This cover is bold and creepy! Too cool!
I feel so happy reading these books. I really do. It's unbelievable how much joy they bring. I'm so glad I found reading in my life. Books are just the ultimate form of entertainment, hands down. I wish I never stopped reading, I don't have a good excuse really why I did. Reading is time consuming true, but I waste a lot of time doing other things anyway. The library is an option I guess. I could do that but then I do often stress about returning them, and I hate that stress. Hmmm. It's still something to think about though. I may indeed make a return there, and stop being lazy. Just return them! But in a perfect world, a perfect scenario, I'd have my own library or whatnot. Shelves of my own books. But honestly I think I should get back to the library. But no rush. I have books at home and books to read for the time being. I still have Cirque Du Freak to finish and more. Plus a million other things to worry about.
Hunters of the Dusk is really good off the bat. Darren is now fourteen years removed from initially stealing Madam Octa and six years have passed since Kurda was sentenced to death. This time span between books blew my mind years ago. It doesn't as much nowadays but, it still does to an extent, just for different reasons. I think about my own life and how the years slip by. I think about good times, bad times....ugh. Nuts.
Beginning this installment, I can tell that Darren is definitely a new person in that he is generally hardened by life, and wiser etc. More than that though, he's literally a Vampire Prince now and has been for years. In addition, he's a Vampire Prince during the War of the Scars, the fresh new war that has begun between the vampires and vampaneze since the Vampaneze Lord has come to existence. So yeah, Darren is certainly evolving which is something this series does so well at showing.
Mr. Crepsley is essentially very much an unofficial Prince throughout all of this with Darren, as Darren relies on and trusts him very much. It's clear their bond has gotten strong throughout the years. It's also very cool how Paris Skyle is by their side too, helping navigate the war.
The movements of the Vampaneze Lord is also fascinating, I find it more interesting than when I first read the series. His identity being unknown, his ideas regarding 'vampets' and staying mobile, trying to keep the vampaneze motivated. These details are intriguing. It's certainly wild how they can't seem to figure out who he is. I wonder why Darren never at least considered checking in on Steve. I don't think that Darren had any reason to suspect Steve is literally the Vampaneze Lord, but Steve was clearly a bit unpredictable and quite angry. He literally swore that he'd hunt him (and I believe Mr. Crepsley?) down when he gets older, and kill him. I guess Darren has been through a lot over the years, and so it makes sense that he wouldn't think about Steve. But it couldn't have hurt, Steve clearly was an enemy, it may have been smart to look into him in general to make sure he wasn't following through with his deadly promise. It's wild to hear how Steve moves, like whisper down the alley style, and Darren never knows it was his childhood friend. Steve is certainly methodical.
The fact that Mr. Crepsley notices how there's significant vampaneze activity in his hometown is interesting and smells like a trap...
In other events, I find it charming that Madam Octa gets her own storyline and legacy all the way into book seven here, as she has offspring with Vampire Mountain's spiders, creating a new type of poisonous, intelligent spider in the mountain. It's just a cool detail that keeps the source of all this growing.
Harkat having dreams about dragons make so much sense, and I'm curious to hear more hints about his identity...
Chapter five ends with Harkat being drawn to leave the mountain in a strange, but almost non-threatening, nonchalant way sort of way. It ends up with Harkat and Darren seeing the return of Mr. Tiny!
Pretty mind-blowing stuff. It actually makes sense that Harkat would be drawn to Mr. Tiny, knowing that he's Kurda, knowing he's a Little Person and knowing who exactly Kurda, Mr. Crepsley, and Vancha March are... I think those are the ones who have the chance to eliminate the Vampaneze Lord anyway. I'm so curious to re-experience that part of the series!
In my mind books 7-9 sort of very much flow together. I remember when I first read these books, I was scrambling to get my hands on the next. These are certainly action packed books... I'm curious to appreciate each one for what it is this time.
Let's go!!! I truly feel like I'm transported elsewhere when I read these.
