Review: The Den of Shadows Quartet

The Den of Shadows Quartet by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date: August 11, 2009
Pages: 608
Age Level: YA

In the Forests of the Night

Synopsis
Three hundred years ago Risika had a family—a brother and a father who loved her. Three hundred years ago she was human. Now she is a vampire, a powerful one. And her past has come back to torment her.

Review
In the Forests of the Night is the first actual vampire book I've read - sparkling 'vegetarian' vampires so don't count - so I wasn't entirely sure how I would take to it.

When I started reading this, I found it very interesting to realize Amelia was only 13 when she wrote In the Forests of the Night.

I liked Risika as a character. The inner battle going on within herself between who she was before and who she is now made her a complex and riveting character. The alternating chapters between past and present helped me to understand her even more. I also thought her friendship with the tiger was such a beautiful and unique edition to the story. Aubrey was......well......I'm still not entirely sure what I think of Aubrey. Part of me was inexplicably drawn to him and the other part of me hated him.

My main qualm with this story was that I wanted to know more about Risika's brother, Alexander. Who/what he was, what happened to him, what took him so long to come back, etc. Other than that, In the Forests of the Night was a good, though extremely short, story that I mostly enjoyed.

Demon in My View

Synopsis
Jessica isn’t your average high school student—she’s an acclaimed published author of vampire fiction. Now two new students at her high school strongly remind her of her favorite characters. But those characters only live in her imagination—right?

Review
Even though I liked In the Forests of the Night, I LOVED Demon in My View. The story itself was even more gripping than the previous and I just loved the main character, Jessica. She was such a brave and kick ass heroine.

Also, I got to learn a little more of some of the vampires history and as an even bigger plus, I got to know Aubrey more. Okay so I know I said before that I wasn't sure what I thought of him but now I know. I love him! I really got to see his sweeter side in Demon in My View and there is something about that dry, sardonic humor of his that I can't resist. XD

Now unlike In the Forests of the Night, Demon in My View is written in third person and alternates between three points of view. I liked this because it gave me a totally unbiased look at the characters, leaving me to form my own opinions without influence from the MC. As for the quality of the writing, it didn't disappoint.

Shattered Mirror

Synopsis
Christopher Ravena and Sarah Vida may look like a normal high school couple, but he’s actually a vampire who’s sworn off human blood and she’s an incredibly powerful, vampire-hunting witch. As if that weren’t enough to prevent their love, his past and her future collide when they get tangled up with Nikolas, one of the most reviled vampires ever.

Review
So far I would say Shattered Mirror is my second favorite.

One thing about Shattered Mirror was it was a little more twisted than the other two. I also loved the poems through out. I was however a little disappointed with the ending. It was predictable and I was hoping for something...well...different.

The characters were likable and somewhat complex, and the writing was great.

Midnight Predator

Synopsis
Once a happy teenager, Turquoise Draka is now a vampire hunter. Her current assignment is to assassinate Jeshikah, one of the cruelest vampires in history. But to do that, she’ll have to enter Midnight, a fabled vampire realm, as a human slave. . . .

Review
Ok so this one comes in third place for me. It wasn't quite as great as I was hoping, however I did like how different it was from the others.

The story was compelling, fast paced, and fairly well written. Turquoise wasn't my favorite of the main characters but she was likable. I found that her and Risika had a lot in common as far as how both were struggling with their past and present. Who they were versus who they are now. It was almost repetitive, like Turquoise was the vampire hunter version of Risika. As for Jaguar, I liked him mostly but then there was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way.

The ending was good, leaving things a little bit open for your mind to wonder.

Overall Review
Amelia's writing is dark but beautiful, though definitely not perfect. There was more depth to the stories than I expected and I loved how each story was preceded by a poem. I also enjoyed how Amelia went about tying each individual story to the next. Though some people haven't liked the somewhat open endings, I actually liked being left to wonder a little bit since the ending would already give you a pretty good idea. Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is a good writer and story-teller that I think most people would enjoy. I, however, wouldn't recommend this to those looking for light-vampire-romance-fluff.

Grading
Characters: B-
Writing: B-
Plot: B-
Ending: B
Enjoyment/likability: B
Recommendable: B
Cover: A+

Overall: B-