The Vampire Narcise (Regency Draculia)
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Book Description from Amazon: Skilled in the seduction of men, both mortal and immortal, Narcise Moldavi is the greatest weapon in her twisted brother?s war among the Dracule. Until she falls for Giordan Cale.
Her first searing encounter with Giordan seals their fierce connection for their eternal lives. But Giordan?s vow to help Narcise escape her brother?s rule is followed by a betrayal more agonizing than sunlight.
Wounded but determined, Narcise ensnares vampire hunter Chas Woodmore in her quest for revenge and to reclaim her life. He wants her, worships her, will kill for her. And the Dracule never forget a wrong? nor do they forgive.
A blogger friend, Jennifer, from ?Abundance of Books? book blog, did a review of the Vampire Voss a few months ago, and after reading her review and chatting with her about the book, I was intrigued. I liked the idea of it being a Regency Romance (until I fell in love with UF/PNR, Regency was my favorite Genre), and a Vampire story. Just the mash-up of those two genre?s made my heart go pitty-pat. Gleason had written a series set in Regency London that was about Vampire Hunters and now had started a series set in the same time/world from the Vampire?s side of things which I thought was brilliant.
I read, reviewed and loved both VAMPIRE VOSS and VAMPIRE DMITRI, and I?ve been waiting for the third and final book in the series, VAMPIRE NARCISSE for some time. When I read it, I was stunned. Gleason is a master story teller and she threw a twist in book three I didn?t even come close to see coming. She wrote all the books to be almost exactly concurrent with each other, events overlapping over the trilogy, some of the same scenes told from a different person?s point of view in each book.
It reminds me a little of that Japanese movie ?Rashomon? by Akira Kurasawa, which has the same event told from three different people?s perspectives. It is also a darker book then the other two, the characterizations are more intense, the stakes are even higher. Parts of the book are frankly difficult to read.
In Voss and Dmitri we briefly met and were told about Narcise and her lover Chas Woodmore, who we logically believe is going to be the protagonist of this book, but wow did Gleason throw us a curve ball. It turns out the Hero in this book isn?t Chas, the Vampire Hunter and brother of the heroines of VAMPIRE VOSS and VAMPIRE DMITRI, Angelica and Maia Woodmore. ?It is instead Voss and Dmitri?s friend Giordan Cale. (I don?t think I?m doing anything too spoilerish here since this is obvious if you read the book description).
In the first two books we are led to believe that Giordan has done something so unforgivable that Naricise despises him, and frankly, I thought it likely he was going to be a villain and a traitor to his friends. Instead it turns out he sacrificed so much for Narcise and she tragically and predictably, misunderstood everything. ?Don?t get me wrong, I still don?t really believe there was no other option, I wasn?t comfortable with the belief that Giordan could do nothing other than what he has to do to try to free Narcise from her despicable and evil brother Cezar.? However that is how the book is written and we have to take it on those terms.
Villain of the trilogy, Vampire Cezar Moldavi made a deal with the devil, and then tricked his sister into making the deal too, so he wouldn?t be alone, so they live their lives as Vampires. As children they were quite close but as adults it became clear to Narcise that Cezar was jealous of her beauty (Cezar is a weedy little guy with a deformed jaw that causes him to lisp)and more then a little crazy. He uses her beauty to entrap his enemies. Cezar tells these men if they beat Narcise in a fencing match, they get to sleep with her. Narcise is so gorgeous (think the bust of Nefertiti), and the men?s egos so large, they believe they can beat her and win the prize of a night in bed with her. And at first that did happen to some, however Narcise ?is highly motivated to win and has become one of the best fencer?s in the world. Many men die at the tip of her sword.
Giordan Cale hates Cezar and what he is doing to his sister. She is a prisoner, made to fight by large thuggish servants of Cezar?s who watch her like a hawk and drag her around to where ever her brother wants her to appear. If she isn?t being forced into sex with men she hates or forced to fight for her virtue, she is dressed like up like a doll and has to make appearances to make Cezar look good. Cezar goes so far as to weave her asenthia (each Vampire basically has their own Kryptonite) into some of her clothes so she is weakened to almost the point of death. Cezar isn?t going to win the Brother of the year award any time soon.
Giordan of course decides to try to fight her. Luckily he is one of the few to beat her and he wins a night with her, ?but instead of making her have sex with him, he talks to her and tries to help her escape. It takes time but eventually over several meetings Narcise falls in love with him and learns to trust him. Despite the fact that these two crazy kids are sneaking around, Cezar figures out what they are up to and puts into play one of the most disgusting and Machiavellian tricks I?ve ever read.? Narcisse sees something that evil Cezar has set up that breaks her heart and turns her completely against Giordan.
Years ?later, Chas Woodmore comes to Kill Cezar and is captured. Narcise helps him escape on the condition he take her with him. Chas agrees and the two are on the lam, and become lovers but Chas can never get over the fact that she is a hated Vampire and she isn?t really over Giordan. Eventually their paths cross with Dmitri, Voss and Giordan Cales and this is where things really get interesting.
I?ll admit VAMPIRE NARCISE wasn?t my favorite of the series. I just loved VAMPIRE VOSS so much, he was such a scoundrel, so funny and sweet and such a jerk, it was fun watching him drive Dmitri crazy. Also it was my first introduction to this world. Compared to Narcise, Voss was a lighthearted party boy. This book is so dark. Cezar?s evil machinations were almost difficult to stomach. It was however, in my opinion the best written of the series.? The twists and turns, the heartache and ultimately the salvation were more intense and so at times, more difficult to bear. Read the books in order and read the VAMPIRE NARCISE, just be prepared to feel a little beat up by the time you put the book down. It can wreck you.
*warning, this book has rape scenes (both female and male) and references child abuse. The topics are handled with discretion, however.
Source: http://dangerousromance.com/?p=1426
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