The main characters of this fantasy, urban fantasy story are Oz, Alexander Cold. Max is a Shadowblade, a super-powered warrior bound to serve a witch and her coven.
So good-bye to that hot, nasty, dry spell! Nor did I ever believe the conflicting desire they supposedly felt for each other went beyond plain lust. Overall, I found his chapters to be the weakest in the book. Bitter Night has its bitter moments, but strong world building and a heroine who proves herself by bravery and resourcefulness, even willingness to suffer in the stead of others make it worth reading.
There is no cliffhanger ending, but Diana is far from finished with her Horngate Witches…and neither am I. Sexual Content: Kissing. Jun 09, Ren Puspita rated it really liked it Shelves: god-goddes , reviewed , 4-stars , immortal-warrior , e-books , special-ability , tortured-hero , magic , tortured-heroine , must-have-it-in-paperback.
Wow, wow, wow, why I spend so much time to not read Bitter Night asap, I have no idea. In my urban fantasy spree, I love that there's an urban fantasy series that make me hooked! Like it title, Bitter Night have a bitter heroine called Max who plan to revenge to her best friend.
For her, immortality suck. What start as a dr Wow, wow, wow, why I spend so much time to not read Bitter Night asap, I have no idea. What start as a drunk night turn nightmare for Max when she wake up in an altar and no longer human.
This is why I like the premise, finally a character who not embrace her immortality with happy face, but want to run from it. Because she had been forced, raped not that sexual thing , and betrayed by her own friend. Ms Francis's writing is rich, detail, but also gritty. She doesn't shy away from writing a gore scene. There's a scene that turn my stomach, when Max and Alexander, the hero, Shadowblade Prime for Selange, Giselle's rival have a sort of strength competition. Read the spoiler if you strong enough to read view spoiler [ Giselle and Selange attack each other Prime.
Giselle then attack Alexander with some kind of illusion, insert a rat into his testiness. The rat then tear his inside! Pretty much gore and gag worthy. Kinda like a rat scene from American Psycho hide spoiler ]. I want to slap Giselle asap! Even though at the last, we will know why Giselle do that to Max.
Max, even still want to revenge against her friend, accept her condition. All for her Shadowblame comrade and Horngate, the place she protect.
I also love how Ms Francis mix mythology into Bitter Night. The Guardian, Max and Giselle's enemy is a deity from all myth. Add with a creature like hag and angel. And the most unique supernatural warrior, Shadowblades and Sunspear. If Shadowblade will hurt when they touched by sun or moonlight, Sunspear can't handle darkness.
The relationship between Max and her cohorts are interesting to read. And her romance development with Alexander make me impatient to know what next. What make Bitter Night shine, beside the writing and world building is Max herself. She is strong,witty, full of snark with suicide tendencies, but also fragile inside, especially in trust some people. She's a heroine to die for, an example for how ass kick heroine supposed to act, but also make me want to hug her for all her pain.
I can't wait to know more about the world that Ms Francis created in her Horngate Witches series. So sad not many readers read her book. I assure you, she's one of the most promising urban fantasy writer and you will regret to not read her book soon!
Favorite quote : - "Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends," Max murmured. Pretty much covers the story of my life. But we should get this over with. There's not much night left. I happen to be good at the job, but mostly because I want to live long enough to kill Giselle. I'm no hero and I'm no saint. Don't think I am. Jan 20, Casey Evans rated it liked it Shelves: fantasy.
There are two parts of this, my thoughts on the series and those on this particular book. This is a good series, it could have been a great series.
That it's not I put a lot of blame on the editor for. There are a lot of loose ends and a double pile of logical inconsistencies that keep this from being a great series, which is something a good editor should have caught. The author takes some of the blame too, but it is harder to see it when it's your baby. It is somewhat frustrating because the c There are two parts of this, my thoughts on the series and those on this particular book. It is somewhat frustrating because the characters are strong and very likeable, but things just don't add up in random areas and you're often left going, "HUH?
That doesn't make sense. Also, if you're going to claim this place is meant to be a sanctuary, then spend some time making it one. Cover a little of how its run and maybe try to bring some people in.
As it is, I never really got a sense of how many people might be there, or even really a good idea of the size. The green houses are mentioned many times, but given no real description or a sense of where they belong in the giant scheme of things past those mentions. The loose ends are also really bad. Frequently there are plot lines that just There'll be a lot of time spent on a sub character and then there's never a mention of them again.
THIS is particularly frustrating. If you take the time to name a character and give them some kind of story, at least put them away properly. If you're taking them somewhere, mention where they end up, don't just totally forget them.
