| Title | : | Master of Darkness (Primes, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1416513345 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781416513346 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 303 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 2006 |
Working by night and growing closer every day, Laurent and Eden struggle with the passion that threatens to overwhelm them. But when Justinian captures Eden, and Laurent proves his loyalty to his Tribe in the most shocking of ways, Eden vows to kill Laurent for his deception. Can he find a way to prove his love for her before a full-on war breaks out between vampires and humans?
Master of Darkness (Primes, #4) Reviews
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Romantic novel about vampires. I found myself laughing very early on - but not for the right reasons.
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Laurent, the hero of Master of Darkness, is one of those characters who stands out, demands you notice him and goes out of his way to keep your attention. He first appears as a quasi villian in I Hunger For You, seemingly working with Tribe Manticore, the lowest of the low.
In Sizemore's world, there are 3 classes of vampires; The Clans, who are like royalty; The Families, who are upper to middle class; and The Tribes, the poor cousins. Laurent's mother, a Clan vampire, was captured by Justinian of Tribe Manticore, and Laurent is raised by the Tribe after his mother is sold when he was 6. Laurent is terrorized by Justinian and the other Tribe males throughout his childhood and adolescence. He breaks away from them, only returning when he thinks he can score a huge amount of money due to their latest scheme.
Yes, Laurent is a vampire with questionable morals. He is on the side of Laurent at all times, at least at first. He's irreverent, flip, self described as lazy...He reminds me of the lions in Shelly Laurenston's world. Very vain, narcissistic...So why is he appealing? Because he is a lost soul. He lost his mother, he isn't sure Justinian is really his father or not, he is unsure of a lot of the vampire rites of passage due to his upbringing. Is he really apatheic or has he taught himself not to care? But mostly, he is appealing because he reluctantly, almost off handedly does the right thing when it counts and hopes no one notices. And he is darn funny.
Ever the opportunist, when Laurent is cornered by 2 rogue vamps and Eden saves him, thinking he is her vampire contact, he assumes the role of Sid without missing a beat.
Eden hails from a long line of vampire hunters and falls into the family business. She is good at what she does, but she doesn't really enjoy her work. She isn't one to walk away from a tough situation, though. Eden is suspicious of all vamps and is not happy about being forced to team up with one to defeat the hordes of feral Tribe members descending on her city. She pretty much sees through Laurent's smoke screen, senses his pain and tries to protect him. I love a heroine who will stand and fight with, and for, her man.
The action, such as it is, in this story really comes at the very end of the book. There are some fight scenes scattered throughout as Laurent tries to retrieve a laptop with Manticore's financial information on it, and Manticore vamps try to recover Laurent. Most of the novel is centered on Laurent and Eden's growing attraction to each other. There is a nice subplot where the real Sid has gone missing and her partner, Joe, a werewolf, tries to find her. The hunt for Sid takes a very interesting turn, right into Laurent and Eden's laps.
The writing in MoD was tighter to me than in the previous three novels. Very snappy dialogue, lots of new characters were introduced, but in a good, natural feeling way. I hate when new characters pop up ever other page and they dead end. I know we will see these people again. There were some questions left unanswered that I am hoping will be resolved in future books. I am anxious to get to Sid and Joe's story now, as they both really shone brightly here.
All in all, I really enjoyed Master of Darkness. Laurent alone will put this on my keeper shelf. -
This is the 4th book in the Primes series by Susan Sizemore, and I will definitely be reading the whole series now! I was drawn into her world of Clans, Families, Primes and even werewolves and Hunters. It was a little hard at first diving straight into the 4th book without any background (I got the book secondhand and didn't know it was a series), but it was great. My favorite line of it was when Laurent and Eden were fighting some Manticores, when Laurent shouted at them, "Hey! That's MY human!"
