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Vampire Babylon #3
Break of Dawn
Hollywood can really suck?
After facing off against the lethal Vampire Killer, Hollywood stuntwoman Dawn Madison and her friends are reeling. But for Dawn, the pain is much more personal. She's learned more about her missing father and long-dead mother than she ever wanted to, and her conflicted feelings about both her enigmatic, never-seen boss, Jonah, and P.I. Matt Lonigan are only making things worse.
To save her father Dawn must enter the Vampire Underground, where she will encounter an unthinkable betrayal, and where the question of who is truly good and who is truly evil will become a matter of life, death and undeath?
After facing off against the lethal Vampire Killer, Hollywood stuntwoman Dawn Madison and her friends are reeling. But for Dawn, the pain is much more personal. She's learned more about her missing father and long-dead mother than she ever wanted to, and her conflicted feelings about both her enigmatic, never-seen boss, Jonah, and P.I. Matt Lonigan are only making things worse.
To save her father Dawn must enter the Vampire Underground, where she will encounter an unthinkable betrayal, and where the question of who is truly good and who is truly evil will become a matter of life, death and undeath?
337 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2008
6 people are currently reading
770 people want to read
About the author
Chris Marie Green
44 books250 followersChris Marie Green, former school teacher turned full-time writer, gets out of the office by taking long trips to places such as Japan, Italy, and New Orleans. When she’s not causing international incidents, she enjoys yoga, movie-going and dabbling in firsthand research such as fencing, Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She also writes under the name Crystal Green and Christine Cody
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 22, 2008
Break of Dawn is the third book in Chris Marie Green's Vampire Babylon series.
Note that there is a story arc over the course of the three series so you don't want to read this before reading the first two novels.
Break of Dawn picks up where Book 2, Midnight Reign, left off. Dawn Madison and her friends have just faced off with the lethal Vampire Killer and are closing in on the mysterious vampire Underground. However, her father is missing once again. Dawn declares finding her father as her priority over finding the Underground, creating a breach between herself and Jonah - her unseen boss and metaphysical lover.
I'm a definite fan of these books and was excited to read the postscript of this one which informs fans that even though the story wraps up in this triology, that there will be another trilogy arc beginning with "A Drop of Red" in 2009 that will continue the adventures of Dawn and the team.
I recommend this series to those who like vampire stories with more action/mystery than romance and a seriously kick-ass heroine. There is an element of the sensual, but no explicit sex scenes. In my opinion, similar authors are:
Karen Chance's Cassandra Palmer series
Laurell K. Hamilton's EARLY Anita Blake Vampire Killer series
Jeanne C. Stein's Anna Strong series
Note that there is a story arc over the course of the three series so you don't want to read this before reading the first two novels.
Break of Dawn picks up where Book 2, Midnight Reign, left off. Dawn Madison and her friends have just faced off with the lethal Vampire Killer and are closing in on the mysterious vampire Underground. However, her father is missing once again. Dawn declares finding her father as her priority over finding the Underground, creating a breach between herself and Jonah - her unseen boss and metaphysical lover.
I'm a definite fan of these books and was excited to read the postscript of this one which informs fans that even though the story wraps up in this triology, that there will be another trilogy arc beginning with "A Drop of Red" in 2009 that will continue the adventures of Dawn and the team.
I recommend this series to those who like vampire stories with more action/mystery than romance and a seriously kick-ass heroine. There is an element of the sensual, but no explicit sex scenes. In my opinion, similar authors are:
Karen Chance's Cassandra Palmer series
Laurell K. Hamilton's EARLY Anita Blake Vampire Killer series
Jeanne C. Stein's Anna Strong series
November 17, 2008
"Break of Dawn" is a fitting end to Chris Marie Green's first trilogy set in her Vampire Babylon series. On vampire master is vanquished, but the path to victory is twisted with more hairpins turns than an alpine road.
Dawn has fully left her old life of stuntwoman behind and is now committed to getting her father back (hopefully before he's turned) and killing her vampire mother for allowing her buddy Breisi to be killed. She's on a rampage and her new powers can aid her if she can only figure out how to use them. And speaking of figuring things out, she's determined to get more information about 'the Voice' and who and what he/it is. But Dawn may find that too much information can result in too many choices.
An excellent urban fantasy with a very different love story. If you've ever wondered about spirit sex, Green does a great job of portraying out of body intercourse. But this third book is really about the Voice and how and why he is what he is. Now I'll just have to wait for the first book of the next trilogy for my Vampire Babylon fix.
Dawn has fully left her old life of stuntwoman behind and is now committed to getting her father back (hopefully before he's turned) and killing her vampire mother for allowing her buddy Breisi to be killed. She's on a rampage and her new powers can aid her if she can only figure out how to use them. And speaking of figuring things out, she's determined to get more information about 'the Voice' and who and what he/it is. But Dawn may find that too much information can result in too many choices.
