THE VAMPIRE HUNTRESS: THE HUNTED - L. A. Banks
St. Martin's Press
June 2004
SYNOPSIS: A vampire civil war has been averted, but now Damali Richards must stop bloodthirsty were-demons from putting a nefarious plan in motion, pitting The Covenant, The Guardians, and The Vampire Council against each other.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: (5) Dee Y. Stewart
REVIEW: In Banks' third vampire suspense thriller, THE HUNTED, Damali Richards, a famous neo soul slam word poet by day a vampire huntress by night, reunites with Carlos Rivera, her ex-lover, whom she assumed had died in this story’s prequel THE AWAKENING. Damali is heartbroken at the beginning of the novel over Carlos’ supposed death, although she shouldn’t be. After all…Carlos is a master vampire. But he’s a nice vampire that hasn’t feasted from human bodies, not even Damali’s. Well, at least not to satiate his nutritional appetite. Besides he saved a nice cop, her hunting crew and her life before he bit the dust. She’s falling apart and her supernatural vampire hunting intuition wanes over this heartache. She needs Carlos, in order to survive.
But she is not alone in her demise. Her whole crew- The Guardians: Marlene, the team seer- a woman with an extreme sixth sense and strong background in color theory, Rider, Shabazz, Dan, JL, and Jose can’t recover from their battle scars and their realization that Hell is too hard to comprehend. Their powers are weakened. They need Damali.
Meanwhile, Carlos wakes up in a Mexican dessert and waits for his eventual death. Yet reawakes three days later to find himself recuperating in a Knights Templars compound. The Knights Templars are monks created to protect The Holy Grail, however, in this book they are comprised of priests from the twelve major faiths of the world and serve as protectors of The Neteru, Damali. Since Carlos almost lost his life protecting her, her warrior team and the priests of the Covenant, the Covenant aid him in his recovery. Carlos has to make penance for his vampirish misdeeds, he has to find Damali and help her kill another a master vampire.
This possessed vampire is destroying Brazil and she must be stopped. And if there is a bad vampire in the world reaping a great deal of havoc then Damali and her team are sure to come to battle. So, of course, Damali sees Carlos again and it’s on. However, this Brazilian vampire goddess also has her eyes set on Carlos. She wants him to have joint rule and help her conquer the world; Damali wants to save Carlos from the darkness and have him help her save the world. Who’s going to win the man and win the war? You have to read this book to see.
Don’t worry you won’t get confused by all the religious, vampire and hip-hop jargon. Banks writes very well and pulls you into her characters. She does a wonderful job of creating two main characters, whose external and internal conflicts create so much tension and passion that you want to root for their predestined love. Damali is complex, both strong and soft and very believable. She knows right from wrong, but can’t pull herself away from Carlos. They have an allegiance that spans back to her adolescence. He saved her from the streets now she must save him from Hell. Carlos is conflicted, three dimensional, sexy and smitten with Damali. His character is quite reminiscent of Brad Pitt’s character, Louis in “Interview with a Vampire,” so passionate, so torn, so gorgeous. When the he finds out that Damali’s Neteru seal that she placed over his heart during the last attack is the main reason he survived Hell, he is indebted to her. Now he has another chance to save his soul and to save his relationship with Damali.
The book opens so masterfully and instantly grabs the reader into Damali’s cool persona:
“Vampires had a vibe, and right now it was thick. She[Damali] could feel them on her skin, making her flesh crawl beneath it. Oh, yeah. Tonight it was on!”
Wonderful. And that’s only the first lines. It gets better and better and better with well thought out kick boxing/fighting scenes, very sensual foreplay, and when Damali and Carlos spend more than five quiet minutes alone together passion ignites all over the pages.
Banks sets a very fast pace to this tale from the very beginning and she doesn’t slow down - ever. The last lines send you over a cliff and you’re left to dangle there until her next installment. What I liked most about this book is that Banks simply tells the story exactly from where it needs to begin–in the middle of the action. She doesn’t bore us with flashback and trivial backstory to reel us in. I love that. So many stories take too long to get started, but this thrill ride takes you for a ride and you don’t want to get off. You do not have to go back and read the first two stories to know what is going on unlike some book series. She picks up the story where it should, but also explains what happened in the past in a way that doesn’t bore you with flashbacks and boring daydreams.
She also creates very likable secondary characters. Damali’s childhood friend, Inez, is the sistah-girlfriend-every-woman. She’s everything we love about our girlfriends all wrapped up in one character. Damali’s team leader and gal-pal Marlene reminds me of Iyana Vanzant with Laila Ali’s fighting bravado. Banks creates strong women lead characters in this tale. With heart of gold sidekicks like Rider, Big Mike, Dan, Jl, and Shabazz, all have of whom have distinct styles and responsibilities that help make their warrior faction not only a solid unit, but also the most respected. All the characters in the book are intelligent, athletic and angelic all at once. Kudos.
Furthermore, Banks uses scenery and landscape to further manifests both Damali and Carlo’s struggles for identity, home, and normalcy. The opening scene with Damali walking through the Jamaican bar looking for vampires to slay parallels with her need to find the closest being she can find that reminds her of Carlos. When Carlos and Damali meet again for the first time Banks uses a recall from Damali’s short stint in a coffin in Hell as she builds Damali’s frustration with herself in not only saving Carlos’ life, but making him too strong to kill as well. Banks creates this Chorus or space in darkness that grabs the reader and reminds her of adolescent fears of the dark, superstition, loathsome behavior every time Banks mentions the darkness. Great job.
THE HUNTED has flash, hip-hop lingo, bling-bling, Pan African culture and wonderful writing all intermingled together. Banks mixes Anne Rice’s vampire tales with Dan Browns the Da Vinci Code, the television show “Angel”, South American pride like Wesley Snipe’s “Blade” and something uniquely hers. I was so impressed with this book and the ending.
I can’t wait to read the next in the series, THE BITTEN. THE HUNTED forces you to keep on with Bank’s journey and to go back and read the previous two. This book is a must read and sure to be in screenplay production any day. I think Kerry Washington could play a great Damali and Cree Summer could be Marlene. Read the book and tell me who you think should get the role for Carlos.
dee@romanceincolor.com (15th August 2004)