Review Detail

Year two for Bianca at Evernight Academy, a school where vampires go to learn how to keep up with the times despite being centuries old. Bianca misses Lucas, a Black Cross Vampire Hunter who tried to infiltrate the secrets of Evernight the year before. While keeping up with a crazy class schedule, avoiding the snobbish vampire elit, and sneaking out to secretly meet with Lucas, she delves into uncovering the mystery of why the strict headmistress has started allowing human students to attend the school. When wraiths start showing up at the school trying to talk to Bianca, she realizes that she really can't trust anybody.

If you haven't read Evernight, the first of this series, then don't read this review, scroll down until you find the Evernight review.

This book was extremely slow to start. The first quarter of the book was recapping what happened in the first book. Here's my issue with that; If you're going to write a book, and then right a sequal, don't rewrite the first one into the second one. I know it's assumptive to believe that everybody has read the first book but if they're going to pick up in the middle of the series, that's really their problem. I don't want to sit and reread something that I've alread read. That said, once the story picked up, it wasn't half bad.

This book was a lot more involved with Lucas and Bianca's relationship, forgoing a complex plot to build up the characters themselves. I loved how the relationships between Bianca and Raquel built both of them up as people. Gray picked up on the importance of relationships building the humanity of characters and for that, I'm glad. Balthazer was getting annoying because he seemed so distant and yet Gray tried to play him off as a Jacob-esk love lost character.

Gray's writing style matured with this book. I could see a lot more of the story instead of just reading and knowing what's supposed to be going on. The plot, however, needed work. I really do appreiciate the character building, but characters need a story to survive. The first half of the book was almost nothing. There were a few fights, a new character, and some clues alluding to some sort of plot to come, but I didn't get any action until about the last chapter. Vampire books need vampire action and there was very little of that. I also had an issue with the ghosts. The way Gray presented the wraith/vampire situation was inconsitant and blotchy at best. I understand her need to try something new in the vampire world, but it wasn't well planned. That said, it does provide an interesting twist to the story.