Raphael

This first book was an intriguing mixed bag for me because I both hated and loved the heroine, Cyn or Cynthia. Her dangerous and pig headed actions made me nervous, but I shouldn't have worried. She's every bit the bad ass she thinks she is by the end, so I look forward to reading more about her and her relationship with Raphael.

The audio version is good, but Traci Odem's performance of Cyn's voice, occasionally bordered on strident. I found myself turning down my iPod because of the sharp pitch of the character's ‘voice.'

The main criticism I have though, is that although we've all been trained to accept that the vampire love interest is A. gorgeous, and B. powerful – aside from a few cliched descriptions – I really wanted to SEE Raphael in my mind, and I didn't feel that D. B. Reynolds did justice to her character in this book as the physical description is so vague. It was a bit disappointing to realize by the end, that Raphael was never fully fleshed out. That being said, I'm hoping that it will be remedied in the many, many books to come in this series.

It also bugged me that if Cyn had only told Raphael one name, so much of the situation would have been solved. It felt a little silly that she wouldn't have told him – because she knew he needed to know – but then, that's the nature of these kinds of books, so whatever.

The action scenes, in particular, are well done. Spare, and easy to envision, there is nothing cliched about them! The villains are interesting and scary, and the resolution was nicely executed. The world is interesting and big enough to make the series worth my time.