Review: Blade of Darkness (Immortal Guardians #7) by Dianne Duvall

Flora Reviews… Blade of Darkness (Immortal Guardians #7) by Dianne Duvall

So what’s Blade of Darkness about?

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Read: 26^th – 28^th October 2017

This series is paranormal romance at its best, with an urban fantasy feel due to some of the grittier content. The setting for the series is modern day North Carolina, USA and features a new twist on the vampire genre.

Immortals and vampires are both infected with the same virus, which lends them dramatically increased strength, speed, healing capabilities and enhanced senses. Vampires are humans who have been infected, whereas immortals are gifted ones who have been infected. Gifted ones are men and women who were born with extremely advanced DNA that lends them special gifts, such as healing, telepathy, precognition and the like. Vampires rapidly descend into madness when the virus damages their brains but Immortals don’t; their advanced DNA protects them from that aspect of the virus.

So, what did I like about Blade of Darkness?

I really like Ms Duvall’s writing style and find her books very easy to read. However, they’re not so easy to put down! Lol! She writes intelligent, engaging stories with a collection of well written characters. Her setting is an imaginative world that cleverly mixes fantasy and reality. Making it so easy to submerse oneself completely in her books. The pace of her stories is usually fast, full of action and contains a couple of plot lines which run alongside the main romance. However, fear not lovely readers, she manages to pack this all in without making you feel overwhelmed, bewildered or lost.

Blade of Darkness did not let me down. It was fantastic!

I love books where the characters are not black or white, good or evil but a multifaceted mix of positive and negative traits. Thankfully, most of the characters within the Immortal Guardians world are like this. Even the villains are more than flat 2-dimensional creations. They’ve all been written with personalities that we can see in the real world around us. Even though the majority of the ones in this series are mythical, paranormal beings. I think it adds that level of credibility to this fantasy tale. Like most avid readers, I need to see character development through a story. Having to embrace qualities in themselves that they hate and/or having to overcome challenges to get their HEA be it emotional, social or physical. woah! There’s certainly enough personal growth going on in this story to satisfy even me.

I connect to a story more when the female protagonist is intelligent, resilient and has a good sense of humour. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed here because Dana was brilliant! We had already met Aidan in previous books. He had gone from villain to good guy before we start Blade of Darkness. However, I enjoyed finding more about him. Loving the tension, distrust and uncertainty that Ms Duvall created in this tale. Oh, and like most Brits I do love a bit of well timed banter. There’s a good amount of humour in this book too. I was often Chuckling Out Loud much to my Hubby’s concern.

The action and fighting in this story kept me on the edge of my seat. While the mystery and thriller aspect kept me guessing. My heart was warmed by the romance between Aidan and Dana then other areas tingled at the passion. I enjoyed the insights into the other couples in the book and the humour and banter helped to keep things light.

So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

No. Some of the more violent scene sent my emotions spinning. However, there’s nothing about this book that I didn’t absolutely love!!

Ms Duvall tries to ensure her new readers aren’t lost or overwhelmed. She weaves any pertinent information about past adventures and existing characters into her plots.

However, in all honestly, I don’t think that Blade of Darkness can be read as a standalone story. You’d miss the nuances of knowing the existing characters, understanding the dynamics of relationships and all the ongoing plot lines. As with most series, there are story threads that are concluded within this book while others are left to continue into subsequent books. The romance aspect of the tale between Aidan and Dana is concluded by the end of this book. Ms Duvall needs her creations to have a HEA.

So, basically what I’m saying is…

Loved it – couldn’t stop reading this book!

Blade of Darkness all the aspects that I look for in a great book. Easy to read but intelligent writing style. Main characters with realistic layers to their personalities. Depth of character in the supporting cast. A believable background story and setting. A balanced mix of scenes; relationship, romance, action, humour and sex.

I was left breathless wondering where Ms Duvall would take us next in this addictive series!

I’d recommend Blade of Darkness to lovers of paranormal romance stories with great sex scenes. Especially those who want strong, loyal heroes and independent capable heroines. Together with tense, often traumatic and brutal confrontations in the plotlines.

Has my review of BLADE OF DARKNESS (IMMORTAL GUARDIANS #7) encouraged you to find out more? Click on any of the links to check out the book yourself. Keep reading to find out more about the series and the author.

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Thanks for taking the time to read my review. Now, go and add Blade of Darkness to your wish list. 😉

I really LOVE this series. Dianne Duvall is one of the amazing authors on my favourites’ page. I’m sure you’ll see more of her on my blog in the months and years to come. Have you read any of her books? Drop me a comment below.

Bye for now,

Flora x