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The Nightsiders #2

Vault of Shadows

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Milo must choose between risking his life to save both the human and magical universes or to live and save only his own in the explosive and fast-paced follow-up to the first novel in the Nightsiders series, which "Kirkus Reviews "called the perfect mix of science fiction and magic in a starred review.
After joining forces with the magical Nightsiders and surviving a trip to the enemy Bugs Hive ship, Milo Silk still has a lot to fear.
The Huntsman has pledged a revenge worse than death on Milo, a group of nefarious fairies are bent on taking back Earth, and zombie-like holo-men are trapping humans for the Bugs to take. Even more unsettling is that the Witch of the World has disappeared and a mysterious boy is haunting Milo s dreams in her stead.
But none of these threats compare to what may happen to the world if the humans and the Nightsiders don t unite to fight for each other."

464 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2016

9 people are currently reading
307 people want to read

About the author

Jonathan Maberry

522 books7,794 followers
JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Brent Soderstrum.
1,657 reviews23 followers
October 30, 2016
This is the second book of the Nightsiders series by Maberry. This book picks up with the Orphan Army still in Louisiana trying to avoid the Bugs and the Huntsman who want what Milo and his crew have stolen from him. As I said in my review of the first book of the series, I am not a big fan of fantasy/magic/science fiction books and this is definitely one of those.

Milo, Shark, Lizzie with the help of their crew of Nightsiders are trying to find their parents and save the world. They also must find a way to fix the Heart of Darkness which was damaged in their escape from the Bugs through stealing their spaceship in the previous book. How to fix it? Milo has an idea. He has seen a way in his dreams. They must find the Heir of Gladflynne, who is a ghost boy trapped in an invisible mansion with a huge library. Yes, it gets pretty weird.

There are also dreams within dreams within dreams which almost made me give up. Was the ending a dream? Was the whole book a dream? Did I dream I read this book?
Profile Image for The Keepers of the Books.
583 reviews7 followers
January 14, 2017
Maberry, Jonathan, Vault of Shadows: Nightsiders #2. Pgs. 456. Simon and Schuster, 2016. $16.99. Language; PG (1 swear, no “f”s), Mature Content: PG-13, Violence: PG-13

Milo Silk is back with his Nightsider friends (mythical creatures like dragons, werewolves, and vampires) and still trying to defeat the alien race who has taken over Earth. This time Milo is in possession of a crystal egg that the aliens henchman, Huntsman, wants. Determined to get revenge on Milo, the Huntsman has stolen the Heart of Darkness and has teamed up with a greater, more ancient evil. To make matters worse, the Witch of the World has disappeared from Milo’s dreams. Can Milo and his friends stop the Huntsman, the aliens who invaded earth, and from the new evil?

Action-packed from start to finish, this book pulls the reader into Mil’s world from page one. The characters are fun, engaging, and well-developed. The plot is complex and full of plot twists and turns. Fans of alien fiction, science fiction, and paranormal fiction will enjoy reading this book. You will, however, need to read the first book first.

This book was featured on The Keepers of the Books' Weekly Reads 8 episode. For more reviews, recommendations, or online librarian advice, please visit us at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK3v.... You'll also find a copy of this review on kissthebook.blogspot.com.
Profile Image for Lola Snyder.
357 reviews7 followers
February 8, 2017
Maberry, Maberry, do you write anything bad? Great continuation of the Nightsiders story. And the ending! I begin to dislike Milo's prophetic dreams. How will our world and the magic world survive The Swarm?!
Profile Image for K.
1,135 reviews4 followers
July 6, 2020
Ready to read the next one, when it comes out. It was good, many lessons. Good characters and great story.
20 reviews2 followers
October 13, 2020
This series is a fantastic blend of fantasy and science fiction. Great plot and very likeable characters that you want to win.
2 reviews1 follower
January 23, 2024
Always Amazing

Jonathan Mayberry has once again proved why he his books are top of my reading list. I’m never disappointed. Now if he can just write as fast as I can read :)
Profile Image for Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book*.
6,041 reviews219 followers
January 2, 2017
Maberry, Jonathan, Vault of Shadows: Nightsiders #2. Pgs. 456. Simon and Schuster, 2016. $16.99. Language; PG (1 swear, no “f”s), Mature Content: PG-13, Violence: PG-13

