Children of the Night: A Diana Tregarde Investigation (ISBN 0765313189)

Terrific beginning for the Diana Tregarde series:
Apparently Marc Ruby doesn't know the order . . . this is the FIRST book in the series, followed by "Burning Water" then "Jinx High." This book introduces us to the character of Diana Tregarde, a Guardian because of her strong psi(onic)(and psychic) talents. This books takes place sometime about a decade prior to the two other books in her series - in the early 70s, right after Watergate. Diana is helping out a friend by watching her occult shop when trouble walks in the door . . . *heh, couldn't help myself* A tall, Saturnine man with "predator" written all over him comes into the shop and starts to zoom in on some young girls in the shop, so Diana runs him off. Soon after, a very handsome young man comes in and is looking for this other fellow, so she points him off after him. Finally, after the shop is closed, a young Gypsy boy comes from the back of the shop - trying to escape from the first man. Don't want to give too much away, but as is made evident in the information about the book, the second man into her shop is Andre, a vampire spawned about the time of the French Revolution. I think this is my favorite of the three books, because it is the only one in which we actually hear ANYTHING about Andre, except when Diana talks to him on the phone in other books. At any rate, eventually Diana has to go up against 4 psi-vampires (they drain the energy from people and can project negative emotions into their prey in order to gain more energy from them) and a gaki, which is a sort of Chinese soul-sucker. Very spooky. Well written, fast-moving and exciting, I LOVE this book! For anyone who likes vampire books, the earlier Anita Blake novels or Mercedes Lackey.

fast fun read:
I really enjoyed this Lackey book and have purchased others in the series. I love all of Mercedes Lackey's offerings and look forward to anything new!

The book that started it all for me:
I read this book for the first time about a decade ago. I keep going back to it, and it keeps satisfying my hunger for a tough yet likable heroine, a thrilling story, truly dark villians, and an enthralling love interest. I have read books in a similar style by Laurell K. Hamilton, Tanya Huff, Charlaine Harris, et cetera et cetera, but all have disappointed me in the end. Children of the Night never does (...although Jinx High ain't so grand). Mercedes Lackey and her creation, Diane Tregarde, were the originals and they deserves our respect.

Super Reader:
A little bit ahead of its time, perhaps? Clearly all the paranormal romance type stuff descends from books like this. All, perhaps not the complete formula or enough pron for the girls today. Diana Tregarde is a lot more X-Men than Death Wish or Dirty Harry screwed up like Anita Blake though. She does know karate, however, and likes to train in spandex, which is pretty funny. Anyway, Diana Tregarde isn't your run of the mill psionic magic user, she is the superhero version, a Guardian. She saves people from Very Bad Things. Often in her lounge room, it seems. In this book, we have Nightflyer. Everyone knows this is never good. Here, Nightflyers by George R. R. Martin. Not good. Nightflight to Venus... errr.. ok, Boney M trauma aside, there is a monster for her to deal with. She also runs into a real life vampire, which is a bit of a surprise. Especially as she fancies him, and he is old enough to have been rescued by the Scarlet Pimpernel. Still has ex-boyfriend problems, too. You have to love a woman who, when the chips are down, and the fight is on, nunchuks flying, thinks: "could try a psi bolt instead--" while going all kara-te.

Children of the Night...A Bright Star In The Heavens Of Dark Fantasy:
Throw in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her friend Willow into the same bag and you might get someone like Diana Tregarde. Tregarde's character in Children of the Night is saucy, and easily mixes a dry sense of humor with work as a Guardian and practicing witch. I like her style. Nice to see that the writer Mercedes Lackey included Gay characters in her book (Lenny and Keith). The vampire Andre LeBrel added a very "Angel" kind of twist to the book (only this angel was French, not Irish), in his human years. I absolutely loved this book.