Vlad must battle with a centuries-old enemy whose reach stretches across continents and whose strength equals his own. It isn’t like Vlad to feel fear, but he does…for Leila, because his enemy knows she is Vlad’s greatest weakness. As friend and foe alike align against him—and his overprotectiveness drives Leila away—Vlad’s love for his new bride could be the very thing that dooms them both…
Comment: It's been a year since this book arrived in the mail but I've left it in the shelf for all this time, not that I didn't want to read it, because I did, but other titles got in the way, then time between titles' release increases and it keeps being delayed until today, I just picked and that was it.
In this third installment of the Night Prince series, Leila is adjusting to having become a vampire, Vlad is still looking for to destroy his greatest enemy and the two things will connect in someone's wish for revenge.
Both Leila and Vlad have agreed they love each other too much to let other things get in the way of their relationship but some experiences can be too strong to overcome...or can they?
Then something happens and Vlad and Leila have friends to help them fight their enemy and in the end the identity of someone unexpected will be quite the surprise.
I'm not sure how to talk about this book. I liked it simply because it followed a couple I rooted for in the previous books and because it's by an author whose work I've loved but to be very honest, there isn't much to be said about this book as it is very basic in its execution.
The story is basically about Leila dealing with being a vampire, the run from an enemy, destroying that enemy and getting over another hurdle in their relationship. Nothing truly advances and although I understand the need to tell the story and how well received it can be by the fans, there isn't much advance in this and I assume the fourth installment won't offer much news either, so maybe the two original books would have been enough.
I've read in GR someone saying the relationship should be developed and I agree. I fully expected to see more of the protagonist's personalities, their relationship, how being in love would affect their opinions and change in behavior. Yes, Vlad alone is older and has a lot of experience under his belt, especially when it comes to being a vampire and Leila doesn't but those things aren't addressed and I'm not certain why this story had to happen.
After all things considered, battling an enemy didn't improve or enhanced their relationship. I think it only offered some little angst scenes that were easily dealt with so the conflict didn't feel as strongly developed to me.
Some readers don't like Leila. I do and for the most part I agree with her behavioral patterns. In this book something bad happens to her, but she's quite realistic and overcomes that. In a way, I applaud her because that surely avoided repetitive whining but at the same time how could she deal with such a thing so quickly? I had the feeling, it was something to happen, to be dealt with and put aside for the next situation and that kind of removed the need for its existence in the first place. After all, we all can guess how special and strong vampires can be, even more so if they are in love and so on...
I'm giving this book a good grade in my perspective but the more I think about it, the more I want to get one number lower. Because this book didn't really move me. I struggled a bit to read despite the big letters and easy story. I really feel this is the weakest book of them all so far and what happens outside their relationship isn't enough to carry it out. I appreciate the author's work and writing and I want to feel glad for that but this story didn't seem solid or good enough if we are to remove the insta-appreciated parts first.
I also didn't remember many things from the first books. Really time between releases isn't easy and waiting more than a month to read following installments can be tricky on our memory...my fault too to have left the book waiting an year extra after having it but.. not a good thing if you barely remember important things.
All in all, a very weak 7 grade, only given for dedication reasons and for being a fan of the author's work. I really hope the final fourth installment is a great end and redeems this one.
Grade: 7/10
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