Milo Silk is back with his Nightsider friends (mythical creatures like dragons, werewolves, and vampires) and still trying to defeat the alien race who has taken over Earth. This time Milo is in possession of a crystal egg that the aliens’ henchman, Huntsman, wants. Determined to get revenge on Milo, the Huntsman has stolen the Heart of Darkness and has teamed up with a greater, more ancient evil. To make matters worse, the Witch of the World has disappeared from Milo’s dreams. Can Milo and his friends stop the Huntsman, the aliens who invaded earth, and from the new evil?

Action-packed from start to finish, this book pulls the reader into Mil’s world from page one. The characters are fun, engaging, and well-developed. The descriptions are vivid and unique. The plot is complex and full of plot twists and turns. Fans of alien fiction, science fiction, and paranormal fiction will enjoy reading this book. You will, however, need to read the first book first.

EL. MS. ADVISABLE. Reviewer: Kira M, Youth Services Librarian, WHI Public Library.
Profile Image for Cornmaven.
1,837 reviews
January 8, 2017
The story of Milo Silk enters the Twilight Zone with faerie rings, a magical mansion and library, and of course, The Huntsman and The Swarm. This is such an awesome blend of science fiction and paranormal, with lots and lots of action. Also a lot of reflection on good v. evil, right v. wrong, sacrifice for all v. concern for self.

I found myself turning those pages one after the other, and forgetting about everything else. Maberry is a master at storytelling.
Profile Image for Cassie.
584 reviews5 followers
April 1, 2017
Maberry's sci-fi/fantasy mashup gets a little darker in this installment. Even though the Orphan army worked together in the previous installment, there is still tension between the Daylighters and Nightsiders. I liked that there were a lot of interesting plot twists. It was difficult to see what was coming next.
Profile Image for Kim.
335 reviews1 follower
October 10, 2016
While I still liked this story, it felt like for a 450+ book, not a lot happened. It seemed like a lot of rehashing of old events and discussions. If book 3 will finish the series, I will probably read it, but if it's not the conclusion, I'm probably done.
1,457 reviews26 followers
April 22, 2017
Milo is not having a good week. Milo somehow not only outsmarted the deadly Huntsman, an evil human made worse by the alien Bugs modifying him to be a supersoldier, but stole the egg containing all the Bug's DNA and technology patterns. And the Nightsiders who helped with that---a tree spirit, a fire salamander, a rock boy, and a werewolf---are now part of the uneasy alliance with the last of humanity to take back the Earth.

But the Huntsman isn't about to forget Milo. He's determined to retrieve the stolen egg. And he's got an entire race of aliens ready to support his every plan.

I still wonder if these aren't a bit too dark for the age range, or if maybe this would work better for me if Milo wasn't 11. On the one hand, the book doesn't flinch away from the fact that when the Earth gets overrun by alien invaders, not even kids get a free pass. On the other, we're not only dealing with people Milo knows dying, but it goes beyond that to human sacrifice (although this does at least happen completely offscreen).

The stakes go even higher, too. This time around a villain from the Nightsiders appears, someone who would prefer humanity to go extinct and will even join with the Huntsman to do it (parallels to the Wild Huntsman are likely intentional).

Milo's dreams provide the only real edge his group has. Glimpses of past, present, and future warn and guide them. I did like the library, and the ghost who reads there. I also really appreciated the book pointing out that although Milo can only see his own group of resistance fighters, there is still fighting in the rest of the world, and all of them are contributing towards the hope of success.

Overall this is still a strong followup to the first book, although something about it still doesn't quite click with me. Still, as long as the horror aspects aren't too bothersome for the reader, it's a good read. I rate this book Recommended.

See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
Profile Image for Andreas Acevedo Dunlop Strom.
464 reviews1 follower
April 27, 2017
Another bullseye from Maberry. I can only imagine how scary and exciting this would be for the intended readers. I hope the next instalment comes soon. I need to know what's next for Milo and the Nightsiders...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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