An excellent urban fantasy with a very different love story. If you've ever wondered about spirit sex, Green does a great job of portraying out of body intercourse. But this third book is really about the Voice and how and why he is what he is. Now I'll just have to wait for the first book of the next trilogy for my Vampire Babylon fix.
December 19, 2011
It had been a long time since I read book 2 in the series, so I started out a little fuzzy as to what was going on. But it took me a long time to get into this book, and not just because of the memory holes. I actually considered putting this book down and walking away a few times. There was way too much emphasis towards the beginning of Dawn and Jonah's 'out of body relationship'as it were, and the fact that there was too much secrecy. Yes, there's secrets. Start telling me what they are and I'll keep reading. Towards the end though, the story got a lot better and left me wanting to know what happens next. I was kind of hoping I'd just hate the whole thing and be done with it. But I'm just curious enough to pick up book 4. Dawn is a likeable enough heroine and some of the twists and turns and (finally) secrets revealed piqued my interest. There are a lot of other books I want to read first, though.
December 18, 2010
This book had some great twists and turns that I did not at all see coming, hence the 4 stars. That being said, there were still some things I didn't like. The 'Master' got to be reeeeeally annoying, I mean there's only so many times I can hear about how lame and depressed and pathetic someone is before I lose all sympathy and I just want to move on to something new. Dawn was also a little dense about some stuff, but nothing new there. Not nearly as much sex in this one as the other 2, which is not necessarily a bad thing, it made Dawn a little more relateable that she's starting to have emotions and what-not. I loved the ending, and I'm excited to see where it's going to go from here. One thing to be said for Green, she's not scared to alter and change major characters in major ways.
October 17, 2012
Ok its official after having lived for much too many years....the vampire...has lost his mind....
April 22, 2018
Great ending to an action packed trilogy. Dawn is kick ass as a former stuntwoman turned vampire hunter. The Voice's backstory is revealed along with his prior relationship with the mad "Master," Benedikte. Fascinating characters and plot twists. Highly recommended.
May 31, 2021
So bad I couldn't finish it. Call me weird but I really don't like my porn mixing with bad vampire fiction.
March 16, 2024
This book left me screaming WHAT a few times in the best way possible. Every time I thought I knew what was about to happen we went in a different direction. So excited to see what happens next!
January 30, 2019
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65 points/100 (3 ½ stars/5)
A Master vampire to find and kill. A Father to save. A Mother to set right. A Lover to reveal themselves.
This was the end to the first trilogy of the Vampire Babylon series. It wraps up the story arc we have seen so far. A lot of new information is present in Break of Dawn, that sets up the rest of the series and the second trilogy.
Break of Dawn picks up right after Midnight Rising, and was mostly about finding and killing the Master and the Underground attached to him. We also had to finish up the story with Dawn's parents. There are still a lot of questions left up in the air, a lot to learn.
At the start of the book, I still didn't understand why there was a war at all between Limpet and the Master, Benedikte. [[Fun fact, apparently this is a feminine name, the Princess of Denmark's given name is Benedikte. Woops!]] There didn't seem to be good guys or bad guys. There just seemed to be sides. They seemed to be aware of each other, but not fully. They just seemed to hate each other.
Now, I know more. I still can't say it makes sense. Yeah, that is the best way to put it, doesn't make sense. We have a lot of information thrown at us this time around. Sometimes under duress, sometimes we're lied to, or not told the whole truth. Honestly, the whole thing is so overly complicated when it doesn't need to be. But, at this point, we're dedicated to keeping secrets.
Seriously though. The relationship everyone has with bossman Jonah Limpet is horrifying. They all seem to trust him, except Dawn most of the time. Yet he doesn't tell them anything at all. There is no trust in them, in what they're doing. Then, when they corner him and make him tell some secrets, he still tries to weasel out of it. He picks and chooses what he shares to gain what he wants. He breaks into the privacy of everyone around him through their mind, and then gets angry when they're poking into his privacy because he refuses to tell anyone anything.
I just don't get why they stand behind him. If I were them, I would cut my losses.
Especially Dawn. He betrays her trust. He lies to her. He hurts her. Then he kicks her out. All so he can use her to find the underground. Duty before all else.
He is an ass.
The end was... I didn't like it. It was too easy. I don't even know how to categorise it. But, I really hate the boss, and I hate the way the Master is defeated. I hate what happened to the vampires. All because someone told someone to do something hundreds of years ago, and they're still doing it. To what purpose? No idea. Just cause? Bah.
I'm really not invested in this series. At least the writing is getting better with each book.
65 points/100 (3 ½ stars/5)
A Master vampire to find and kill. A Father to save. A Mother to set right. A Lover to reveal themselves.
