark Angel, the inclusion of The Chosen and Soulmate more than make up for it in this set.