Eden is a Hunter who is assigned to work with Sid Wolf, a vampire from the Wolf Clan, to help get a drug called Dawn off the streets. In Sizemores vamp world, some of the vamps can go into daylight if they use a daylight drug, well Dawn is a knockoff that someone is peddling...the side affect? Some vamps go psycho. So Eden and Sid are supposed to figure out who's using and who's selling, and get it off the streets. But Laurent shows up at the meeting place and Eden assumes he's Sid. No one thought that Sid might be short for Sidonie...oops! So Laurent goes with the flow as Sid Wolf, and his inner Wolf (not werewolf, but Clan, confusing I know) wants to mate with Eden. Then Joe (a werewolf) blows Laurent's cover and Eden is furious, but she gets over it much quicker than I expected, and they took down the evil Manticore king and Laurent reunites with his mother, the lady Antonia, and they have the HEA. Great story, I wonder if I would've rated it a 5 if I'd read the first 3 books? -
This was my first book by Susan Sizemore, might be my last. Not sure yet.
This book had a very good premise, a brilliant setup, and an intriguing plot, yet it didn't deliver.
I felt the story was all over the place, without a proper focus on the blooming romance between Laurent and Eden. They just met, and then Bam! they are lovers. I couldn't detect that special bonding between them, the connection that could make a vampire hunter change her life for a vampire or why a vampire, as confused as he was, would abandon his old ways.
Add to the mix words like, tribe, clan, family, Prime. I had no clue what each meant and didn't mean. I kept mixing up clans with tribes, not sure which was good and which was bad and why.
Laurent's description of Eden didn't make her attractive, at least to me. His attitude, offhanded and too cool at times, was irritating.
Even after finishing the book, I'm not clear why these two got together.
The book had too many strong characters for its own good, some introduced after a long focus on Laurent and Eden.
I went into this book hoping for more than what I received. Perhaps the fault is with me, I expected a lot! -
A great series if you like the sexual strong male characters and their equally strong minded mates. For those who like vampires and romance will not want to put the book down. Laurent renegade vampire Tribe Manticore has a bounty on his head from Justinian. Vampire hunter Eden Faveau cannot believe she gave up Hawaii to hunt vampires to work with Sid Wolf a member of Clan Wolf, on a drug dealings with Dawn. Laurent misguides Eden into the assumption that he is Sid Wolf when they first meet. The pairing is a great with their quick wits as they fall in love, but he hides who he is and his agenda from her once she knows the truth he fears that his burning hunger for her will not be enough to overcome.....Can they find a way to tell one another their love before war breaks out.....Looking forward to the next book in the series. -
2021: 4.5 stars. I’m glad I put this on the back burner for awhile. I was better able to get into the characters more which meant I enjoyed the story. Half a star because of the ebook’s weird formatting. You would be reading one character’s pov one sentence then another’s pov the next sentence with no space or indication whatsoever.
2020: DNF. Shelving this for now. I don’t know, good plot, good story, I just can’t get into the characters. -
Read this in two days. Could not put the book down. Awesome chemistry between the main characters. I really was curious about the ending and I can't wait to read book 5 in the series next.
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Ok, before we get to the review, I have to lodge one of my "what the heck were they thinking with this cover model" rants. Why, why, why can't they at least check with the author and ask the simple question, "what do the hero and heroine look like?" But no, this seems to be an idea that publishers can NOT get into their teeny, tiny little brains. Our hero, Laurent, is a blond with long hair. The cover model is a brunette with SHORT hair. Sigh.
Ok, having gotten that rant out of the way--I enjoy Sizemore's Prime series, because she injects humour into it and doesn't take herself as a writer too seriously. And Laurent is definately a fun male to be around. He's got a sense of humour and doesn't take HIMSELF seriously. He also has all the baggage of an abused child raised by a very abusive father, this despite being a vampire. Sizemore did a good job of showing his efforts to rise above his childhood. Eden (our heroine) was just also working to over-come her upbringing--she was raised in a family of vampire hunters, and was actually "on the job" when she and Laurent met. They were a teaming of Vamp and Hunter working to keep the world safe from evil vamps. And doesn't THAT just inspire a chuckle or two. A good story, full of fun, evil vamps, good vamps, Hunters and all of the rest of the things that we fans demand from our PNR addictions. -
Book #4 of the vampire “PRIMES” series.
