Night World No.3
by L.J. Smith

This is the third 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 seventh, eighth, and ninth novels of the series: Huntress, Black Dawn, and Witchlight respectively.

These three tales also mark the beginning of a new saga in the Night World series. As the millennium draws nearer the signs of an impending battle between the forces of good and evil becomes evident. The new abilities that Night Worlders have been developing, mentioned in previous books, are becoming more common. Chaos and violence is breaking out all over the world in seemingly unrelated events, creatures long thought gone have returned, and to top it all off prophecies speak of four people who will have the power to decide the fate of the world – Wild Powers.

In Blue fire, the final darkness is banished.
In blood, the final price is paid.
Four to stand between the light and the shadow,
Four of blue fire, power in their blood.
Born in the year of the blind Maiden’s vision;
Four less one and darkness triumphs.

In short, the Old Powers, forces of nature that have been lying dormant since humans took control of the world are waking up. Something is coming and both sides are scrambling to secure the four Wild Powers for their side.

Huntress is the story of Jez Redfern, a powerful, dangerous, and beautiful vampire. She’s descended from the most powerful, not to mention first, vampire – Hunter Redfern. She’s the leader of her own gang, which consists of other vampires, and she loves the thrill of a hunt. Humans are vermin, they’re just food and nothing more. Naturally, when long suppressed memories force themselves to the forefront of her mind, she’s confused and lost. After all, these memories tell her that her life is a lie. Everything she’s been lead to believe and everything she’s ever said and done to those so called “vermin” comes back to haunt her in an instant. Because, as it turns out, while Jez is indeed a Redfern, she’s also something that shouldn’t be. She’s half-human and half-vampire.

Naturally this revelation rocks Jez’s world, and in a moment of clarity, she realizes she can’t continue the farce of a life she’s been living. With her uncle’s help she makes contact with Circle Daybreak and starts a new life, living as a human. Being a human-vampire hybrid has it’s advantages; so long as she doesn’t call upon her vampiric abilities or drink blood she can live as a normal human. And that’s something that appeals greatly to Jez, because she fears returning to the heartless person she once was before.

Naturally her plan to leave it all behind blows up in her face when the possible location of the first Wild Power is discovered and Circle Daybreak sends Jez in to rescue and protect the Wild Power. You see, it wasn’t Circle Daybreak that found her first, it was Morgead her old second-in-command and the current leader of Jez’s old gang.

The majority of Smith’s Night World stories fall into two categories; humans stumbling upon the Night World and coming to terms with the Night World’s laws and the conflict it creates with their soulmate. Or, members of the Night Worlder finding human soulmates and coming to terms with the fact that the Night World’s laws and the beliefs they held were wrong and biased. Granted, not all of the stories can be easily squished into these two categories, but that is the pattern that the majority followed for the most part with a deviation beginning with Soulmate. With Huntress Smith takes a different route and instead focuses more on the inner struggle that occurs when deciding right from wrong.

Jez is a half human and half vampire. In order to protect from Night Worlders, her uncle Bracken raised her as vampire and along the way Jez adopted the popular view of humans as vermin. With the revelation of her heritage, to continue living in that manner would be hypocrisy. And yet, despite that, the temptation to be what she is, a vampire, remains and it’s one she has to ignore. In this sense, Jez is like an alcoholic. There is no “just one drink” for her. To return to drinking blood will lead back down the dark path she was on. With her soulmate being a vampire as well the temptation is double and tripled. The battle in her mind and heart is deep and moving one that takes nothing away from the story’s advancement.

