Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance

Midnight's Daughter - Karen Chance
Grade: Adult (Urban Fantasy)
Rating: 4/5 Stars

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir-half human, half vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing.

Now Dory's vampire father has come back into her life. Her Uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula), infamous even among vampires for his cruelty and murderous ways, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.

Vampires and dhampirs are mortal enemies, and Dory prefers to work alone. But Dracula is the only thing on Earth that truly scares her, so when Dory has to go up against him, she'll take all the help she can get ...

I'll admit I had trouble getting into 'Midnight's Daughter', but I'm so glad I stuck with it. Wow, such a fantastic read. Karen Chance has a really unique take on Vampires and Fey. It's nice to see another series out there that combines vampires and faeries. I love seeing a mix of the two, you get to explore the dark and mysterious ways of both creatures, even more so because neither species is assigned a role of good or evil; with Dory and the majority of her vampire family (Mircea, Radu and Louis-Cesare) being good, while Dracula is on the evil side; and similarly for the Fey, we meet both good and evil. It leaves the plot with multiple possibilities when it comes to enemies, especially considering vampires and fey are not the only supernatural beings that walk the earth.

These days I keep running into stories about dhampirs, half-vampires that usually excel at fighting. And while Dory, our dhampir protagonist is also extremely good at fighting, dhampir's in Chance's world are violent oddities that often can't control their urge to fight, making them dangerous and destructive. I love that Dory is rare. Not only is she a dhampir, but she's an old dhampir in the sense that she has lived for 500 years (not particularly old for vampires, but when dhampirs rarely survive because of their blind rages, it's a really impressive achievement to make it that far). It makes her pretty special and skilled.

I was a little confused by the background of the novel. There appears to be a massive war going on with the Vampires and Mages. While the war is mentioned quite a bit, we  never really find out why the war is happening or how it affects Dory and those around her. I know 'Midnight's Daughter' is a spin-off series and the war might be mentioned within Karen Chance's other series, but it left me wondering what was going on. Hopefully more answers will come in the next book.

I wonder what trouble Dory will find herself in next?
4/5 Stars
Kim

Originally posted on Goodreads. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/187185766