Night Play (Dark-Hunter Series, Book Ten): Sherrilyn Kenyon UPDATED

Here we go with the first Were-Hunter installment!  (My brief, original review of this book can be found HERE.)  We are introduced to Vane and his brother, Fang, in Talon and Sunshine's book, Night Embrace.  My original reading order of the series is a bit different from the one I'm following now.  I didn't originally read this book until later on, but I think reading it after Kiss of the Night, Dance with the Devil, and Night Embrace because the flow is much better.  We are introduced to Bride (very briefly) and Vane while Sunshine is under Vane's watchful eye in Jackson Square.  I immediately liked Vane, even then.  He's rough and vulgar, volatile and fierce.  He's fantastic.  His loyalty to his siblings is intense and he is harboring a deep secret which could put him and his loved ones in even more danger than they already are.  His backstory is well-formed and terribly (wonderfully) tragic.  His desire to do the right thing and treat Bride the way in which she deserves are extremely touching and really endeared him to me.  Bride was a good female lead  She is strong and intelligent, but not without her own faults.  I was occasionally slightly annoyed by her self-deprecating tendencies...then, I realized why I felt this way...I recall thinking and feeling the same things more often than I would like to admit.  Kenyon managed to tap into some very raw, poignant, uncomfortable feelings in a very unexpected way.  In a romance novel.  Bride was a very real character with realistic problems and insecurities.  I think Kenyon handled her well, as well as Bride's disbelief that someone who looked like Vane could want her and never want to change anything about her.  (At the risk of turning this into self reflection, I feel a bit of a personal connection with Bride, having dealt with similar body image issues my entire life...and I somehow found my own (yummy) Vane who loves and adores me just the way I am, and would never ask me to change -- something I still sometimes struggle to believe, even six years later.)  I am very impressed with how Kenyon managed this delicate dance without going over the top.

The complexities of the Arcarian/Katagarian worlds are really fascinating.  I'm always impressed with the amount of thought Kenyon puts into her fantastic worlds.  This is the mark of her brilliance.

As far as criticism goes, I found a couple of grammatical typos in my version of the book.  Much like my comment on Kiss of the Night, there were instances where words were repetitive in some sentences.  I loved the nuances of the characters and details of the were-hunter world.  The end at Sanctuary was very slightly cheesy, but I'm willing to let it slide.  I definitely enjoyed this installment.