Nocturnal Book Reviews

4.5/5
I always approach authors writing about Russia or Russians with great trepidation, because there are very few of them who really know what they are talking about. The majority is happy with dancing bears and rivers of vodka. Robin Bridges, on the other hand, I loved!

I know a lot of people complained about difficult names and bizarre ceremonies, but to be honest, I haven't noticed any of that. Robin Bridges took a beautiful period in Russian history on the verge of great changes and created something magical and enchanting, twisting this or that historical detail to make it all look authentic.

There are secret societies and complicated treaties between vampires and fae living in St.Petersburg. Tsar Alexander is ready to go through a ritual which allows him to become an avatar of a legendary warrior to purge the country of a great evil slowly surrounding his capital. The vampiric Royal family from Montenegro is hoping to charm and ensnare Alexander's son to grab the power in Russia and inadvertently they awaken an ancient evil... Young cadets from aristocratic families, the personal guard of the royal family die one by one in gruesome attacks by a monstrous wolf and then come back as an army of living dead, and only young Katya with her unique gift of necromancy can stop all of these forces.

Katya is a riot, impatient, intelligent, with an impossible dream of becoming a doctor, loyal to her family and fiercely protective of her friends. She hides her gift of necromancy all her life thinking it's evil and shameful, but when she spies a Montenegro princess trying to put a love spell on a tsar's oldest son, she uses her gift to disrupt it and then attracts attention she so wanted to avoid, attention of two princes, George - middle son of the tsar with elven blood and Danilo, a Montenegran Royal with dark powers.

George is angry with her and wants her to stay away from his family, and Danilo wants to marry her and then sacrifice her powers during his ascension to a vampire so his family will be stronger, but when Katya finds out more and more of the dark plot, she has to join forces with George to thwart the Montenegrans.

This book certainly had a feel of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and I loved the little quirks, urgency and menacing moods the plot telegraphed from its beginning till the end. It's mesmerising, full of myths and magic, it's sometimes Gothic, and I would recommend it to any fan of paranormal historical YA like Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle series. The Gathering Light had the same feel about it.

Second book, The Unfailing Light will be out this October. I can't wait!