It’s been nine months since the catastrophe in Tucson sent Mia fleeing from her home. But she’s not running away from the darkness―she’s running toward it, obsessively pursuing the man who gave her mother a thirst for blood and destroyed their lives.
But when Mia finds the monsters she’s been hunting and infiltrates a secret network of fugitives, she discovers she might have been their prey all along.
To escape their clutches, she’ll have to reckon with her mother’s harrowing past and confront a painful truth: that they might be more alike than she ever imagined.
Vampires are for the emos. I mean, right?
The emos. The goths. The weirdos. The freaks. We just love vampire shit. Always.
I didn’t manage to write a full review for Liz Kerin’s NIGHT EDGE when it was released, but I really dug the book a lot. It had this incredible blend of unique vampire lore, queer coming-of-age story, and it felt almost like a pandemic novel in a way. And it was kind of one emotional gut punch after another with that book. Just a lot about grief & heartbreak & complex/messy family dynamics.
FIRST LIGHT is the second book in the duology and it picks up a little while after the events of NIGHT’S EDGE (I want to say it’s around a year later, but I’m not 100% sure). Mia is dealing with an enormous amount of grief & guilt over her mother’s death, but she is now more determined than ever to track down Devon, the man responsible for turning her Mom into a Sara (a vampire).
There are two alternating timelines here (like there were in NIGHT’S EDGE), which can take some getting used to. Because the “present day” timeline, things are just very different for Mia. She’s living in New York City, has a new kinda-sorta partner named Cora, and is just continuing to try and find herself (and Devon).
The other timeline is in the immediate aftermath of the events in Tucson. So there’s this really propulsive quality to the story as the two timelines get closer & closer to converging, and we see just how much has changed for Mia.
It’s hard getting too far into the specifics of this story without revealing huge plot details that are much better discovered while reading! But needless to say that this is a MUCH different book than the first!
There’s nothing glamorous about the vampires in this world…it’s a struggle just staving off the hunger, let alone thriving. The “free” Saras are…really not free. Otherwise, options include living at a Sara center, which operate like retirement homes in a weird way, only with the most dangerous Saras occupying the higher floors. Fucking yikes.
There’s almost a mystery element to this one, which I really enjoyed. Mia is incredibly dogged in her pursuit of Devon, following clues and taking huge risks, all in her quest for…revenge? Justice? It’s all so murky in a way, but all of it is driven by Mia’s profound sense of loss.
I’ve fallen so far behind on reviews lately which makes getting them written coherently a huge struggle for me, but I did want to get a few thoughts down about this one!
And OH! I listened to a lot of this one on audiobook & it’s narrated by Liz Kerin herself! She gives an incredible performance & feels like a natural audiobook narrator. I think there’s something so perfect about an author narrating their own audiobook because who could know the material better? No one, that’s who.
Big thanks to Nightfire for sending this one my way! I really loved this duology & I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next from Liz Kerin!
Grimdark Dad 