Hathor Vinceti arrived at a hidden modish London nightclub expecting to meet her aunt. What she found instead was a club that looked like a decadent underground dance hall and brothel straight out of the twentieth century. Realizing this address couldn't possibly be correct, she continued to peruse the place and received the shock of her life as she discovered she had entered an underground sex club. Soon a strange chant began to sound in her mind and she began to feel sexually aroused. All of a sudden, a man unlike any other appeared in the center of the stage. Hathor learned this strong-armed, broad-shouldered, slim-waisted, very attractive man went by the name of Lord Servaes, the Marquis de Normant and was a vampire.

Servaes was in the middle of an act when he stopped in confusion. Through the crowd of people, his eyes lit on a human woman. What it was about her he couldn't quite understand. She was human, dressed shabbily and didn't appear to be very pretty, but he was drawn to her-so much so that he chose to mark her as his. Before the completion of his act and before the vampires could finish off their victims, he commanded her to run.

Several nights later the two of them met again. Servaes tried to convince Hathor that he was a vampire, but she refused to believe him, even when she began to have horrifying visions-visions which scared her to death. As they drew closer together each had to face his and her hidden fears, and hope that love would triumph in the end. But in order for love to triumph, Servaes had to decide whether to make Hathor into a vampire-thus turning her into a damned creature of the night like himself-or kill her to prevent her from telling others of her kind. And he would have to come to one of the decisions very quickly because there were other vampires that would see Hathor dead, and a council that demanded he do so or the decision would be taken out of his hands. Will Servaes be able to overcome his instinctive need to protect Hathor from becoming an undead creature such as he, and if he can't, will he be able to kill her as ordered by the council?

REDEEMER OF SHADOWS was something else. At first I didn't know if I would like this! The vampires portrayed in REDEEMER are gluttonous, murderous, cold-hearted killers. Since I'm such a romantic about vampires I found it hard to reconcile the possibility that the hero in this story might be just as bad, if not worse, than the majority of the vampires mentioned in REDEEMER OF SHADOWS.

Soon, through the author's vivid descriptions of the characters, their histories and the story within the story, I began to be drawn into this book. The story took me over so completely that I was unable to put it down. I found myself displaying emotions of laughter, then anger and even vengeance, not to mention falling a little bit in love with Servaes myself. REDEEMER OF SHADOWS was so good I even cried, finding myself commenting to the author, Michelle Pillow, as if she could hear me, "Please don't let it end like this!" By the time I completed the reading of REDEEMER OF SHADOWS I felt as if I had been on a roller coaster of emotional ups and downs. And before the reader asks, I'd like to think it's not my hormones speaking!

The ending to REDEEMER OF SHADOWS is such that it leaves one happy while opening up even more questions regarding what is to come in future books in the Tribes Of The Vampire series. It's my hope to see Pietro, although mentioned only briefly in passing, receive a book of his very own as well as the unnamed character who begins to take an active part in the plotline toward the end of the book.

If you want to read a really good vampire book and don't mind it being a little on the dark side REDEEMER OF SHADOWS is definitely a must read book!

Reviewed By: RogueStorm
(c) July 2004