Friday, June 19, 2009

Review - Rises the Night




Title: Rises the Night
Author: Colleen Gleason
Publishing Date: 2007
Genre: Historical Paranormal
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Hot

Rises the Night is book two of Colleen Gleason's The Gardella Vampire Chronicles. This series centers around Victoria Gardella, a young woman from a long line of vampire slayers, also known as venators. The series is set in London during the 1800s. Only a few people are aware that vampires exist and it is Victoria's job to make sure it stays that way. Victoria inquires new information of a vampire uprising in Italy. She travels there under the guise of a widow and hopes to infiltrate an underground society. Along the way, she discovers what happened to Max after he went missing and she learns more about the mysterious Sebastian Vioget.

I have mixed feelings about Rises the Night. The pacing of the story is uneven. Some parts of the book went very quickly and held my attention raptly and other parts seemed to drag on. Certain scenes where there were a lot of external action, Victoria with Sebastian or Victoria fighting the vampires, moved the story very quickly. When Victoria was conversing with her Aunt or discovering the history behind vampires, I found my mind wandering. It seemed it was one extreme or the other, but not much in between; feast or famine.

I still haven't warmed up to Victoria as much as I would like. She is a rule follower and comes across as sort of stuffy, but then occasionally she acts impulsively and it gets her into trouble. In my opinion, some of her actions could be considered, Too Stupid To Live (TSTL). In her defense, she is young and is still learning what she is capable of handling and when she needs to ask for help.

Note* This book is labeled as a paranormal romance by Signet Eclipse. Victoria does have some romantic entanglements, but there is not a clear cut hero, nor is the romance wrapped up at the end of the story. The romance thread will continue in future books in the series.

Here is what others had to say:

Blogcritics.org
Unmainstream Mom Reads
Thrifty Reader
Dionne Galace It's Not Chick Porn
A Reader's Journal
Good Books, Bad Books

This book can be purchased in print or kindle format at Amazon.

8 comments:

Mandi said...

I loved this series..AFTER this book. I liked the first two books, but I thought they greatly improved with books 3-5. Those are some of my favs.

This one had a good ending, didn't it? :)

Marg said...

I thought the pacing was uneven as well in the first couple of books, but the series definitely gets better with each subsequent book.

It interests me that this series has so many fans who are non-romance readers. I think part of it is to do with Colleen herself, but it does make me wonder if some of those people read other romance novels if they would like them too.

Jill D. said...

Mandi - Hmmm the consensis seams to be to keep reading. I was thinking of not continuing, but maybe I will... Yes, the ending was good. At times the writing was fabulous and then at others I would find myself checking the time, etc.

Marg - A lot of people have been saying it gets better. I am undecided about whether or not I'll continue the series.

I didn't realize this series had a non-romance fan base. That is interesting. Food for thought...

~ames~ said...

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this one that much. This series definitely picks up though. :P

SarahT said...

I read the first few chapters of the first book in the series and gave up on it. The writing was clunky and Victoria annoyed me. I haven't felt inspired to finish it.

nath said...

I have the first two books and they are still in my TBR pile. Sigh. Ames loved it, so I don't know what to do... I actually have no idea why I haven't given this a try yet ^_^;

Jill D. said...

Ames - At this point, I am not sure if I will continue on with the series or not. We'll see..

Sarah - I hear you sista! I am glad that I finished the book, but it was a struggle.

Nath - I say give it a try, if you don't like it you can always stop reading if it doesn't hold your interest. Hey, you might just end up really liking it!

Tracy said...

I read the first book in the series and didn't particularly care for it. I never read any of the others. I know there a ton of bloggers who love it though. I think you either love it or you don't. :)