Nightshade

Afton has been sick and unhealthy for her entire life. Left alone with only her grandmother to raise her after her mother's suicide, she has always been different. She has never really been told the truth about her history; all Afton knew was that blood kept her alive. When she is taken to an alternate world she meets the...thing...who claims to be her father. Although she feels at home in this new dimension, she wants nothing to do with her “family”. The longer she spends there, however, the weaker she gets. And to top off her misery, a marriage pact with one of her species eldest, Lorenz, was made shortly after her birth.

A unique twist on the creation and mythology of vampires, this story also includes straight-up fantasy elements by linking alternate worlds and dimensions to earth and Afton’s home world through portholes and crystal using telepaths who can traverse them. This is an amazing world, and the set up to an exciting series full of promise, but it didn’t quite work. The prologue wasn’t needed, and while it explains the entire mythology, that same information is sprinkled throughout the story as Afton learns about herself. It’s also confusing because Lorenz wasn’t in it, and there is some misinformation about the main characters.  While some telling is always needed in any story, a full quarter of this is flat out telling and explaining, including in the middle of many action scenes, which brought everything to a screeching halt. A tightening up edit would make this an unstoppable series!

Julie York