Review: Night Unbound (Immortal Guardians #5) by Dianne Duvall

Flora Reviews… Night Unbound (Immortal Guardians #5) by Dianne Duvall

So what’s Night Unbound about?

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Night Unbound is a paranormal romance tale that I think could sit happily on an urban fantasy shelf due to some of the content. The series is set in North Carolina, USA, in our modern human world but 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 Night Unbound?

I really like Dianne Duvall’s writing style and find her books very easy to read. She writes intelligent, engaging stories with a collection of well written characters within an imaginative world that mixes fantasy and reality which makes it easy to submerse myself into. The pace of her stories is usually fast, full of action and contains a couple of plot lines which run alongside the main romantic story arc.

Night Unbound lived up to ALL my expectations.

If you’ve read my reviews before, you’ll know that I enjoy books where the characters are not black or white, good or evil but a multifaceted mix of positive and negative traits. I like to see our characters grow through embracing or overcoming challenges (and oh, boy is that the perfect description of Zach); the fact that the characters within these pages have been written with personalities that we can see in the real world around us – even though most of them are mythical, paranormal beings – adds that level of believability to this fantasy tale.

I definitely enjoy a story more if the lead female character is intelligent, resilient and has a good sense of humour that’s similar to my own and I wasn’t disappointed here. Lisette was perfect, what an inspiring woman! I liked the way that all of the characters in this story were written – even the villains of the tale – none of them were flat 2-dimensional creations, they all felt very real. Oh, and like most Brits I do love a bit of banter. This story has loads of it! I found myself COL (Chuckling Out Loud) throughout, usually when Sheldon made an appearance.

I think I may have reached for the tissues a tad more often while reading this story. However, don’t worry, lovely reader, it’s not all tear inducing there was plenty of banter to keep me giggling. The mystery and thriller aspects of this story kept me guessing. While the action kept me on the edge of my seat. The blossoming romance made me feel all warm and fuzzy, while the passion set my tummy a-tingling. *oooh*

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

Nope. Even though some of the more violent scene sent my emotions spinning, there’s nothing about this book that I didn’t absolutely love!!

Ms Duvall tries to ensure her new readers aren’t lost by weaving any pertinent information into this story.

However, I’m unsure whether Night Unbound can really be read as a standalone story, as she claims. I think you’d miss the nuances of knowing the existing characters, understanding the dynamics of relationships and ongoing plot lines. As with most series, there are background story arcs that are concluded within this book while others are left to continue into the next one, and possibly beyond. Having said that, the romance aspect of the tale between Zach and Lisette is concluded by the end of this book in Ms Duvall’s signature HEA style.

So, basically what I’m saying is…

Night Unbound was amazing, it had everything that I crave in a good book. Intelligent writing style that’s easy to read. Main characters that feel real with depth of personality that I can like (or love to hate). Depth of character in the supporting cast. Believable background story and setting. And a balanced mix of scenes; relationship, romance, action, sex and humour.

I’d recommend Night Unbound to adults who enjoy strong alpha heroes and independent capable heroines. Especially readers who like tense and often traumatic and brutal confrontations mixed with hot lust and romance scenes.

So, has my review of NIGHT UNBOUND (IMMORTAL GUARDIANS #5) 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 herself.

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Thanks for taking the time to read my review. I hope you decide to add Night Unbound to your wish list.

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