Pray for Dawn, The Fourth Dark Days Novel by Jocelynn Drake

Publisher:  Eos Books/Harper Collins
Pages:  384

(Release Date:  6/29/10)

From the Cover:

Pray for salvation . . .

Pray for daylight . . .

Murder has pulled Mira out of the shadows and back into the living world . . .

As the fire-wielding enforcer of the nightwalker coven wrestles with the mind-destroying ghosts of her dark past, the slaying of a senator's daughter in Savannah threatens to expose her kind to the brilliant light of day.

The dawn of chaos has come. 

The naturi have broken free of their eternal prison to feed on the defenseless and unbelieving of an unprepared Earth.

Mira and Danaus-vampire and vampire slayer-must unite to prevent the annihilation of their separate races. But for Danaus the challenge is intensified, for he must also fight the bori who covets his soul. And Mira, the nightwalker he must protect-whose power is the Earth's last hope-is rapidly going insane.

This book is told from Danaus' point of view, flavored with how his eyes see the story.

Mira, Nightwalker, Keeper of her domain, Coven member, Fire Starter.... She's one of the most powerful creatures to have ever strolled upon the face of the Earth and she's is slowly losing her mind.  What happens when one so powerful can no longer be trusted?  What happens to her world and those who existence in it?  What happens to the soul of this being?  

Mira is haunted by her past... the ghosts of those she couldn't protect, the ghosts of her tormentors, the ghost of a life she once knew.  She's lost and only one person can save her, bring her back to her reality.  But does she want to exist in the life she had been forced into more than 600 years ago?  Is her time on Earth spent?

Ryan, warlock and leader of Themis, wants her to believe he is the all powerful force that can save her.  He wants her to become his instrument, to be played and used according to his sick desires.  Another person to pull her strings.

Jabari, her one time mentor, wants Mira to play the role of Coven member, enforcer, his weapon to wield.  He can force himself upon her, but when will he do so, because it's only a matter of time.  Just another puppet master.

LaVina, the witch, sees a great presence with the soul of Mira, is she another who is going to try to steal a piece of this weary Nightwalker's soul?  Another string puller?

Gaizka, bori fae, also wants a piece of the Nightwalker.  Does she have the strength to deny him?  The bori are the ultimate master of the vampire, will she be his marionette as well?

Danaus, vampire hunter and the last person on Earth who should be her savior, is her last hope.  When Danaus and Mira combine their powers, their foes don't stand a chance.  He doesn't want to be the puller of Mira's strings, though he has with devastating results.  But, the bori already owns a piece of his soul.  He can either be her protector or her murderer.  

Danaus has lost the faith he once had in the brotherhood contained within Themis, he's come to realize through Mira that not all nightwalkers are the evil beings that brotherhood has made them out to be.  They're basically the same as everyone else, the good and the bad.  This means the last few centuries of his life have been a lie.  And Mira has become more than just another nightwalker.  She's become a friend, family, maybe even a lover.  Can he destroy the last piece of humanity who has the ability to touch his own tortured soul?

Pray for Dawn by Jocelynn Drake is the story of what happens to a vampire who meets her ultimate creator.  Not the creator that forced her into the vampiric existence, but the ultimate maker of all the vampires, one who can control their bodies while the soul screams for release.  And this is where the next addition to the Dark Day Series takes our story.  Mira, 600+ year old vampire, different from any other vampire ever born, is having her sanity slowly striped away.  The Naturi, Earth fae, are wreaking havoc where ever they go.  Though they're a nasty lot, Mira and Danaus can make short work of them if they have to.  What scares Mira is her inability to sense them and for that she needs Danaus.  What she doesn't know is there's something scarier than the Naturi could ever be and it's trying to make it's home in her Savannah.  It will and has killed, and it will continue to kill unless Danaus and Mira can seal it away, and it's going to start with anyone and everyone important in Mira's life.  Danaus has come to see Mira as part of his life, once he swore to kill her, now he wants to just keep her, hold onto her last piece of humanity, the last shred of evidence that he can and does love.  And he may be forced to kill what has become dear.

Pray for Dawn is one of the best of this series I have read.  I have enjoyed each and every one of the books so far, but Pray for Dawn surpassed my expectations, leaving me to hang upon the last word of the last page of the book.  I have always praised Ms. Drake for her imagination, her world building skills, and her ability to weave this dark urban fantasy into twisting, turning tale.  But, in this book, it's all starting to come together, and it's spectacular.  I'm left almost speechless, yes, Pray for Dawn was that good.  While I was reading, I kept coming up with scenarios that would save Mira and Danaus, my mind working overtime trying to capture the ending (and remember, I've already read the blurb for Wait for Dusk), and it caught me by surprise.  I never saw it coming until it hit me between the eyes.  If you haven't tried the Dark Days Series, and you're a lover of dark urban fantasy (and I'm hoping major romance comes into play cause otherwise, I might go insane myself), give this series a try.  I loved, loved, loved Nightwalker (2008), I loved the additions of book 2 & 3 (Dayhunter and Dawnbreaker 2009), and now, we have Pray for Dawn and shortly, Wait for Dusk, and I'm still so engaged with the series, it just gets better and better.  I highly recommend this series to dark urban fantasy lovers, vampire, fae, vampire hunter lovers, it doesn't get much better.

I purchase this book for my own enjoyment.  All opinions expressed are my own.