Review: Yes, of course, there's a cliffhanger
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2014
I'm not sure why the previous reviewer was surprised about the cliffhanger ending this first book.  The fact that it's the first book of a series is right in the title, after all.  And, it's a fairly normal type of cliffhanger.  Towards  the end, it became apparent how it was going to end, except for the details.Anyway, the book is good, in the same way that the Shadow Quest series is good.  The characters are well realized, and I had strong empathy for the protagonists, Coraline and Mason.  Cora is a complicated woman, and the layers of her personality and history are slowly unveiled.  Mason is simpler, and held in thrall to her by the blood bond they have forged, and yet conflicted over his divided loyalties.The details of Fay's vampire society are interesting because they are different from what you ordinarily see.  These vampires are both more and less bestial.  They are cruel and brutal, but also display uncertainty, regret, deceit, and other human qualities.  Their clan loyalties are strong and normally unwavering.  One of the primary conflicts in this book is Mason's rebellion against this loyalty.  Having fallen in love with Cora, his feelings supercede, for the most part, his obligations to his sire, Trent.  But, he is also torn, and allows his adversary, Knox, to feed on Cora whenever necessary, because he is ordered to do so, something that she cannot reconcile with his claims to love her.This first book sets up several themes, which are only superficially explored.  Fay ties one of the central mysteries of the book, the existence of the spectre living in the home that Cora, Mason and Knox occupy, to a new story, at the very end of the book.  This is obviously going to be the main storyline in the second book.  This second book can't come fast enough for me, but, from experience, I know that Fay doesn't write as fast as many series authors out there today.  We're going to have to wait awhile.  I'm sorry the first reviewer is in such a tizzy over this.  It will all be alright, I'm sure.The book is, as usual, very well edited, with only a couple of misspellings and grammatical errors that I picked out.  Fay is quite literate, and tells a good story.  The dialogue is real, the characters are authentic, the narrative supplies all the detail the reader needs, and the story is believable (considering it is about vampires, demons, and such).  It's going to be a terrific series.