Dawnbreaker, Third Book of the Dark Days Series (ARC) by Jocelynn Drake

Publisher: EOS Books / Harper Collins
Pages: 457 (384 pb)
Release date 9-29-09

(all book images and blurbs from Harper Collins)

From the Cover:
"The dawn brinks new terror for the creatures of the night..."

Those off her race fear Mira for the lethal fire she bends to her will -- a power unique among nightwalkers, both a gift ... and a curse.

The naturi despise Mira for what she is -- as they prepare the final sacrifice that will destroy the barriers between the worlds. And once the naturi are unchained, blood, chaos, and horror will reign supreme on Earth.

Mira can trust only Danaus, the more-than-mortal vampire slayer, though he is sworn to destroy her kind. And now, as the day approaches when titanic forces will duel under cover of darkness, destiny draws them toward an apocalyptic confrontation at Machu Picchu. But all is not lost. for a wild card has been dealt to them: a rogue enemy princess who can change the balance of power and turn the dread tide."

"Instant New York Times bestselling author Jocelynn Drake returns with the third action-packed Dark Days novel, as vampire enforcer Mira must stop an ancient coven."

Background Information:

"NIGHTWALKER is an action-packed, stellar debut. Jocelynn Drake will have you coming back for more." (Jeaniene Frost, New York Times bestselling author of Halfway to the Grave )

"An intoxicating mix of jet-setting action and sparkling turns of phrase that let me taste the Nile and feel the British fog. NIGHTWALKER is a must-read addition to the urban fantasy genre, filled both with action and satisfying characters." (Kim Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of For a Few Demons More )

"An unflinchingly self-assured first novel, chiseled with subtlety and irony into a darkly suspenseful and blessedly surprising story. In exacting detail, and with prose as silky and enticing as her protagonist, Drake has composed a love letter to the vampire genre. I wish I'd written it." (Vicki Pettersson )

Mira has returned to her beloved Savannah, but she is being hunted.....Naturi have followed from Venice. And they are a particularly blood thirsty bunch. The lycans are not safe, they're being summoned as foot soldiers for the Naturi, and at every turn the nightwalkers are fighting, if not the naturi, then the lycans. Both numbers of lycan and nightwalker are dwindling and the lycans are ready to pronounce an all out war on the nightwalkers to cleanse the city of the naturi presence.

Amanda, a nightwalker who wants to become part of Mira's new family, has been captured by the naturi and Mira knows what the naturi do to their captives. Danaus arrives from his home base in London just as Mira is set to reclaim Amanda. The naturi have to be dealt with before they open the door, summoning Aurora into the human realm. Mira needs to learn to use the earth magic that has been thrumming through her body, pushing for a place to belong, and also for a release, a need to be used.

As Mira and Danaus try to rescue Amanda, the naturi also have another captive, a young naturi female bound in iron, Aurora's youngest sister and princess to the naturi queendom, Cynnia. Why would the naturi have one of their own bound in iron? What is Rowe planning now? Will Mira and Danaus survive this next encounter with the naturi or will they perish as others have before them?

Dawnbreaker by Jocelynn Drake was a magical ride through the mysteries yet to come in the Nightwalker world. It was an fantastic addition to the Dark Days Series that will leaving you hoping, begging, screaming for more. We're left wondering what could be in store for the future of this series. I tried to stretch out this book, torn between wanting to speed through the pages, yet hanging on every word. Our heroine, Mira, has been put through Hell, but it's not over yet. The naturi want nothing more than to separate her head from her body, bringing the only true death for our Fire Starter. Rowe has sent his minions into her home to hunt her down, nothing will stand his way for releasing his queen-wife. The Coven and the members of the nightwalker society who were hoping for the unclaimed seat of Tabor are hoping for her death as well, but not before the seal is re-made. Mira finds herself as a protector of mankind as well as the Earth. Our hero, Danaus, is growing closer to Mira. It's almost as if he is being drawn to the one thing that brings the worst part of his soul into the open, the monsters that he has been hunting and killing all of his long life. Now, he begins to see that not all of the monsters come in nightwalker form. He realizes that some nightwalkers seek what he has lost as well, the humanity that has been alluding them all.

Dawnbreaker is such as incredible addition to the series that all I have tried to do is to peak your interest, give a small taste of what is to come in this unfolding world of the Nightwalker. It is truly a masterpiece of writing. Please visit Jocelynn Drake's website, it chock full of extras. Ms. Drakes blog as wonderful insights to her writing process and it updated regularly. Eos Books, which offered this very early ARC is a wonderful site full of great information. Thanks to both Eos Books and Jocelynn Drake for making this review possible.

If you have not read Nightwalker by Jocelynn Drake, what are you wanting for?? Here is a peek at the blurb for Nightwalker, First of The Dark Days Series.


For centuries Mira has been a nightwalker—an unstoppable enforcer for a mysterious organization that manipulates earth-shaking events from the darkest shadows. But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed . . . and may be all that prevents her doom.

The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt . . . or be hunted.

And Dayhunter, The Second Book in the Dark Days Series.



A new day dawns blood red

A master of fire, Mira is the last hope for the world. For centuries she has secretly enforced the history-altering edicts of the Triad. Now she and her unlikely ally—the human vampire hunter, Danaus—have come to Venice, home of the nightwalker rulers. But there is no safety in the ancient city, for the threat of conflict is in the wind . . . with unholy alliances and earth-shattering betrayals taking hideous form in the shadows.

Banished for eons beyond the world's boundaries, the malevolent naturi prepare to feed once again upon a vulnerable earth—and treachery is opening wide the portal that will enable their dread re-emergence. The great battle that has always been Mira's destiny is looming, and she must remain powerful in the face of a shocking revelation: that Danaus, the only creature she dares to trust, is something more than the man he claims to be . . .



Biographical information about Jocelynn Drake:

(image from SciFiGuy's webiste)

By day, Jocelynn Drake is a clean-cut financial analyst writer, but in her free time she writes about a dark underworld where vampires rule. The author of Nightwalker, she lives in Kentucky.

(from Harper Collins)
• Nightwalker was an instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller, spending four weeks on the extended and USA Today lists. This is a fabulous start for a debut author, and gives HarperCollins the perfect platform to build this commercial writer.
• Supernatural fiction is still going strong, as shown by the amazing sales of Laurell K. Hamilton, Charlaine Harris, and HarperCollins’s own wildly successful authors Kim Harrison and Vicki Pettersson.
• With a strong heroine and a sexy vampire hunter, Dawnbreaker is perfect for the many fans of paranormal romance looking for more great reads.
• Jocelynn Drake has a fresh new take on vampires, mixing globetrotting adventure and intrigue with a sexy cat-and-mouse game between the vampire heroine and a hunter—who has his own dark secrets. The heroine is fabulous—Mira is a mix of Jennifer Garner in Alias and Underworld’s Kate Beckinsale—a badass, beautiful, bloodsucking babe with a brain.
• Dawnbreaker will be published in October 2009, just five months after Dayhunter. Given HarperCollins’s great track record with rapid publication, this will continue to build Jocelynn Drake into a bestselling supernatural author.