Shadowmaster - Susan Krinard
Series: Nightsiders #3
Published by: Harlequin, on 1 March 2014
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Paranormal
Pages: 304, Format: eARC
Source: ARC Netgalley
Humans and vampires on the brink of war
In San Francisco, a fragile truce is threatened by an assassination plot. Dhampir agent Phoenix Stryker has the beauty, brains – and blood – to infiltrate the vampires’ secret society and save the city. But once she’s in she finds her target, the assassin Drakon, is not the monster she expected.
Handsome, honourable and irresistibly attractive, Drakon will stop at nothing to save his people – and protect the woman he needs even more than the blood that keeps him alive. Now the key to the world’s survival may lie in their dangerous alliance…
*I received a free ARC of Shadowmaster from Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Shadowmaster is an exciting and well executed dystopian / paranormal story where the female lead is a dhampir who knows how to fight dirty!
My Shadowmaster review:
Phoenix has been part of a more or less secret government organization since she was a child. She is neither totally human, nor totally vampire, thus those around her see her as different, and maybe a threat. She has one good friend at the Aegis, though, but when she’s sent on an important mission, she has to go on her own. She needs to find Drakon in the outskirts of the city, and she has to use any asset possible in order to help locate and bring Drakon in for questioning. The future of the world just might depend on her doing her job right.
There is a lot of excitement in Shadowmaster, and I loved how easily I entered this world that could have felt completely alien, but where I understood both the people and the way things worked quickly. Phoenix is a smart and independent young woman, and being a dhampir is both a blessing and a curse. Once she is sent on her assignment, she has not way of contacting Aegis, she has to be able to rely solely on herself.
With some unexpected twists I enjoyed a lot, Shadowmaster managed to take me on a trip into a new world, where I would have wanted to be by Phoenix’s side to help her out when the going got tough. Even if Shadowmaster is the third book in a series, I didn’t feel like I had missed anything by not reading the first two books, but I’m sure my enjoyment could have been even more if I had already entered this world before.
Written in third person past tense, Shadowmaster brought me straight into the story, and kept me there, not letting me put my kindle down even to sleep. If you enjoy different stories that dare to go a little outside the norm, you should pick up the Nightsiders series at your earliest convenience.
Some of my favorite Shadowmaster quotes:
Phoenix leaned against the wall of the building, taking deep breaths to ease her distress. She had never been so close to one of these unfortunate people. Aegis had kept her protected from such sights, from such thoughts.
There were still too many variables, too many unknowns. Phoenix had to be ready for attack while pretending to be completely out of her depth in every possible way. Which she very nearly was.
Of one thing she was certain: Shepherd had something more up his sleeve than wanting his own private Aegis operative, who happened to be standing in the thick of a very volatile situation.
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