Night World No.1
Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder
by L.J. Smith

This is the first 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 of the Night World novels that were originally published on their own separately. Included in this set are the first three novels of the series: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, and Spellbinder respectively. Grab something to eat or drink and get comfortable folks, this is going to be a long post.

The Night World, as it were, is not so much a world but a society that runs parallel and, at times, intertwined with the world as we know it. The Night World is comprised of vampires, shapeshifters, and witches, along with a handful of other supernatural things, and is ruled by a governing body that is comprised of representatives of each species. Each species, however, has their monarchy who dictate to them. There are numerous rules that each species adheres to, but the two that are of the utmost importance are:

1. Never tell humans that it [Night World] exists.
2. Never fall in love with a human.

As you can well imagine, the Night World Series is comprised of tales when these two fundamental rules are broken.

Secret Vampire starts the series off. In this first story, L.J. Smith introduces a handful of characters who will play fundamental roles in the events to come. She also takes the opportunity in this story, as well as the following two, to lay down the foundations of the world in which these characters live. In doing so her supernatural characters become that much more understandable and the differences between the human and non-human characters, both superficial and non, become readily apparent.

The story revolves around Poppy, a young high school girl just starting the summer vacation of her senior year in high school, and James Rasmussen a living vampire and her long-time best friend. At the beginning of the summer Poppy is diagnosed pancreatic cancer, a terminal form of cancer with a less than 1% chance of survival. For James, sitting back and watching Poppy die is not an option, but the only other option is to turn her into a vampire. The second option opens up a whole new can of worms as it will not only break every rule set into place by the Council, but will also force the both of them to go on the run. To top it off, James’ cousin, Ash Redfern, is in town. Ash seems to care nothing for humans, with the exception of females he can play with. When Ash discovers Poppy’s secret all hell breaks loose.

With the knowledge of Poppy’s inevitable death, no matter what choice she makes, there comes a roller coaster of emotion to ride out. Fear of the unknown, the loss of everything she holds dear, and everything in between, Poppy’s emotions run the full gambit giving a very realistic feel to what it must be like to know that you are dying and your only choice is to die or die, wake up, and leave your life behind. The final showdown between James, Phillip (Poppy’s twin brother) and Ash however felt rushed and a bit anticlimactic. The juicy tidbit of information regarding Poppy’s possible heritage that Ash dangles before Poppy and James however is rather ironic and slightly surprising. I say only slightly surprising as Smith was very careful to drop hints early on in the book, though they can be easily overlooked for the most part.

In Daughters of Darkness the trouble making Ash Redfern makes a return, this time he’s been sent to track down and return his three renegade sisters (Jade, Rowan, and Kestrel) to the safe and isolated Night World alcove from which they ran away from. In the process however, he comes across a human female who has the courage and fortitude that most Night Worlders do not, to go toe to toe with Ash Redfern. Ash, his sisters, Mary-Lynette, and her brother Mark find themselves mixed up in a good old fashioned whodunit. Mrs. Burdock, Ash and his sister’s great-aunt Opal, was found staked in her basement on the day the girls arrived. Initially clues point to the possibility of a vampire hunter and then Ash, but it soon becomes apparent that there’s more to her murder.

On top of all this, the six teens find themselves racing the clock to solve the mystery because by the end of the week an old and ruthless made-vampire whose reputation can give Ash pause will be checking to make sure Ash has taken care of everything. Where as Ash tolerates humans and has found his soulmate in the form of Mary-Lynette, Quinn utterly despises humans and is the sort to take Night World law into his own hands if it’s not enforced properly. This was the first mystery of the series, and L.J. Smith definitely handled it with finesse.

One other thing that stood out to me was the fact that Rowan, Kestrel and Jade supposedly ran away from the alcove they had been living at because of its strict and traditional living. Women in dresses, men rule while women kowtow to males, no music or television from the “outside” and so forth. And yet, aside from instance where Jade becomes alarmed when a boy catches her listening to music, the girls do not appear to have been cutoff from the outside world their entire lives. There is no adjustment period and no learning stage. Not really believable.

In the end, when the killer is revealed, it’s not only an “Ah-hah!” moment, but also a bit heart breaking as well. After all, he was such a nice guy and his reasons were understandable. In short, the reader can’t help but to sympathize with the “villain” and it becomes readily apparent that there is no right or wrong side in the story. It’s also interesting to note that the ending is not quite so happy as it is bittersweet, which makes this tale differ drastically from the other two in the set.

Spellbinder focuses around the two young witches that Ash introduced to Poppy in Secret Vampire. Blaise and Thea Harman are both young witches in their senior year attending a new school after being kicked out of the last one. Blaise enjoys flaunting her abilities to toy with human boys, and as a result, has gotten both her and her cousin kicked out of five schools since their sophomore year. Now, Blaise and Thea are living with their grandmother, the Crone of all witches, with the threat of being sent to a Connecticut alcove (referred to as the “Convent”) hanging over their heads. At the new school however trouble is already brewing on the first day. Thea meets Eric Ross who is an all-around star athlete at the school and a scholastic overachiever looking into becoming a veterinarian and Blaise’s new target.

Initially, spells start flying as these two duke it out over the boy and then again when Blaise realizes that a human is her cousin’s soulmate – something she’d rather stop in order to protect Thea from Night World law. Likewise the effort she goes through to help her cousin who chooses her soulmate over the Night World was heartwarming. From the beginning it was apparent that Thea considered Blaise to be like a sister to her, and although there were times when one would doubt it, it became very apparent that Blaise felt exactly the same. The bond between these two truly stood up against all odds.

With the exception of Eric, who I just didn’t care much for, Smith did an excellent job on characterization. Each character, both major and minor, brought something to the story that would have been lost without them. I found the relationship between Blaise and Thea to be of more interest than that of Thea and Eric though. Eric’s personality was rather bland and easily pushed to the background when more than two characters were present. Despite Blaise’s rather cruel hobby, it’s clear that she’s no “evil witch” and does in fact care a great deal about not only Thea but her fellow Night Worlders as well.

With the conclusion of this story we also get the sense that something fundamental in the Night World underway. Previously, it was only vampires, Redfern descendants and cousins, who were discovering their soulmates amongst the humans. With Thea we learn that the changes underway are affecting multiple species and that there is an underground movement tied to it as well. Night Worlders are finding their soulmates one after another, something that has been hinted at in all three books as being unusual, and amongst humans no less. And then there are the murmurings of the approaching millennium as well. With that tantalizing thought in mind, the following novels promise to be very interesting.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)