“Night Play” is the ninth book in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series, which has received a great deal of acclaim from fans of supernatural fiction as well as romance fiction. In this book Vane, one of the myriad shape-changers that populate the series, has recently escaped from being staked out for vampires along with his brother Fang. While attempting to get help for his sibling as well as to extract himself from the nasty situations he’s gotten himself into with several, powerful enemies, Vane finds himself as one half of a pair of star crossed lovers with Bride McTierney, who has recently been left by her fiance because she could never be good enough for him. Vane then finds himself in a race against time to both convince Bride that she is good enough for someone (namely Vane), complete his mating with her, all the while keeping himself and his new love safe from vicious fiends who would gladly see them both stretched out dead on the ground.
Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? Before we continue further though, it’s important that you as the reader know some things about your reviewer so that when you read an inflammatory or colored statement you realize there’s a background to it. “Night Play” is being reviewed here as a stand-alone book, and not as a greater review of the series. Additionally, the author cares a great deal more about believability (fantasy books need it just as surely as legal dramas) and good writing than he does about wish-fulfillment fiction. That being said, proceed at your own peril.
Now, the premise of “Night Play” isn’t a bad one, per se. You have a handsome main character with a checkered past and powerful enemies who finds himself smitten by a woman who won’t believe she’s desirable. Throw in the fact that our main male lead is a werewolf (there may be more politically correct terminology, but let’s not quibble) and that his enemies are the same, if not similar creatures, and you could maybe make a good story out of that. Unfortunately, Kenyon did not make a good story out of this premise. In fact, I’d venture to say that “Night Play” may be one of the worst pieces of fiction I have ever run across in my life as a reader. Now, before you start calling hater, let me point out where this view comes from.
First of all, “Night Play” fails to disguise the fact that it’s a self-insert fantasy. Yes, you could argue that ALL romance fiction is meant to be self-insert fiction geared towards the female audience, but it should be more cleverly disguised. Bride is described as being totally average in all respects, from being slightly overweight to being middle aged to the average color of her hair and style of her clothes. Bride is literally a template that every “average” female reader can project herself onto. However, Bride is so average that she sticks out like a sore thumb, leading us to problem number two; characterization and deus ex machina.
Characterization is important in any piece of fiction. It means that a character should have goals and motivations, as well as flaws and logical strengths. Good characterization is ridden over by a horse in soccer cleats in favor of making the fantasy as out-there as possible. It’s not that Vane’s a werewolf, that’s par for the course. It’s not that he’s had a horrid, violent upbringing or that he has magical abilities, that’s fairly average too all things considered. No, it’s that Vane is a character standing in for Prince Charming; he has no flaws. He’s always kind, always clean and nice, he has no scars and never does his temper get away from him. He also happens to be a millionaire (a plot that’s never explained, ever, and it only shows up in one scene), a skilled warrior, and able to travel through time. Meanwhile, Bride runs a small shop in a big city, likes dogs and watches soap operas while wishing she could be more attractive (though you never see her try to change her fashion style or get in shape, because you see readers, it’s perfectly acceptable for her to be blase and dull because that’s just perfect for a happy ending).
This is where the issue of deus ex machina comes in. Vane doesn’t fall in love with Bride because she has a stellar personality, because she has a unique skill or interest, or because the two of them can hold a conversation. No, he loves her because fate magically decrees that if Vane doesn’t mate with her that he will then become a eunuch. There is no reason whatsoever that these two should ever get together, so fate has decreed it. Additionally, because of this mating of fate, Vane now falls deeply and irrevocably in love with Bride. This is what we refer to as a failure of good characterization, because never is this questioned by either party, nor does the tale ever stop and ask isn’t this rape?
Lastly, this book uses smut like spackle to try and fix plot holes and create character development. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a steamy sex scene as much as the next reader. However, giving Vane the ability to wipe her memory so that Bride doesn’t remember him turning into a monstrous half man/half wolf creature and releasing copious amount of semen for minutes on end seems to be a bit much. Additionally, said semen is never mentioned again, though it must look like a dropped two liter on the floor. Perhaps having Vane go through a crisis of self control and trying to express himself while still wanting Bride would make more sense and lead to better development, but Kenyon decides instead to go for the borderline bestiality scene.
Perhaps this seems cruel or unfair. Fans may argue that you can’t take one book in a series out and judge it on its own merits. However, even if that were true, there’s still no excuse for such blatant plot hammering (spolier warning: when Bride is kidnapped she’s taken back in time and held captive where she’s to be raped and killed… what’s wrong with using a dock front warehouse? There’s no reason for them to leap a few hundred years into the past except to drop the audience’s jaw for a cheap effect), bad characterization, and lack of attention to detail. For instance; if you hunted werewolves for a living don’t you think you’d have some scars, a badly broken nose and a bit of emotional scarring? Of course not… in Kenyon’s world you develop six pack abs, perfect hair, and the ability to wear black leather in New Orleans in a season other than winter without oozing a single drop of sweat.
