The Bitten

When Damali Richards, singer by day, vampire huntress by night, also known as the Neteru, gives into the ultimate fantasy of letting her master vampire lover, Carlos Rivera bite her jugular, she never dreamed the day would come when she would bite back! After all, her Neteru powers are supposed to prevent her from turning. However, they seem to be failing her and if that happens, the world will definitely be on the course to the Armageddon! While Damali’s Guardian family struggles with the changes going on with their leader, Carlos is summoned back to the sixth level of Hell because the blood of Christ, which will open the sacred seals, has gone missing and is believed to be in the possession of a rogue vampire. Now the race is on to possess both the seal and the key that opens it! The winning side will be in the best position to determine the final outcome of the Armageddon, and both forces are determined to win. Damali and Carlos realize that their best course of action will be to use their combined wiles and strength to help the Light win at all cost, but will Damali’s turn prevent the Light from ever winning again?

Welcome to the world of the Vampire Huntress, L.A. Banks’ chronicles of Damali Richards and her band/Guardian crew, who are the world’s best hope of the Light prevailing against the dark. The Bitten is Ms Banks’ fourth entry in this planned series of twelve books and features a complex storyline featuring angels, her own version of Dante’s hell, vampires, slayers, were-demons, Egyptian gods/goddesses and humans with paranormal gifts all woven around Biblical stories and characters. Ms. Banks’ world is one of the most fully envisioned that this reviewer has ever had the pleasure of losing herself in, and that may be the highest compliment one can pay to an author. While somewhat repetitious at times, The Bitten is a complex, compelling tale of the ultimate struggle between the forces of good and evil, both external and internal. This reviewer feels that the repetitions are pretty much necessary to keep the reader familiar both with the back story that occurred in volumes one - three as well as the frequent twists and turns in the current plot. This is not a story for the faint at heart and neither is it a classic vampire slayer tale per se, but it is thrilling, enthralling and entertaining to the extreme, not to mention that the sex scenes between Damali and Carlos are sizzling. Bravo to Ms. Banks! This reviewer highly recommends this book to any reader of paranormal romance as well as readers of romantic suspense who don’t mind fantasy in their reads.

November 2006