The Awakening (Vampire Huntress Legend)

There is a vampire war brewing in the underworld and at the center of it all is Damali Richards, spoken word artist and Vampire Huntress. But she is not just any Vampire Huntress, she is the millenium Neteru. A woman so potentially powerful that the vampire world is about to invoke a bloody battle that threatens to spill over onto her streets in order to posses her. It's just a matter of who will get to her first. Fallon Nuit, a rogue vampire, is one of the most powerful Damali has ever encountered and he has allied himself with the deadly Amanrath demons in order to claim her. But the Vampire Council has plans for her as well. And now an unlikely variable has entered into the equation, an ex-lover now turned vampire with an agenda of his own. And she must risk trusting him once more if they are to survive.

From Publishers Weekly

In this follow-up to Minion (2003), Banks proves that vampire novels, like their vampire characters, often spawn progeny all too much in their own image. Events begin precisely where they dead-ended in the first novel, with rock 'n' roller cum vampire-slayer Damali Richards the prey of renegade vampire-master Fallon Nuit, who wants her eliminated for the grief she's caused him and his hybrid demon-vampire minions. The Vampire Council also seek to vampirize her and the child they scheme to seed her with before her 21st birthday. The council is depending on newly un-dead Carlos Rivera, Damali's ex-lover, to find her weak spot-but Carlos has his own agenda to retrieve his soul before he becomes an irredeemable vampire, and he secretly plays the council, Nuit and even Damali and her band against one another to achieve his goal. For all the double-crossing intrigue, choreographed bloodshed and physical mayhem, readers will find little in the plot to distinguish this novel from its predecessor. The author devotes most of her energies to fleshing out minutiae of her weird world, which includes elaborate hierarchies and biological imperatives that govern its hordes in the afterlife. The result is an ambitious but often slow-going fantasy that will appeal mainly to Banks's loyal minions. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Picking up where Minion [BKL My 1 03], which launched her Vampire Huntress series, left off, Banks throws her heroine into the middle of a vampire power struggle. Damali Richards is about to turn 21, and if the vampire council can get to her, they can impregnate her with a child who will grow into a daywalker--a powerful vampire that can withstand daylight. The council wants to use her former love, Carlos, now a master vampire, as the lure, but Fallon Nuit, a fugitive from the council who wants to start his own vampire empire, also expects Carlos to deliver Damali. A group of Templars claims to want to keep Damali safe. Carlos is torn. He still cares for Damali, but his lust for her blood is growing more powerful each time he is with her. With The Awakening, Banks solidifies her intriguing, dark series as a project worth watching, and readers will be pleased to learn another installment is on the way. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

Praise for Minion, the first book in The Vampire Huntress Legends:"[Banks is] wildly creative and invents a totally new and refreshing milieu."-Fangoria"Cutting edge wit and plenty of urban heat flies from the pages of this quick read."-Philadelphia Sunday Sun"Blade meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. . .A pulsating blood-booster."-Kirkus"With an exciting premise and a cliffhanger ending, this first book in a new series packs a powerful punch."-Booklist"Minion is an action-packed journey. . . If you enjoy Anne Rice, Blade or Buffy then Minion is the novel you have been waiting for."-Tananarive Due, bestselling author The Good House

About the Author

L. A. BANKS is the author of the Vampire Huntress Legend series. She had a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a master’s in fine arts from Temple University. Banks considered herself a shape-shifter. She wrote romance, women’s fiction, crime and suspense, and of course, dark vampire huntress lore. She lived with her daughter in an undisclosed lair somewhere in Philadelphia.

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