3.5 stars - The third novel in Geissinger's Night Prowler series, Rapture's Edge is not quite urban fantasy (since the story couldn't stand alone without the romance) but not quite romance - or not the typical one. There is an anguishing shards of shrapnel to the heart kind of love in which the leads, warrior Demetrius and former princess Eliana, approach and separate as she first walks the fine line between love and hate, and later can't decide to give Demetrius her trust (and considering what she thought she saw, not without a valid reason.)
At the end of the previous book I wasn't really looking forward to Eliana's story, but in the three years that the she and the other loyalists of her colony have been in hiding, she has matured quite a bit from the naïve pampered princess who was entirely clueless about the inner workings of her hidden Ikati colony and her father's evil madness. So, she was a much better leading lady than I'd expected. But is Demetrius that really made the book for me. He is so completely devoted that it is heart wrenching to watch him vacillate between joy and cautious hope, when they come together, and utter despair each time Eliana questions her feelings and withdraws.
Since the real strength of the story for me is Demetrius' desperate pursuit of Eliana, the story didn't really feel like it got rolling (to my inner romance reader) until the pair began interacting. However, there are important things going on in the background even from the start and there is a huge movement in the overarching plot, and a new villain who is so bad that it was apparently hard to portray that without being a bit heavy handed – I didn't really need an up close and personal view of his depravity.
From the perspective of someone who has followed the series from the beginning, it was nice to see a 'bit part' for Ikati Queen Jenna, from the first book - who knows quite a bit about star crossed lovers and the price that children in their world are expected to pay for the 'sins' of their fathers. Seeing Jenna ends up being especially fun in that I liked that, in the male dominated world, Queen trumps Alpha – it does help that she can turn into a dragon and eat them if they get out of line.
The author's writing as always is very good from a prose standpoint, and even though not quite as lyrical as in the previous books, Geissinger's is still the type of writing that makes me want to clip out quotes to save – some rather pithy words about love and truth really struck me this time. Next up apparently is Leander's brother, Christian, who has a brief cameo here – his is the book I thought I really wanted after the first one – so, I will be keeping an eye out for the Fall 2013 release of Edge of Darkness.
ARC via the Amazon Vine - release date june 18th