This is something that happened at least three times. If there is a potentially best book of the series, I think it's the third one, though it would have been so easy for all of these to be great.
It's just a damned shame that someone dropped the ball and didn't catch the weak points. I very nearly stopped reading them they were that bad. Fortunately after that the author hit her stride and it got a lot better.
However there are a lot of logical HUHS? If Max can get through things, great, but how can she take someone with her? This book wasn't too bad past those first few chapters and I did finish it with the desire to continue to read the next book. The only issue I had was one of those loose ends, the Hag. What happened to her huh??? She's the reason for a big confrontation and then she's tossed in a truck and never mentioned again. This is where a little more time could have been used to build not only a completed story line, but used to fill out the background of Horngate as well.
Feb 02, Kelly rated it it was amazing Shelves: ebooks , urban-fantasy , read-in I think I'm going through a serious Urban Fantasy phase because the last few I've read have really, really hit the spot.
Ridiculously so. It's like I either need bloody battles, dirty sex or teen angst in my books. And let's face it, those three don't really go together well, maybe the battles and sex, but not alongside the teen angst. Most of the time. Then it starts getting all mixed up in my head and I start wondering why those t I think I'm going through a serious Urban Fantasy phase because the last few I've read have really, really hit the spot.
Then it starts getting all mixed up in my head and I start wondering why those teenagers aren't having dirty sex while fighting monsters and getting bloody. My brain scares me sometimes. This book is light on the romance and negative on both sex and teens but heavy on the blood and gore. I really liked the worldbuilding and the idea behind the Shadowblades and they way they're created and bound to the witch who makes them.
As a character, Max is intriguing. She's powerful, filled with rage and she hates the life she's been forced into. Yet at the same time she's finding out that she has people who depend on her to protect them. Her warriors respect her and would follow her into the darkest pits of hell itself if she asked. Alexander, on the other hand, is cautiously content with his life as a Shadowblade.
He's good at what he does and while he might not agree with every order he's given he has every intention of following those orders. When circumstances push him directly into Max's path he begins to question the things he's always thought of as truth.
As the first book in a series, there were a lot of plot threads left unanswered. There's a war on the horizon, Max and her warriors have been weakened and Max has bound herself into a mysterious deal. Alliances are formed, enemies are made and questions of trust abound. Not a bad start, if I do say so. I'm already checking out book 2 and plotting when I'll be able to get my hands on it. Nov 10, Jaime H rated it liked it.
The first book of the "Horngate Witches" series, Bitter Night is full of bloody, gruesome, and high flying adventure. I can almost say, this isn't for those with weak constitutions.
Some of the injuries Shadowblades and Sunspears endure are pretty gruesome and the author is very sadistic.. For the first book right out the gate of this series, I have to say, not bad.
Not bad at all. I definitely wouldn't say fantastic or anything but not bad. There were a few nuances with the The first book of the "Horngate Witches" series, Bitter Night is full of bloody, gruesome, and high flying adventure.
There were a few nuances with the changing in viewpoints I thought was odd and there was some inconsistency with the shifting of the viewpoint that caused me to backtrack a little bit to reconfirm who's view it was.
Sometimes first books in a new series can be slow with attempting to build the characters, the scenery, back stories and so forth, Bitter Night definitely didn't lull. I could easily have read this in half the time it took me if I didn't have to eat, take a shower, feed the kid, shower her, put her on the potty, ya know.. I really like Max's character. I felt we didn't get enough of the other Sunspears and Shadowblades to decide if I liked them or not.
Akemi, Oz and Niko seemed cool. I am on the fence about Alexander, he was borderline weak and kind of grated my nerves. I don't see he and Max in a romantic relationship. I can't wait to find out what's next with the Horngate, the witches, the angels, and the war.. Diana Pharoah Francis, when's book two coming out?
Oct 13, Carol Berg rated it really liked it. Max is the very angry, very capable heroine of the first in Diana Francis's Horngate Witches urban fantasy series. Francis is a fine writer-clean, clear prose, beautifullly suited to her genre. And I've got to say, an interesting world set-up - the role of witches and the attributes of Shadowblades and Sunspears in particular - and non-stop action carried me through this book.
I wasn't so sure of the cast in the beginning. Max is pretty awesome - almost too much so. She's been through really, really horrible things - lots of them in the past and not spelled out. Some in the current action.
But she heals fast and has incredible endurance, reflexes, again, almsot too much. In the early going she is so defined by anger, and between that and the super-heroine attributes, I found it hard to relate. But she grew on me. I really liked the changing dynamic between Max and her partners, and between her and the authoress of her fury, Giselle, the witch. I would love to see more of this in the subsequent episodes of Max's adventures saving the world.
