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
Night Veil
by
Yasmine Galenorn
urban fantasy in eBook edition that was published by Berkley on July 5, 2011 and has 294 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Hexed, Witchling, Changeling, Never After, Darkling, Demon Mistress, Dragon Wytch, Bone Magic, Night Huntress, Harvest Hunting, Blood Wyne, Courting Darkness, Shaded Vision, Shadow Rising, Haunted Moon, Night Myst, Night Seeker, Autumn Whispers, Night Vision, Night’s End, Priestess Dreaming, Panther Prowling, "Flight From Hell", Flight From Death, Souljacker, Legend of the Jade Dragon, Darkness Raging, Fury Rising, Murder Under a Mystic Moon, Ghost of a Chance, Once Upon A Curse, A Harvest of Bones, One Hex of a Wedding, Starlight Hollow, Moon Shimmers
Second in the Indigo Court urban fantasy series revolving around Cicely Waters as she and her friends scramble to protect themselves and the town.
My Take
Small bits of this are evolving into a story starting to resemble Galenorn’s Otherworld series in that Cicely is gathering her friends and allies together.
Ooh, this is kind of eerie and weird. I’m getting a very nasty impression of Geoffrey with some questions about Lannan. Then there’s Lainule’s actions… Yup, spooky enough that I’m starting to wonder who are the good guys in this tight little group. And don’t get me started about Leo!
Nice bit of Cicely’s backstory with Grieve and Kyrstal. Don’t know what Grieve’s hurry was. He’s fae. He’s got forever.
Galenorn is a bit too much tell with a clumsy approach to introducing one of the dramas of Night Veil: Kaylin’s evolution and if they can beg the help he’ll need. It’s like this throughout the Night Veil with great dramas that, well, fizzle, and others that do provide tension. Maybe I’m asking too much.
Then there’s Cicely. Supposedly an intelligent woman — no, I’m not assuming she’s brilliant. But she is supposed to be street smart, and she has Ulean to help her escape trouble. So why does this “intelligent” person do so many stupid things? There are the vampires and that dumb contract that irritates me so. There’s the tragedy of Grieve and Cicely and the lack of thought put into their interactions. It’s too dangerous for her to be around Grieve now, and of course, she does want to be with him. Fair enough. But, do her thoughts have to be so idiotic? This goes back to my personal prejudice against those clichéd fallbacks.
And then the house. Veil House. Galenorn makes a big deal of how the house is sitting on a powerful crossing of ley lines. And they can’t hole up in the house? What? They’ll get an apartment and that’ll work so much better?? Gimme a break.
I understand Galenorn using the vampires to instill fear, terror, and utter humiliation. It just irritates me that Galenorn set up that contract in Night Myst, 1, as she did, and then contradicted everything in it. It’s stupid, I know, to harp on that one point. But it bugs me. That’s another thing. If Cicely is so valuable to the vampires, why are they so willing to degrade and hurt her? Galenorn does not allow Cicely many choices. Not that she has this not-too-bright girl thinking very hard or doing any research to find out what she needs to be wary of.
Color me stunned. And confused. I do not understand Anadey’s reasoning in this. How is this supposed to help their situation? How can she betray Cicely like this?
Whoa. Even though Galenorn was trampling a path to this ending, it was not what I expected. In some ways, it was too easy. That little speech of Kaylin’s, true as it may be, could have used some finessing.
The Story
While isn’t that just lovely?! Geoffrey and Regina taking over and implementing their own plan without thinking. Almost like Geoffrey when he first turned Myst all those centuries ago.
The results of that latest stupid plan have merely ramped up the attacks and the deaths on the inhabitants of New Forest.
Results that force the wicked three into revealing their plans early. It almost makes Kaylin’s oops to the Consortium seem benign and their demands a walk in the woods.
The Characters
Cicely Waters is a witch who learns in Night Veil that she is soulmates with Grieve — and of the importance of the heartstone. Ulean, Cicely’s Air Elemental, bound to her service by Lainule, protects and warns Cicely. Aunt Heather was taken and turned in Night Myst; all that’s left of the family is Cicely’s cousin Rhiannon Roland. Leo Bryne is Geoffrey’s day runner and Rhiannon’s fiancé with a fascination for vampire culture.
Grieve was a prince in the Court of Rivers and Rushes, nephew to Lainule, the Queen of Summer, and born of the Cambyra Fae, a Shifting One. Then Myst attacked, and he is the focus of her plot for vengeance. Chatter, while not noble, is his best friend and cousin, but Cicely rescued him in Night Myst. Turns out that a Fae named Wrath is her father, the Lord of Summer and Lainule’s consort — the owl who has been training her to shift. And there’s a purpose to her birth…
Anadey runs the town diner and is a shamanic witch who can work with all four elements. Peyton Moon Runner is her daughter as well as the temporary short order cook. She’s half-werepuma and half-magic, and she’s setting up Magical Investigations alongside Cicely. Only, the father, Rex, who ran off, is trying to wriggle back into the picture.
Kaylin Chen is a 101-year-old martial arts sensei and dreamwalker possessed by a night-veil demon. The King of Dreams and his shaman have been watching his progress. Luna is a bard with issues.
Geoffrey the Great is the Northwest Regent for the Vampire Nation, turned when he was a warlord during the Xiongnu period. Regina Altos is the Emissary to the Crimson Court; her brother, Lannan, is a professor at the Conservatory, and a sadistic, cruel vampire who delights in the humiliation of others. Crawl is the Blood Oracle, a thing twisted and corrupt, a vampire who gave it up to become seer to the Queen. He sired Regina and Lannan.
Tim Wylde, Alder, and Snell are all weres reined in by Ben Sagata, the alpha of the Lupa Clan.
Ysandra Petros is from the Consortium; she was a close friend of Marta’s.
Myst, Queen of the Indigo Court, was fae before Geoffrey turned her, and she intends to destroy Cicely while her Shadow Hunters destroy the world starting with New Forest.
Shy and Cherish (she was Myst’s daughter) are Grieve and Cicely in a long ago time. When both betrayed their own races.
The Vein Lords, a.k.a., the Crimson Court, a.k.a., the Vampire Nation, are the vampires. Yummanii are the fully human. The Consortium is a worldwide organization of supernaturals, who, along with the Vein Lords and certain officials, run the world. The Court of Dreams, a.k.a., the realm of the Bat People who are the children of demons, can be too real as a place of both dreams and nightmares come to life for the eaters of hope, love, and dreams. Akazzani are a group of historians — yummanii and magic-born. Guardians. The Moon Spinners are the new society in New Forest.
The Cover and Title
The cover is cold with a slightly whacked-looking Cicely standing in the snowy woods in her skintight, white lycra pants, her white leather vest, zipped open to show off her cropped burgundy top, and holding her bloody knife while the gray-and-white wolf that is Grieve lurks in the background. The colors are perfect: the cold chill of white and the Indigo Court with the red of blood.
The title is all about Kaylin and his own heritage, the Night Veil.
