"Fabulous Finale to Trilogy"
After thirty years away from Cumberland, Milosh,
Brotherhood vampire hunter and slayer, returned to find his
closest friends' manor nothing but a burnt out ruin.
According to the vicar of the village, Milosh was six
months too late and had no way of knowing whether his
friends, the Hyde-White family had escaped. Stabling down
his vampire stallion Somnus, Milosh entered the ruins
sensing he was not alone. Still, he was not prepared for
the young Gypsy woman (Paloma) who escaped the ruins by
stealing his stallion. Milosh was stunned to be caught so
off guard and after catching Paloma he was further shocked
by his physical reaction to her. Paloma had been bitten by Sebastian, the vampire Milosh had
been tracking and trying to kill for over 400 years. When
questioned Paloma denied having been attacked thinking that
if Milosh knew she had been bitten and suffered the
bloodlust, he would kill her. Lust overcame common sense
and Milosh, surrendering to his passion, made love to
Paloma, who having not fed for days lost control bit and
drank of Milosh's blood. The outcome of the bite was Paloma
was cured of her bloodlust, and Milosh, who for 400 years
had been free of the vampire bloodlust after completing the
Blood Moon ceremony, now reverted back to the state of
those he hunted. *** Milosh is one of the original characters that Ms.
Thompson introduced and actively employed in the previous
books of this trilogy. He was the first to have overcome
his ravening for blood (or bloodlust) by discovering the
cure of the Blood Moon and acted as mentor, teacher and
friend to the Hyde-White family who were infected by his
age-old nemesis Sebastian, and featured as the main
characters in BLOOD MOON and THE BROTHERHOOD. Finally, in
THE RAVENING Milosh has his own story -- an absorbing,
tense, edge-of-the-seat rollercoaster ride of passion and
thrills galore! Everyone must have a soul-mate and after 400 years of
wandering Milosh found his in Paloma and their sensual
passionate encounter where he let down his guard after all
those years almost killed him. Thompson described this
terrifying nightmare beautifully as the bloodlust he had
avoided in all those years, came back with a vengeance.
Thompson expertly described Milosh's agony as he fought the
urge to kill the woman he loved as he quickly began a
descent into madness. Calling upon the Brotherhood of
vampire hunters he had created, he asked them to protect
and guide Paloma. When his friends the Hyde-White's
finally reappeared, it was a bittersweet reunion -- they'd
come to do what Milosh had tutored them to do -- to destroy
the ravening vampire he'd become. Milosh only had one
chance to try another Blood Moon ritual to save himself,
but before he did that the author brings you on a suspense
filled ride as Milosh tries one more time to destroy
Sebastian, or die trying. Ms. Thompson did a wonderful job in giving a vivid image of
the evil that was Sebastian; the innocence of Paloma; and
the descent into madness that Milosh was fighting. I loved
the original creation of Somnus (Milosh's vampire stallion)
and the era's depicted as she brought the reader along from
the Regency years through the Victorian as reflected in the
original dialog cant of the time periods. Her version of
good vs. evil in her paranormal world of shape shifting
beings was phenomenal. While this is definitely a stand-alone story with enough
back-stepping to bring the reader into the moment and up to
speed, I highly suggest that you read all three in sequence
and treasure them. Treasure them knowing that as author
Dawn Thompson once graced and gifted this world with her
lyrical and creative historical romance and paranormal
stories, the romance world has lost this shining star.
Reviewed by Marilyn Rondeau
Posted March 17, 2008
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