This was the end to the first trilogy of the Vampire Babylon series. It wraps up the story arc we have seen so far. A lot of new information is present in Break of Dawn, that sets up the rest of the series and the second trilogy.
Break of Dawn picks up right after Midnight Rising, and was mostly about finding and killing the Master and the Underground attached to him. We also had to finish up the story with Dawn's parents. There are still a lot of questions left up in the air, a lot to learn.
At the start of the book, I still didn't understand why there was a war at all between Limpet and the Master, Benedikte. [[Fun fact, apparently this is a feminine name, the Princess of Denmark's given name is Benedikte. Woops!]] There didn't seem to be good guys or bad guys. There just seemed to be sides. They seemed to be aware of each other, but not fully. They just seemed to hate each other.
Now, I know more. I still can't say it makes sense. Yeah, that is the best way to put it, doesn't make sense. We have a lot of information thrown at us this time around. Sometimes under duress, sometimes we're lied to, or not told the whole truth. Honestly, the whole thing is so overly complicated when it doesn't need to be. But, at this point, we're dedicated to keeping secrets.
Seriously though. The relationship everyone has with bossman Jonah Limpet is horrifying. They all seem to trust him, except Dawn most of the time. Yet he doesn't tell them anything at all. There is no trust in them, in what they're doing. Then, when they corner him and make him tell some secrets, he still tries to weasel out of it. He picks and chooses what he shares to gain what he wants. He breaks into the privacy of everyone around him through their mind, and then gets angry when they're poking into his privacy because he refuses to tell anyone anything.
I just don't get why they stand behind him. If I were them, I would cut my losses.
Especially Dawn. He betrays her trust. He lies to her. He hurts her. Then he kicks her out. All so he can use her to find the underground. Duty before all else.
He is an ass.
The end was... I didn't like it. It was too easy. I don't even know how to categorise it. But, I really hate the boss, and I hate the way the Master is defeated. I hate what happened to the vampires. All because someone told someone to do something hundreds of years ago, and they're still doing it. To what purpose? No idea. Just cause? Bah.
I'm really not invested in this series. At least the writing is getting better with each book.
May 31, 2016
Last book of the series’ current trilogy arc.
Dawn is coping with Briesi dying and becoming a Friend, her mom being a returned movie star vampire and Jonah’s betrayal.
There’s a lot of good information given, but it doesn't slow down the story action line. We finally find out who/what Jonah is and his history. And we get some of the story behind the Friends which is nice, but I wish we’d gotten more.
Spoilers below.
The final battle conclusion is interesting, but a bit too easy. I mean come on. A human vamp hunter, a little person with a bad back, a vampire traitor and a bunch of spirits who can’t kill fighting off about a hundred crazed vampires isn't realistic. But then the nutso boss vamp kind of stabbed himself in the back.
Not too thrilled with how things ended, but I’ll wait to see how plays out in the next book. But I like what happened with the vials.
Quick Thoughts: 1) I don’t see anything wrong with how Dawn handled Rea. If she’s backed down it would have affected her position in the Underground. Her mom was totally wrong, there was nothing immature about it.
2) I like how the lower vamps become human when their maker dies. That’s a lot better than other vampire types where the whole line goes ‘poof’.
3) The title fits perfectly.
Fave Scenes: Briesi’s painting, Jonah’s chamber, Dawn’s car accident and the Friends silver dusting the vamps.
Dawn is coping with Briesi dying and becoming a Friend, her mom being a returned movie star vampire and Jonah’s betrayal.
There’s a lot of good information given, but it doesn't slow down the story action line. We finally find out who/what Jonah is and his history. And we get some of the story behind the Friends which is nice, but I wish we’d gotten more.
Spoilers below.
The final battle conclusion is interesting, but a bit too easy. I mean come on. A human vamp hunter, a little person with a bad back, a vampire traitor and a bunch of spirits who can’t kill fighting off about a hundred crazed vampires isn't realistic. But then the nutso boss vamp kind of stabbed himself in the back.
Not too thrilled with how things ended, but I’ll wait to see how plays out in the next book. But I like what happened with the vials.
Quick Thoughts: 1) I don’t see anything wrong with how Dawn handled Rea. If she’s backed down it would have affected her position in the Underground. Her mom was totally wrong, there was nothing immature about it.
2) I like how the lower vamps become human when their maker dies. That’s a lot better than other vampire types where the whole line goes ‘poof’.
3) The title fits perfectly.
Fave Scenes: Briesi’s painting, Jonah’s chamber, Dawn’s car accident and the Friends silver dusting the vamps.
September 19, 2015
In this 3rd book Dawn's story sort of went off the rails for me, however the "Master" was spectacularly vanquished as were his "minions" and the Underground lair was sealed.
