Monday, August 6, 2012

Review: Darkness Before Dawn by J. A. London


Darkness Before Dawn (Darkness Before Dawn, #1)
In future Denver, vampires rule the country and human stay safe in the city by donating blood and working through ambassadors. Our girl Dawn has just been named ambassador at 17! So high school and vampire politics come into play. She takes over for her dead parents at the request of Valentine, the head vampire in the area. Lets just say Valentine is NOT a fan of collective bargaining.

While dealing with her new position, Dawn is saved by a handsome stranger (SHOCKER). Guess what!? He is a vamp and Valentine's son. But her growing relationship with Victor (2nd worst love-interest name ever, right after Tobias) is caught up in the strange vampire on vampire murders in Denver. A war is coming, and Dawn is in the thick of it.

(Before you say THIS IS ONE OF THOSE BOOKS with a ridic title and a girl in a fancy dress, let me say that our main character's name is Dawn. So Darkness Before Dawn by J.A. London is a play on words! And the darkness part? Well this is a vampire story after all.)
  • Originality: 3. It might be because I just read The Immortal Rules, but I JUST saw a world where humans live in fenced-in cities and give tribute to vampires. Plus Dawn is apparently “the most special human ever” for reasons we don’t yet know. Bella Swan alert!
  • Absurdity: OH MAN. 10. As an ambassador Dawn has to get dressed up in Victorian garb to interact with Valentine. He insists. I rolled my eyes A LOT. It was hokey and sort of voyeuristic. Lets move on.
  • Level of Paranormal Romance: 7. Vampire love, unrequited because vamps are immortal and eat people. Plus this is some insta-love.
  • Level of Harry-Potterness: 4. Plot drives Darkness Before Dawn. Characters and settings are sketched in at best. This is no beautifully detailed Hogwarts, people!

3 comments:

  1. I've seen this around... haven't really gotten the desire to read it though. Glad you took a shot at it; still don't have a desire to read it. :)

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  2. I... kind of want to make a dirty joke really really bad. I just... I can't. I'm not sure this one is for me. A lot of stories that have a sort of dystopian element seem very voyeristic in a lot of ways, so I apprecitated that observation.

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