And yes, I will read more. Nov 11, Darcy rated it really liked it Shelves: uf , magic , witches , I really liked this book but was worried at first because there was a lot of info in the first 20 pages, then they introduced one of the main characters and the story flew by from there and it is different from so much that is out there.
Max seems to be a person that draws people to her not knowing that she is doing it and when faced with the results she is stunned that such a thing has happened. Through the book she is like the pied piper and people you wouldn't expect follow her because of who I really liked this book but was worried at first because there was a lot of info in the first 20 pages, then they introduced one of the main characters and the story flew by from there and it is different from so much that is out there.
Through the book she is like the pied piper and people you wouldn't expect follow her because of who she is and what she stands for.
Some great points, the woman needs, yes that is needs 20,, calories a day to survive. Just think of all the great food we could eat if that was us, chocolate, cheesecake, chips, and all the other bad food.
Plus she has a violent hate and want to kill the woman how put her in her situation, which I loved as they started out as friends. Sunspears and Shadowblades. Oz was her Sunspear counterpart.
She sighed, finishing the last of the burgers and fiddling with the stereo. She had a bad feeling that in the next few days, she was going to need a whole lot of calories. This trip was going to be nothing but trouble. She pulled into Julian just before 2 a. It nestled in the desert mountains northeast of San Diego. The moon had gone down and Max had the windows open. In the distance she could smell the salt brine blowing up from the Pacific Ocean.
Overlaying it were the scents of pine, juniper, and oak, along with the hot tang of apples and grapes from nearby orchards. Max had turned off her stereo and lights as she came to the city limits and began driving slowly through town.
She sifted through the air and eventually found a hint of what she was looking for — the earthy, metallic flavor of the Uncanny, and the creamy, caustic flavor of the Divine. The basic division between the two was that Uncanny beings lacked the ability to cast spells or share their magic in any way.
The Divine could. The obvious conclusion was that a witch was here with her Shadowblades and whatever other pets she might have in tow. And they had killed someone. And what did it have to do with Giselle? She followed the trail to the other side of town. When she turned north on Farmer Road, the smell of magic billowed suddenly and her hackles rose, cold sliding like oil down her spine.
Giselle was right. Something big had happened here — maybe was still happening. It was time to get out and and go on foot. Max slowed and eased off onto a dirt lane, rolling across an irrigation creek and parking behind a mounding blackberry tangle on the fringe of an apple orchard. She killed the motor and donned her hat again before quietly lifting herself out the window. She reached for and grabbed her cell phone, thumbing it off before tucking it into a roomy thigh pocket on her black fatigues.
Next she opened the back door and popped up the bench seat. Beneath it was a small armory of weapons and ammo that included guns and steel knives, flash bombs and grenades, bags of herbs and salt, knives of rowan, hazel, willow, and silver, and a collection of charms. Max ignored most of it, opting for the pistol-grip sawed-off shotgun.
It was lousy for distances, but most fights were up close and personal, and it would make enemies of most stripes — magical or human — think twice. She loaded it and shoved a handful of shells into her front pocket before pushing the seat back down and shutting the door. She turned, letting her senses unravel across the night like a gossamer spiderweb, collecting every last scent, sound, taste, and texture. Nightbirds sang and an owl hooted. She heard the yip of coyotes and the deep bark of angry dogs.
A horse whinnied and a calf bawled. Somewhere close, something scritched in the dirt. But there was nothing. Max swiveled her head, sniffing. The stench of magic overwhelmed almost everything, even the tang of the orchard and the wet, green smell of the irrigation ditch. Magic slid over her skin like a sticky web, stinging and caressing at once.
It was like a runway beacon pointing the way. She slung her shotgun over her shoulder, her right hand wrapping the grip and holding it ready before her. Just in case. She glanced around one more time, then slid like a shadow under the orchard canopy, following the magic. She broke into a ground-eating jog, zigzagging between the squat trees. Adrenaline pumped through her. Her arms flexed and her stomach tightened, her muscles rolling beneath her skin.
She loved this feeling. Now she was fast, strong, and capable. If she could have this feeling of being the hunter and never having to cower helpless — if she could have that without Giselle and without the horrors that went with serving the witch-bitch, then Max would never want anything else.
It would be every Christmas and birthday present wrapped into one. She covered the sloping ground quickly, pausing hereand there to test the air and listen.
