Book: Midnight Rising
Author: Lara Adrian
Spoiler level: medium-high
I think Lara Adrian needs to get way more credit for these villains she creates and their mad and horrible plans.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the Midnight Breed romance storylines totally deliver. The romance storylines are the heart of the series, and there seems to be some girl gene in me that makes me revel in the progress of the relationships, even though I more or less know how they will unfold. But I was really astonished at this son of Dragos and what he is up to in Midnight Rising.
For starters, he is holding the Ancient. The Ancient is one of the dangerous alien vampire progenitors who used to roam the earth; he was kept in a hibernation vault for centuries, but son of Dragos nabbed him and woke him up and now he has the Ancient in a cell full of all kinds of creative and horrible restraints. The Ancient:
Many thousands of years old, he was more powerful than an army of humans, even kept as he was currently in a managed state of near starvation. The hunger weakened him, as intended, but it also pissed him off, and rage was always a factor when it came to controlling a powerful creature like the one lifting its hairless, glyph-riddled head within the cell.And this:
The creature didn’t answer, just peeled its lips back and breathed in slowly, air hissing through the large, elongated fangs. He’d stopped speaking about a decade ago, whether from madness, anger or defeat, his keeper didn’t know. Nor did he particularly care.
Anyway, son of Dragos does all these cruel tests on the Ancient and also forces him to breed, which results in the death of a number of female breedmates—that part is awful and creepy—but I also sort of feel sorry for the Ancient. All the Order warriors are scared of the Ancient and want to kill him, but here we have a different monster holding the Ancient and really abusing him.I don’t know what Lara Adrian is going to do with this storyline, but it’s an interesting counterpoint to this, Rio’s story.
Rio, as we know, was disfigured in an explosion, and also, part of his childhood was spent in a monstery state of wildness. So of all the Order, Rio has the most beast in him, and even refers to himself that way, like his love interest, Dylan, is a beauty and he is the beast.
I think I know what will happen with Rio and Dylan, and I am greatly looking forward to it, but what what what will happen with the Ancient? I am sure whatever Adrian does will be great. And I'm sure I'll find out tonight. Or maybe not!
Did you ever read a book where you feel a little bit sorry for the villain?
17 comments:
I'm a member of Lara Adrian's yahoo group, and this topic was brought up there, where a few readers did in fact, voice their pity for the Ancient One. Not his abusive, villainous son, though. The existence of the Ancient One sure does bring up a moral dilemma doesn't it? He's definitely being abused by his son, and clearly in his current state, if he were released into the world, he'd be a danger to everyone's safety. But its in his very nature to feed and want to reproduce... and really... his offspring are not inherently evil (i.e., hot, desirable First Gens like Lucan and Tegan. Yum.), so I don't know. Doesn't the Ancient One deserve the opportunity to be rehabilitated or something?
C - Well that is really interesting, and it also makes me think the Ancient isn't killed in this book (but don't tell me!) Okay, now I really have to finish this tonight. What a great storyline. I wonder what will happen!
Or maybe I'm giving you food for thought... and purposely misleading you.... ;p
HEY!
this series sounds good!
enjoy your weekend.
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/
The best kind of villain is one that is in some way appealing. You feel horror that you relate to him and it makes the character all the better.
Naida, it is a good series. You might like it!
LB: You are so right! I love that.
Hey lady, just wanted to let you know, I did your bidding (the favor you asked on my blog) -- sorry it took me a couple days. And I love your blog! Somehow I'd never checked it out before! Can't wait to read more of your stuff.
Hey Catherine,
Thanks for visiting, and thanks SO much for doing that little favor!!!
Love this series and seriously love to hate the villains! Except the evil son...him I just hate! haha!
Ugh, my eyes! I can't read this, I haven't read MR yet.
Must..not.. look - Eek!
There was a villain in one of Linda Howard's fairly recent books (for the life of me, cannot remember the name) that I felt slightly sorry for. (He wasn't the main villain) He was an assassin of sorts, and spent his entire life hunting down some guy who killed his father, but became a monster himself. The sad part for me was that he knew he'd become what he'd spent his life trying to kill.
Why does that make me think of....
My name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die?
T: I am happy to hate that son.
W: Sorry! Don't look!
KR: That sounds really poignant! I think I'd like to track that one down.
LB: Who is Indigo Montoya? Please elaborate.
OH. MY. I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.
OK so one of my all time favorite ever ever ever ever books is the Princess Bride (forget the movie. it's marginal compared to the incredible awesomeness that is the book). But, in the movie, Mandy Patinkin plays that Spanish man who dedicates his life to avenge the death of his father.And it's fricken funny.
It's such a great book.
I actually prefer storylines where the villians are not so black and white. I haven't read this book yet (finishing up Tegan's, *g*), but this sounding more appealing. When villians have depth, it makes the story more realistic. I heard this saying somewhere that the bad guys usually think they are the good guys too ^_^.
katie- Which book are you talking about? I must know! ^_~
I shall agree with those above that the Princess Bride is awesome!
I finished the Midnight Breeds series this weekend. I had been holding off on reading your post until I had read all the books, so here I am now :)
I think I didn't feel a lot of sympathy for the ancient one, but I did get really creeped out by forced breeding with the breed mates, especially when Ms. Adrian described the girl dying. So I think that may have made me not even think about the ancient one.
I wonder if in her next book, she'll write him really mean and nasty to erase any sympathies people may have, or if she'll turn him into a victim instead of a villain.
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