What do You think about Dark Defender (2006)?
As a Paladin warrior, Blake fights and dies again and again. But this time, as he senses his humanity slipping away, he finds warmth and love in the arms of an old childhood friend, Brenna Nichols. Dark Defender was very good indeed because it explains more about the history of the Paladins while focusing on the love story between Blake and Brenna. Meanwhile characters from Book 1 are reintroduced, of course since this is the start of a beautiful series.Brenna Nichols just watched her father die and ends up in a coma in a hospital. She hears the gentle voice of an old friend. Someone she has not seen in twelve years. It is Blake. He looks harder, stronger...yummy. She does not know what he really is though and when he tells her, eventually she has to decide whether to give up the passionate nights she has with him and break her heart in two, or stay with him, be by his side and see where it takes her.Brenna has to make a choice and it is this choice that makes the book more heartfelt, more emotional. Think about it. Her childhood friend who she thought she knew, may have answers about her father's death and she learns he is more than human? For those interested, the really cool technical stuff like the fighting and seeking out who killed Brenna's dad and the case of the mysterious blue stone from the Other's world are fascinating plot fillers and I have a feeling we'll learn more about that precious blue stone later.So far I am in love with this series and each time I am expecting more and more from the characters and the story and have not been disappointed.On to Book 3: In Darkness Reborn!
—Erica Smith
I love this series. The Paladins are special race, a mixture of human and "others", able to heal faster, die and be revived and fight to protect out world from the "Others" that wish to cross over into it.In many PNR an "Other" may be considered a shapeshifter or Vampire, but in this book that is not the case.Deep with in the earths crust, there is a protal or break between two worlds that the Paladins guard. From the Other side come a different kind of being. Fom a world without light.Our main character Blake Trahern fights and dies again and again to keep mankind safe from the Others. Sensing his humanity slipping away with each battle, he retreats from the world...until the one person who still has a claim on his soul needs his help. It's been twelve years since Blake vanished from Brenna Nichols's life, years that have turned her from a love-struck teen into a headstrong, sensual woman. He'll fearlessly give his life to protect her -- yet he dare not risk his heart.Brenna is stunned by Blake's reappearance, and by a shocking discovery about her father. Everything she has ever believed is thrown into question -- everything except the desire that Blake still ignites. But as they search together for a traitor among the Paladins, danger looms: the next battle could tip Blake into madness, destroying his life, his soul...and the only woman he has ever loved.
—(Kelly)~Got Fiction?~ Oakes
Decent sequel, but I just didn't buy either protagonist. Blake, who was close to losing his humanity in the previous book, was suddenly warm and lovey and schmarmy, and Brenna loses her father to a bomb: and then not only rolls with grief and learning about this strange paranormal world, but the NEXT DAY uses the phrase "Drop a bomb on..." to describe something. It's just a little clumsy. But the world Morgan created is a really good one, and this is only book 2, so I'll stick with it. The premise is good enough to be worth that investment.
—Michelle Cristiani