About a mile along,she picked up the first scent of blood. She stopped anddropped to a crouch beside a knobby tree trunk. Thecoppery flavor marked the blood as human, and therewas a lot of it.
Enough to cut through the stench ofmagic. There was Uncanny blood, too. The smell tingledat the back of her throat, tasting hot and corrosive. She scowled, something angryrising hot and hard in her. Suddenly she started running.
Someone might be alive. Giselle could be wrong. A mile farther in, she topped a rise. Between the trees she could glimpse a set of buildings on a hill beyond the orchard. Even from here she could see the lavender witchlight flickering through the trees.
The smell of blood was stronger, and there was something else — something wet, cold, and bleak, like winter wind over a frozen lake. It was Divine. Max crept closer, clinging close to the tree row. She paused every hundred yards to scan the trees and listen, but there was nothing.
Everything was silent except for dogs barking some distance away. The din was unrelenting. Dogs knew the stench of magic when they smelled it. She knew when she stepped into the chaos zone. The zones were places where magic had exploded out of control. Max strode inside without hesitation.
The protection spells Giselle had carved into her bones and flesh protected her from most malevolent magics. A little wild magic just cleared her sinuses. Inside, there were no natural sounds: no nightbirds, no crickets, no mosquitoes, nothing. The barks of the dogs snuffed out like blown birthday candles. Currents of thorny magic twisted in the warm, still air. She jerked as a high shrieking sound wrapped her skull and sent darts of pain down her nerves. She shook her head, crouching low as she jogged forward.
When she came to the treeline, she dropped and crawled beneath a John Deere tractor, concealing herself in the shadows of a massive tire. A nimbus of lavender witchlight surrounded a twostory, red-steel-roofed farmhouse. A white, crushed-gravel drive led down to the road beween lofty, smooth-skinned English walnut trees. It circled the house, corralling a close-clipped lawn dotted with bushes and flowers and a large gazebo covered by climbing roses and grapevines.
Behind it was a barn-style garage with a matching redsteel roof that looked big enough to hold six cars. On the other side of the house was a pool.
Max could smell the chlorine. From her vantage point, Max could see four human bodies sprawled on the white gravel. One woman, three men. There was nothing to say who had done it, nor was there any evidence of ritual in the killing. A sudden squabbling gabbled up loudly from the other side of the house. Growls and whimpers were followed by a snarling and loud cursing.
Then suddenly the shrieking sound erupted again. Max pressed her palms against her ears until it stopped. As soon as the noise died, she crawled out from under the tractor and ran down the low hill to the driveway. She carried the shotgun in front of her, her finger resting lightly on the trigger. She stopped at the first body. She wanted to be clinical and detached. But as she surveyed their wounds, anger and horror crashed together like locomotives inside her chest.
Max gasped, hot tears burning in her eyes as an unexpected need to find them vengeance swamped her. She knuckled her eyes and examined the bodies, not letting herself look away. The first corpse had been a young man, maybe in his early twenties.
His chest had been ripped open. His ribs were a mangled mess, and his entrails were gone. There was a smell of shit and urine and rotting meat. His legs had been gnawed on and one of his arms was missing. His eyes were open and staring, his mouth wide-open, his tongue protruding. Around his neck he wore a gold chain with a peace sign pendant. The other three victims were in much the same condition, although the woman had been chewed on more than the other two.
Her legs were twisted and splintered, and most of the flesh had been chewed off them. Both her arms were gone. She was hardly a woman — maybe just into college. On her wrist was a butterfly-tattoo bracelet in blues and purples. The anger twisted and dug hard claws into Max.
She drew a sharp breath. They were all so innocent and so horribly ruined. It made her want to kill someone — find them vengeance.
Her mouth drew into a tense line. At least these four had been permitted to die. It could have been worse. She tried to take comfort in the thought, but it was elusive. She let the predator in her rise, animal instincts flattening human concerns. Her head dropped and turned as she searched the yard eagerly. It was time to hunt. She jogged to a corner of the house. Bushes provided her with cover as she edged into the backyard. There was no one here. She loped across the lawn, hunching down and staying close to the house.
At the other corner she stopped and peered around. A small swarm of wizened redcaps were milling around the edge of a charm circle, its boundary glowing lavender witchlight to match the nimbus above the house.
There were thirteen of the creatures, or had been. Three lay dead. The remaining ones were growling and yipping at one another, pushing and shoving and tearing with their hooked claws and orange teeth. Last name. First name Missing: Bitter Night. Diana teaches in the English department at the University of Montana Western. Max is a Shadowblade, a super-powered warrior bound to serve a witch and her coven. Buy It Now: on www.
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