Bad boy vamp Laurent was introduce in “I Hunger for You”; his story is fleshed out and concluded in this book. I got'ta say I’ve always had a soft spot for misunderstood bad boys, who have a wicked sense of humor and deep down really want to be the hero. Such is the story of the renegade vampire, who doesn’t really want to be saddled with a mate and would rather be foot loose, fancy free, and rich from stolen wealth. But as they say things don’t always turn out the way you want it. I found “Master of Darkness” a very fun and entertaining read. -
Okay, I picked up this book just by chance but I instantly fell in love with it during the first chapter. It's got a great plot - really interesting and Sizemore always kept me guessing what was going to happen next. The characters are funny, witty and of course sexy. Laurent is a great personality. He's charming, and as Eden describes in the book "quirky". I love Eden. She's strong, independent, smart and resourceful but you can always see the feminine side of her that falls for Laurent.
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Gotta get the rest of the series and investigate the differences between Families, Clans and Tribes! While I have only read two int he series, and not in order, I have gleaned plenty of info about these differences, but this second instalment has me hungering for more!
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This is number 4 in the Primes series. If you like action, adventure, paranormal romance and sex, witty heroines and some implausible relationship snafus (typical paranormal romance stuff) then you'll enjoy all the Primes books, this one included.
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Again with the love and the biting during sex. OOOOHHH, LA, LA!!! Susan makes the characters real and vibrant.
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20/1/09 - 3 stars
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Laurent is such a likeable character - very enjoyable.
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Good. I liked it a lot. I liked how both characters evolved into less narrow-minded people and they found happiness at the end.
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ereader ebook
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So far this is my favorite in this series. LOVE Laurent!
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Damn this was so good loved Laurent yum
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I loved Laurant's story.
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loved it :)
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Okay story...not as good as the first ones I've read.
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Laurent Wolf & Eden Faveau
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Laurent renegade vampire of tribe Manticore, who in the previous book betrayed our hero and stole the laptop containing the files resulting from the vampire research looking for the secret of eternal life, is the hero of his own story here.
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I keep getting books in the middle or end of series and reading them anyway lol
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Yippee! I finished the set of 5. I don't have to suffer through any more of this series. I would say that's too bad, since this was by far the best book of the lot, but I read #5 first and that one was not very good so there's definitely no reason to go out and by book #6.
Laurent was by far one of the most complex vamps we've seen yet. And his character development was much better then the character development has been for the other heros of the books so far. And I am thinking that if Sid has a book I might get that one from the library. But I could see the way the issue with his "family" was going to shake out from, like, page 2. I hate it when plots are so utterly predictable!
I liked Eden better then most of the women in this series too. There was more to her. And she really was a stronger character - who could totally take care of herself the way the author wants us to believe these women can (although she is the first one to be believable as a strong independent woman).
The writing has gotten better - but that's sort of the depressing thought. I read #5 first and thought is was pretty bad so the fact that the writing was better here but I know it takes such a bad turn in the next one... yikes! Again, why I am not bothering with book #6...
The cast of additional characters in this book have potential. I know we see more of Joe the werewolf in the next book. Despite my lack of desire to read more of this universe, I hope the author does him justice by giving him his own story somewhere down the line. I also expect Sid gets her own too. I also like Danny - he seems to have some potential (maybe he hooks up with Sid? Although I think Sid belongs with a Vamp). But I doubt the author has the ability to do that potential justice. This book, while the best in the series, wasn't anywhere near the quality of writing that I am used to - even in this genre - so I wouldn't bet on any of those folks getting good books.
Justianian and the other bad guys... what a joke. The "dawn" drug - again, not worth the ink to print the stuff on the pages as it related to that. It made the bad guys weaker in the end - there were totally better ways to make sure the good guys won in the end. And Justianian himself, blech. He was written very poorly even for a bad guy. He was really nothing more then a caricature and a wanna be bad ass that he was hardly someone to take seriously as a threat. I expected much more of a fight between him and Laurent so I was a little let down that that fight was over so quickly and easily. I get that it was necessary to have Laurent chose Clan vs Tribe, but how much more interesting would it have been for him to decide and king Prime of the Tribe that the entire tribe had to give up it's tribal ways? It was so the easy way out to simply have him choose Clan.
Glad I get to turn back to the Vegas Vampire books (my order arrived just in time!)
