I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Vampire in Atlantis
by
Alyssa Day
paranormal romance in eBook edition that was published by Berkley on June 7, 2011 and has 311 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Wild Thing, Atlantis Rising, Atlantis Unleashed, Atlantis Awakening, Atlantis Unmasked, Atlantis Redeemed, Atlantis Betrayed, Heart of Atlantis, Dead Eye, "Travelling Eye", Private Eye, Evil Eye, Eye of Danger, Eye of the Storm, Eye on the Ball, Apple of My Eye, A Dead End Thanksgiving Disaster, Blink of an Eye
Seventh in the Warriors of Poseidon paranormal romance series about the elite guards for the High Prince of Atlantis and their allies. The couple focus is on Daniel and Serai. The jewel focus is on the Emperor.
It’s been 11 years since the vampires came out to the world.
My Take
Okay, Daniel has worked really hard to get to this point. He’s finally in charge, governmentally, of all the vampires in the U.S. And the first thing he’s going to do is resign?? Now, where does this make any sense?? Nor do I understand just how he got transported to Atlantis??
Lots and lots and lots of melodrama over: Daniel being turned into a vampire and it’s all Serai’s fault; Serai being placed in the stasis pods and purposely NOT being released; the attack on Reisen; heck, Reisen’s attack; Jack’s perilous state; Nicholas forcing Ivy to manipulate the stone; and, finally the fortuitous bit of military interference at the end.
Nobody takes any time at all to ask questions, they all just leap to conclusions. Oh. My. God. Is Day getting bored with trying to write well?? There’s the deal with Serai jumping to conclusions about Reisen’s hand. A totally out-of-the-blue reaction. In spite of the long alliance Atlanta has had with Daniel, everybody is leaping on him. Including Conlan and Justice. It’s almost as though Day has a jar full of actions and she picks one out and dumps it into the storyline…WTF??
There are so many misconceptions flying around in this story and Day stretches these out beyond belief. Guess she didn’t want to expend the brainpower on coming up with something else and/or couldn’t shorten up the number of required pages.
Well, obviously Serai isn’t that worried about her sisters if she’d rather take days to get to the Emperor — the same stone that is draining her power and her life — instead of sucking it up and flying with Daniel. This is just too lame. Heap, big, powerful, ancient Atlantean is too afraid to fly even as she whines on and on about how late they are. And then, they take time out to make love…I guess we got to the part in the page timeline where Day is supposed to plop in a love scene. In spite of the fact that “Those women depend on us, and every minute we spend in this foolish debate is perhaps another minute less that they have to survive”. The dramatic tension just doesn’t exist; I’m just not buyin’ it with all the faffing around Serai is doing.
We do get quite a bit of Daniel’s backstory. Sad, gruesome, but fascinating. We also have interaction with the Portal! Who knew it was alive?! Pissy little thing.
The end is really good and so sad — hey, it made me cry — although, it doesn’t quite make up for the rest of this lousy bit of writing.
The Story
It’s been a long slog, but Daniel is now the “Primator, Ruler of the Primus, the third house of the United States Congress”. And he’s done. The backstabbing. Heck, the front stabbing.
Something is wrong with the Emperor stone and its connection to the Maidens’ Chamber and it is that erratic state that allows Serai to waken. Angry. Frustrated. They LIED! And she must escape or she will be captured and re-imprisoned where she will simply die. The betrayal has been too great. She must find the stone and repair its connection lest the rest of the maidens die. Not to mention that Atlantis will never rise again!
The Characters
Daniel is a thousands-of-years-old vampire who has gotten very tired of the battles, the betrayals, the fighting. He aches for the woman he loved and he’s ready to end it all now that he’s achieved his highest goal.
Serai is one of a group of Atlantean maidens “encouraged” to accept being put into stasis. The deal was for a few years. Not the 11,000 that have passed. And one of the culprits is bloody High Prince Conlan! Her fellow maidens are Merlina, Delia, Brandacea, Guen, and Helena.
The Seven consist of…
…the King’s Vengeance “Ven” and Erin, a powerful witch (Atlantis Awakening); Lord Justice (Ven and Conlan’s half-brother) and Dr. Keely McDermott (Atlantis Unleashed); Alexios with his part goddess-huntress Grace (Atlantis Unmasked); Brennan‘s curse has been broken and he’s with Tiernan Butler, a reporter (Atlantis Redeemed); Christophe and Lady Fiona, the fairytale writer for children (Atlantis Betrayed); Denal who ends up having his own unexpected adventure in the Summer Lands; and, the infrequent Bastien with his park ranger-kitty Kat (Wild Thing: Wild Hearts in Atlantis). Alaric is the High Priest. High Prince Conlan is conflicted over his feelings for Serai while Princess Riley has absolutely positive about her feelings and her anger toward the priests and most of Atlanta (Atlantis Rising). Conlan does hold a trump card as far as Riley heading out to help in the battles — their infant son, Prince Aidan. Marie is the head of the temple dedicated to childbirth and she is mated to a panther shapeshifter, Ethan, the alpha of his pride (Shifter: Shifter’s Lady).
Horace is the chief attendant for the Maidens’ Chamber. Reisen is an exiled Atlantean lord (see Atlantis Rising) now fighting with the rebels. Quinn and her crew are crucial in this story. Jack Shepherd is a shapeshifting tiger who fights at Quinn’s side; he’d sure like to do a lot more than that with Quinn. Mel is a rebel computer hacker.
Ivy Khetta is the high priestess of the Crescent Moon coven. A black sorceress hired to retrieve the Emperor. Ian is her very brave, cheeky son. Nicholas is the vampire in charge of this expedition; Smithson is an evil and venal human banker who won’t hesitate t
o backstab for his own benefit. Well, heck, he’s willing to betray the human race, what’s one more?
Colonel Brig St. Ives is now working with a paranormal task force. And Smithson seems to be their commander!
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of purples creating the background of Hellenic ruins and a crashing sea punctuated by dripping man flesh encased in leather pants. Daniel’s warrior tattoo is burned into the right side of his chest.
The title says it all as it is all about Daniel as the Vampire in Atlantis.
