Review: Stolen Night by Rebecca Maizel

Stolen Night by Rebecca Maizel (UK edition)

Publisher: Macmillan

Release Date: July 5th 2012

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy/Paranormal/Romance

Source: Bought

Format: Paperback

 Goodreads Summary:

 Lenah Beaudonte should be dead. But having sacrificed herself to save another, she finds herself awakening with strange powers that are neither vampire nor human—and a new enemy on her trail. In her vampire life, Lenah had thought that being human was all she ever wanted; but the human heart suffers pain, heartbreak and loss.

With her new powers growing and the dark force of the Nex after her soul, Lenah faces a choice: between the mortal love of gorgeous Justin, whose passion fed her human soul, and taking a different path to become the mistress of her own destiny, wherever that may lead...

My Review: 

I honestly have been meaning to write this review for quite some time now. I am such a diehard fan of this series that I ordered the UK version of this book when I learned that it would come out in the US in January 2013 and that it would be out in the UK by July 2012. I could not wait that long. Did I make the right decision in getting this book early and not waiting for it to come out in 2013? - YES. This book was such a fabulous sequel. I used to think that Infinite Days, the 1st installment in this series, was my all time fave young adult book. I think that I may have to correct that and to declare Stolen Night as my favorite book at the moment because the writing in this book is just so top notch, that I can't even. I was so blown away by the depth in this book and not because I didn't expect it, but because Infinite Days had such a profoundness to it, that I wasn't sure if that rhythm could continue in this sequel. I was wrong. Stolen Night surpasses its predecessor in every single way. And, it has a fabulous addition of flashbacks to it, that adds a certain mystique to the novel that I can't get enough of.

And now to the characterization in Stolen Night, the sequel to Infinite Days. Is it safe to say that I am ruined by the epicness and complexity to the characters in Stolen Night? Yes. I am. They own my heart. Rhode Lewin, especially. Will there ever be a male lead that grabs me as much as him in the book world? - I don't think so. He is my all time favorite book guy in Young Adult lit right now because he just has this soul to him. My God, does this character have heart. Rhode Lewin is straight up poetry. He is a walking poem. The way this character feels about everything just gets to you. He has this huge sense of honour and justice and the love that he has is just so pure and real and transcendent. There is no doubt that his love for Lenah, the female lead in this story, is real and unselfish and profound. In my eyes, Rhode is like a mix of Hamlet's incredibly honest and poetic soul with a little of Jack Dawson's (titanic) innocence and realness thrown in, mixed with something else all together that is undefinable because he's just that awesome. Can you feel the love that I have for him? - He is a flawless character.

Lenah Beaudonte, the former vampire queen, turned human, is another kick-ass character that I adore because she is an amazing heroine. Lenah is incredibly strong, she doesn't second guess herself. She always makes the tough decisions and she doesn't play around or waste time with what she has to do, because she knows that time is valuable and that a human life is precious since she was once a ruthless vampire queen, who later became mortal again. My favorite thing about Lenah is that Lenah has this unique quality to her that consists in being highly knowledgeable on all things human nature. Her insights are amazing and that is because she once was an immortal, had incredible power, and knew what it was to have no humanity (to be a vampire) - and to be cold, and what it could to to a person's character. She goes through tremendous growth in Stolen Night as she learns that being human is not as easy as she thought it would be. With humanity comes emotions and emotions run a person and is what makes people human and therefore, imperfect and prone to mistakes. 

The secondary characters in this novel are also pretty amazing. We have Claudia and Tracy who go from being resident mean girls, to becoming kinder, wiser and more real. I was so glad that they didn't remain mean and cliché as most characters like that, tend to turn out. And Stolen Night would have not been as amazing as it is without Vicken, Lenah's BGF (best guy friend) - Gosh, was he epic. So funny, so charming, sarcastic, and a trouble maker. He totally had this James Dean air to him, like a Scottish James Dean, who has this tremendous sense of loyalty and heart and realness, because Vicken always kept it real in Stolen Night and his dialogue just made my life complete. I loved him so much.

Another amazing feature in Stolen Night is the mythology used in it and the vampire lore. Rebecca has created vampires that are beautiful on the outside, but very cold hearted and ruthless on the inside, because when people become vamps in these books, their humanity is completely turned off, making them tremendously evil and demented. It's almost as if, because they have no emotion, they become insane by having no humanity or ability to love or feel anything, so their reaction is to destroy everything in their path. The new vampire queen and head villain in this book, was EVIL as they came. She was scary and unstoppable. There is also this new Celtic mythology mentioned in the book in the form of the Aeris which is four ladies who control different elements of the earth. They were incredibly interesting and something I had not encountered before. Loved reading about them.

Overall, Stolen Night was a perfect book for me. Yes, it is drenched in the paranormal, the supernatural, but at it's core, Stolen Night is a book that evaluates humanity and what it means to be human. This book is all about whether a person can redeem themselves, if they can conquer their emotions and choose to do the right thing, and how important love and self love is, in every person's life. The vampire lore in this novel was just a really great way to heighten the danger in this book and to highlight to the reader, how important it is for a person to acknowledge the fragility of their emotions and feelings. Oh, and yes, there was yet another EPIC cliffhanger in this one, that amazingly topped off the cliffhanger in Infinite Days, which I didn't think was possible. Rebecca, you evil genius, you. You did it again. Need book three in my life, like the air I breathe. No joke. I cannot wait to know what happens next! 

My Rating: 5/5