Blood Shadows
(Blackthorn #1)
by Lindsay J. Pryor
Kane is the winner of the 2016 alpha showdown? OMG! Who is this bad boy? He defeated Barrons! I had to meet him…
Blood Shadows introduces Kane, the alpha anti-hero; the patient, determined, sadistic, expert game player…Kane has a reputation, Most Wanted on the list of renegade vampires. His power attracts “there was something about Kane. Something inexplicable.”
Yes, the antihero with a mission…to avenge his sister, Arana’s brutal, heinous death. Caitlin is the key piece of is plan, his goal to destroy those responsible for Arana’s horrific demise. Pryor teases us as well, keeps us interested in this complex contradictory alpha. It would simpler, easier just to develop a profound dislike, a hatred for Kane…so unfeeling, detached, task-oriented. But we learn more about this master vampire; his sense of honor, fair play, integrity; attracts profane loyalty, respect, admiration from his people, the third species community. He refuses to allow hypocrisy, hubris, deceitful manipulative power brokers continue to rule…continue to control the third species. More importantly, we understand his motives, his desperation, his self control, and a need, he desperately tries to conceal, to bury…to love, once again. “She needed a deep connection, something he wasn’t willing to grant anyone. Not since Arana. Not since his heart had been torn out.”
Pryor inexorably strips his layers, allows us to glimpse the complexity of Kane…the heartless, callous master vamp that we end up rooting for, hoping that his HEA is in his grasp. Will he rise above his hatred, his hostility, his profound need for vengeance? “Do you really feel so little, Kane?”
She forces us to question…revisit our preconceptions of good vs. evil…redefine the antagonists, who we thought honorable. Power, the ultimate motivator!
However, Blood Shadow has its shortcomings…the soul ripper plot line confusing and incomplete; unfortunate, as it is the main reason Kane captures Caitlyn; He allows her to arrest him; consequently, her reputation as an elite VCU agent soars, paired with her ability as shadow reader, and…everyone knows the history between Caitlin and Kane; in particular, her infatuation with the infamous master vampire. And she is the one Xavier sends to seduce, to spy, to bring Kane in, to inevitably force Kane to submit to Xavier and the VCU.
As the 1st installment of the series, Blood Shadows introduces the BlackThorn community; however, the soul ripper, the death of Caitlin’s parents, the elaborate conspiracy was a bit rushed, incomplete, missing, unexplained parts and motives, the prophecy: the vampire rise to power. Otherwise, I enjoyed meeting Kane…Caitlin *meh*, not too annoying. My interest piqued, I want to know more about Kane and Caitlin as a couple…?
And…who is this Fenith of the High Order Vampire council and her plans to control a fourth species, to establish an army, and to control Kane…Stay Tuned
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