Fury's Kiss is the third book in Karen Chance's 'Midnight's Daughter' novels. It continues with effortless transition from previous novels into the well known characters and carefully unfolding plot that I love. I was thrown right back in the thick of the action, my imagination immersed in this intriguing world of sexy vampires and sadistic fey.
Fury's Kiss once again follows the endearing antics of Dhampir, Dorina Basarab. Half human and half vampire, Dorina is capable of just about anything - bursts of aggression, acts of compassion, and enough dry wit to leave grit between your teeth.
Dorina, usually so capable and a convenient weapon for the vampire senate, is suddenly thrown off guard when she wakes up in the center of a smuggling/murder investigation. With memories seemingly stolen under her very nose, she begins to suspect that the vampiric half of her nature may be responsible - month long blackouts ending in carnage a usual result. But as the layers of deception are peeled back and more players are drafted via nefarious intent, Dorina is compelled to put the assorted tensions with her all-powerful father, Mircea in the past and allow him to metaphysically riffle through her brain.
Digging up the present can be tricky. But what happens when the the past is made present? What happens when memories of a childhood long forgotten could be the very reason Dorina is so unwilling to trust now?
Fury's Kiss had me on the edge of my seat. Like with all Karen Chance novels, the characterization is eerily consistent and dialogue so witty and emotionally driven that I feel almost compelled to yell direction. With such beautifully crafted imagery and an over-packed stadium worth of action and gorily detailed violence, I was never left wanting - except perhaps for the next installment.
A novel as good as this struggled to unearth criticism and since I enjoyed it enough to debate about putting it down, I can safely rate Fury's Kiss five out of five fangs - simply gripping!
Synopsis:
Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. But so far, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing...
Dory is used to fighting hard and nasty. So when she wakes up in a strange scientific lab with a strange man standing over her, her first instinct is to take his head off. Luckily, the man is actually the master vampire Louis-Cesare, so he’s not an easy kill.
It turns out that Dory had been working with a Vampire Senate task force on the smuggling of magical items and weaponry out of Faerie when she was captured and brought to the lab. But when Louis-Cesare rescues her, she has no memory of what happened to her.
To find out what was done to her—and who is behind it—Dory will have to face off with fallen angels, the maddest of mad scientists, and a new breed of vampires that are far worse than undead.