I found myself at a loss as to exactly how much trauma Dawn as a human was capable of withstanding, the final showdown was epic and very much based on the fantastical because it worked out the way it did as in real life all of the "good guys" would have perished.
Reading the next trilogy arc soon and even though this arc is done and the setting moves from Los Angeles to London am truly hoping that Dawn Madison Vampire Hunter is in for another whirlwind set of adventures, said adventures to maybe even top the previous ones.
A Drop of Red is shorter but even so should carry me through the weekend!
I found myself at a loss as to exactly how much trauma Dawn as a human was capable of withstanding, the final showdown was epic and very much based on the fantastical because it worked out the way it did as in real life all of the "good guys" would have perished.
Reading the next trilogy arc soon and even though this arc is done and the setting moves from Los Angeles to London am truly hoping that Dawn Madison Vampire Hunter is in for another whirlwind set of adventures, said adventures to maybe even top the previous ones.
A Drop of Red is shorter but even so should carry me through the weekend!
February 27, 2010
"Break of Dawn" is a great end to Chris Marie Green's first story arc within the Vampire Babylon series. This reader would suggest first reading Night Rising and Midnight Reign in order to get a full understanding of the story line.
Dawn’s life as a stuntwoman is but a memory. Her main focus now is to save her father and help “The Voice” conquer the master of LA’s underground vampire nest. Oh, and another item high on Dawn’s list of priorities is getting revenge on her “undead” mother! (Oh dear! Mama Drama!)
Please visit my blog for the rest of the review!
http://yzhabellasbookshelf.blogspot.com
I'd love for you to stop by!
Dawn’s life as a stuntwoman is but a memory. Her main focus now is to save her father and help “The Voice” conquer the master of LA’s underground vampire nest. Oh, and another item high on Dawn’s list of priorities is getting revenge on her “undead” mother! (Oh dear! Mama Drama!)
Please visit my blog for the rest of the review!
http://yzhabellasbookshelf.blogspot.com
I'd love for you to stop by!
June 12, 2016
I definitely probably most likely would have forgiven my mother. I would have been so happy to see her. She is the person who gave you life. I just don't see how she can be so mad at her mother. I mean sure, I would be mad at first that she didn't do anything about Breisi, but I can't seem to hold grudges against my mother so I think Dawn and I are either very different people or she will eventually come to her senses.
July 30, 2023
Reread #MANY: Although apparently I've never reviewed this before? Unfortunate, honestly...
As you’d expect, I really like this one! I mean, Costin is a DICK throughout. But everybody else gets some super interesting character development (and trauma) and a lot of dramatic fun happens. I love this series!
As you’d expect, I really like this one! I mean, Costin is a DICK throughout. But everybody else gets some super interesting character development (and trauma) and a lot of dramatic fun happens. I love this series!
May 31, 2016
Glad I picked this series up. I definately like the mystery aspects, to Chris writings.
Definately will continue with this series, very soon.
I think she has a LOT of untapped story material. Just visiting settings in the paintings themselves.
If that makes no sense. Read the opening 3 book story arc.
Then it will become clear.
Definately will continue with this series, very soon.
I think she has a LOT of untapped story material. Just visiting settings in the paintings themselves.
If that makes no sense. Read the opening 3 book story arc.
Then it will become clear.
September 17, 2008
The first half of the book was a whole lot of waiting for stuff to happen, but once it did get started, it was pretty good. I think I'm losing interest in the series, though. The next one needs to be better.
October 27, 2008
This boook picks up where the last ing the series left off. Finally, in this book we get answers about Jonah. The only problem I had withthe book was the very choppy POV changes which were distracting.
January 21, 2015
wow through all the twist and turn .mystery and adventure. I found I really couldn't put these books down thank you Chris marie green for turning me on to this series it was a great ride so far. now I'm on to book 4'
March 22, 2011
Good story development for Dawn and her companions. Ms Green is a wonderful storyteller.
September 22, 2009
The best in the series thus far. Finally, many questions were answered. And now, there are many more questions. Will definitely continue to read the series.
Read
September 8, 2009Book #159, for 2009
May 28, 2010
After reading this book I decided not to keep reading the series.
March 1, 2011
This was a really great book! The books in this series go in three book arcs. So this one was the completion of one storyline. The new storyline will begin with book 4 and I can't wait to read it!
December 17, 2015
I like the action that is all!
September 9, 2015
What a hot mess of a book. I don't even know where to start.
Thankfully, this series can be ended on book three so my OCD will let me stop this series...
Thankfully, this series can be ended on book three so my OCD will let me stop this series...
November 14, 2009
Vampire,Vampire Babylon Series
November 16, 2010
This one was good also, there is going to be another one, but I have not seen it yet....
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews