The first in a planned trilogy, Darkness Before Dawn tries to combine the popularity of dystopian civilizations and a vampire apocalypse. For the most part, we think it works and we'll probably read the second one.
Following a thirty year war between humans and vampires, the world has been divided into kingdoms ruled over by ancient vampire families. A tenuous VampHu Treaty requires that to maintain the peace, humans must provide the vampires with a monthly blood supply. This 'voluntary' donation is supposed to keep vampire attacks under control while allowing the human cities to operate almost like they did before the war. The Agency, run by humans, is the local government whose job it is to oversee that the monthly blood quotas are met. They also appoint delegates to negotiate with the reigning vampire families. Dawn, the youngest delegate, finds herself caught in the beginnings of a vampire initiated uprising to free the cities. Victor, the heir to the vampire throne, must find a way to convince Dawn that he has the humans best interests in mind.
The setting is great and the premise is definitely on trend, but we were annoyed by the developing romance between Dawn and Victor (Twilight has really doomed all vampire/human relationships for us). This one ends in a cliff-hanger, but you won't be frustrated too much. While you're waiting for the second installment, we would suggest The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa or The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda.
Next Up: Code Name Verity- Aug. 3rd
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