Black Dawn introduces us to Maggie Neely, a strong-willed and compassionate heroine and Delos Redfern, a vampire prince and the second Wild Power to be found. The story opens up with Maggie being awoken late one night by her mother’s screams. She hurries downstairs and finds her brother’s girlfriend Sylvia Weald standing at the door with park rangers and police. Sylvia is beside herself over the fact that Miles had a climbing accident and is now dead. Maggie, however, smells a big fat blond-haired and violet-eyed rat by the name of Sylvia. Following her gut instincts Maggie tails Sylvia back to her apartment on campus in an attempt to get the truth from her; instead Maggie is rendered unconscious and bereft of answers. When Maggie comes too, she’s in the back of a cart, along with three other girls, and has been sold into slavery to a forgotten Night World kingdom. Now Maggie must search for her missing brother Miles in this dangerous kingdom while presenting herself as a positive representative of humankind to her soulmate and the second Wild Power Delos. All the while skirting Hunter Redfern and Sylvia and keeping Aradia, the blind Maiden of all Witches safe!

One of the other girls in the cart with her, Jeanne, is a slave who has twice now attempted to run away and been captured. She brings Maggie up to speed on their current location and the future that they have to look forward to. Before waking up in the slave cart however, Maggie has a mystical dream shrouded in mist where a boy she’s never met, but who knows her, tells her to get away. Unfortunately for this story, Maggie’s dream doesn’t make a lot of sense and badly interrupts the flow of the story to boot.

To be frank, I had a very hard time accepting the existence of a secret kingdom ruled by people of the Night World that was, subsquently, forgotten by the rest of the Night World. The kingdom remained unchanged and the only glimpses of the modern world came from the human slaves that were captured and brought in. This particular tale has a lot of great potential, there’s deep, strong, and well-developed characters scattered throughout this tale. Yet the premise that it’s based upon seems absurd, even in an urban fantasy setting such as this.

L.J. Smith wraps up the set and the series to date with Witchlight. Now, while Witchlight is not meant to be the last book in the series, it has remained so for some time now – seeing as how the series is still incomplete. The story, for the most part, revolves around Raksha Keller, a shapeshifter able to take the form of a black panther and one of Circle Daybreak’s top operatives. Her mission is simple, locate, protect, and bring Iliana Harman – the third Wild Power – to Circle Daybreak. Problem is, Iliana, despite being a Harman, is a lost witch, just as Gillian (Dark Angel) and Poppy (Secret Vampire) were. This means that she has been raised as a human and has no clue about her heritage or her responsibility. The fact that she’s a boy-crazy ditz obsessed with clothes, graduating, and parties only compounds this problem.

In Keller’s no-nonsense mind it’s very simple. This brainless twit is a Wild Power and it’s her job to make her see that she has a destiny to fulfill. Because, ironically enough, Iliana is more than just a Wild Power and a Harman, she’s also the key to forming an alliance between the Shapeshifters and the Witches. She’s the Witch Child and it is her duty to marry Galen Drache of the First House of Shapeshifters. With their marriage the Shapeshifters will firmly be on the side of Circle Daybreak. And therein lies the problem, because you see, the heart doesn’t understand things like obligation and duty. All that Keller and Galen’s hearts know is that they’re soulmates.

This story remains one of my favorites in the series for a very good reason. This story marks the first book where we get the lore and history of the shapeshifters, not to mention, we get to see the world from the point of view of two different shapeshifters – Keller and Galen. Let’s face it, the series is heavily biased towards the Witches and Vampires and the only mentions we get of the other species (ghouls, werewolves, and shapeshifters) is usually negative. This installment provided a nice change of perspective.

Additionally, the conflict that Keller undergoes as she struggles to comes to term with her duty and what her heart wants is a gripping one. Keller is torn between her duty to the first house of shapeshifters and her love for Gallen. On top of that, there is also the moral struggle of doing what’s right no matter the cost. Do the ends justify the means? That’s a question Keller has to ask herself continuously when she’s faced with Iliana’s refusal to do her duty and her desire to remain “normal”.

Now the question remains, will we ever see the completion of this series? It’s been over a decade since the last book was published and still the readers have been left hanging. The fact that the series is being reprinted in these sets gives me hope that this series will, someday soon, be finished. Some closure would be much appreciated and is long overdue.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)