Available at Amazon.com ^[1]

NIGHT VEIL is the second book in the Indigo Court series by NYT best-selling author Yasmine Galenorn. It follows the story of Cicely Waters who found herself inexplicably drawn to Grieve, a Fae Prince, then torn from his side. This story is the second in the series and may not be as powerful if you haven’t read the first book, so please keep that in mind when you’re reading this review and you’re worried about spoilers. My review of NIGHT MYST ^[2] was published during our Vampire Week, and we do have a NIGHT VEIL excerpt ^[3] you can read at your leisure.

One of the reasons why I like this series, is because Galenorn presents the darker side of magic, vampires, Fae and other creatures. This is not the happy-go-lucky world where everyone winds up together. It is at odds with itself and there are very real, very short-and-long term consequences that come from living in a world where power is not necessarily a good thing. The romance, and all flavors therein, follows suit. In some ways, this book takes risks with topics normally taboo in fiction (e.g. hedonism) but does it in a way that impossibly makes perfect sense. What would you do if you were a centuries-old vampire with all these powers? One who still felt the urge to have sex? What pleasure would sex have for you after the first 50 years? 100? 1,000?

The reason why the risks taken in NIGHT VEIL made perfect, total and logical sense to me, was because Galenorn doesn’t dive deep into the darker side of sex — she plummets into the nature of a vampire. If this was a story about a human (for lack of a better word) at odds with a human like Lannon Altos, then I would stop reading the series altogether because certain topics are difficult for me to read. But here? Within the context of all the forces that are acting against Cicely in her quest to save not only her lover and her friend, but the town and the world as she knows it, too? I’m totally fine with it, because Galenorn isn’t afraid to “beat up” her characters, to guide them through the crucible to find their personal power.

In NIGHT VEIL, Cicely isn’t the only one who falls on hard times. It seems that everyone has either something to lose or something to gain as war brews between the vampiric Fae and everyone else. Kaylin, too, has a journey he must go through to deal with a demon that threatens his life.

There are three, other books in the Indigo Court series. This book introduced many new characters and you learn more about Cicely’s identity and her part in the overall war. You also discover more about the Fae and the vampires here, and why no one is as well-intentioned as they seem.

Who will like this book and this series? If you prefer your worlds to be dark and dangerous, if you like your heroines to fall and rise and fall and rise up again, if you want a war that has been brewing for hundreds of years — you will love the Indigo Court series and NIGHT VEIL.

Review by Monica Valentinelli