Night World
| Secret Vampire Daughters of Darkness Spellbinder Dark Angel The Chosen Soulmate Huntress Black Dawn Witchlight Strange Fate | |
| Author | L. J. Smith |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror, Fantasy, Romance, Young-adult fiction |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Published | 1996–1998, 2008–present |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
Night World is a series of ten young-adult fantasy novels by American author L. J. Smith. The series presents a story in which vampires, witches, werewolves and shape-shifters live among humans without their knowledge. These supernatural races make up a secret society known as the Night World, which enforces two fundamental laws to prevent discovery: 1) Never allow humans to gain knowledge of the Night World's existence and, 2) Never fall in love with one of them.
Each volume of the series follows a different protagonist (always a teenage girl) who must face various challenges involving love, the "soulmate principle" and the Night World's strict code. In the first six novels, the plot focuses on the protagonist discovering her soulmate and the danger which ensues. In the seventh book of the series, the concept of an impending millennial apocalypse is introduced. Although the theme of the "soulmate principle" continues to be present, the plot now focuses on the search for four "Wild Powers" who, according to an ancient prophecy, will either save the world or aid in its destruction. The series has been on the New York Times Bestseller List for children's books for 22 weeks as of May 19, 2009.
The concluding book in the series, Strange Fate, has been delayed for a decade and is currently scheduled for release in June 2012.
Publishing history
The first nine books from the Night World series were originally published in 1996–1998 by Simon & Schuster. The release of the tenth and last book, Strange Fate, was put on hold when L. J. Smith took a hiatus from writing sometime in 1999. As from 2008, the nine Night World books were reprinted in three omnibus volumes while Strange Fate is tentatively slated for release in the U.S. and Canada sometime in 2011. In the UK it is scheduled for release on the 1st of September.
For the recent reprint, some edits in attempts at modernisation have taken place such as the replacement of the word "walkman" with "iPod" in Daughters of Darkness.[1] However this seems to have led to some inconsistency, with references to iPods on one page of the novel followed by references to the previously used "walkman" on the next page [1].
Book Summaries
Secret Vampire
Poppy North had the normal life of a teenage girl, until she was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer around her pancreas. Her best friend and Soulmate, James, is willing to do anything to save Poppy's life, even if it means turning her into an illegal vampire and breaking all of the laws of the Night World. Putting both his and Poppy's lives on the line, they find out later that Poppy and her twin brother Phillip are really lost witches. Poppy and James join Circle Daybreak.
Daughters of Darkness
Vampire sisters Rowan, Kestrel and Jade Redfern escape from their homeland and come to live with their Aunt Opal in Burdock Farm. But then things take a turn for the worst, the girls find their aunt dead and are determined to find out who staked her. Meanwhile, the girls' brother, Ash, both human hater and ruthless killer is here to bring his sisters back, until he finds his soulmate, Mary-Lynnette Carter, who is in fact a human.
Spellbinder
Thea and Blaise Harman are like sisters. There's only one slight difference: Thea believes in white magic and Blaise believes in black magic. Blaise uses her charm and magic to make boys do anything for her, including cut themselves with razors and burn down schools. When Eric Ross is bitten by a snake and Thea heals him,they both immediately know that they are Soulmates. Blaise is infuriated when Eric isn't in love with her, and plots to steal him away from Thea. In a desperate need to protect Eric from Blaise, Thea accidentally releases an evil spirit. After that, all hell breaks lose.
Dark Angel
After a near death experince in a forest, Gillian Lennox is brought to back to life by someone who calls themself Angel. He makes her the most desired girl in the school and gives her the boyfriend she has always dreamed of having. Everything is going great until Angel starts making strange requests and Gillian realizes she is hurting people by doing what he says.
The Chosen
To avenge the death of her mother, best friend, and aunt, Rashel Jordan becomes a vampire hunter. But when she meets her soul mate Quinn, she finds out that he is from the world she has vowed to destroy.
Soulmate
Hannah receives notes written in her own hand telling her that she is in incredible danger and will die before her 17th birthday. However, her new relationship with the Lord of the Night World presents a possible alternative.
Huntress
Jez Redfern thought she was a vampire but soon finds out she's wrong, she is in fact half human. She runs away from her gang and lives with her human relatives, only to go back when Circle Daybreak asks Jez to go on a dangerous mission: to fight her worst enemy and soulmate Morgead Blackthorn for the first Wild Power. But that all goes wrong when they are all captured by Lilly Redfern, Hunter Redfern's daughter.
Black Dawn
Maggie stumbles upon an old Night World kingdom when trying to rescue her brother from a witch, where she meets a vampire prince, Delos, who is her soulmate, but is fighting the feelings the whole time, saying he can't love and hates humans. After Hunter Redfern himself appears to take over the kingdom with Delos' help, he decided the only way to save Maggie is to turn her into a vampire against her will.
Witchlight
Keller and her team race to a mall to save the new Wild Power, Iliana Harman. The new Wild Power is destined to marry a shapeshifter so that the witches can do a blood-tie with the shapeshifters so they will side with the witches. But when Keller realizes the wild power's betrothed, Galen Drache, is in fact her soulmate, their love could destroy the world. Keller is ashapesifting panther.
Strange Fate
Book ten follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Sarah Strange, who has mysterious dreams of Night World inhabitants. This is an epic volume, which stars all the most beloved Night Worlders from the other books. It is also said on the website of the author, that seven people will go to the battle, but only two shall come back.
The Soulmate Principle
Often mentioned in the series, the soulmate principal is the theory that if two people are connected by a silver cord (the silver cord can only be seen by the soulmates), they are soulmates. The silver cord can also be used to sense what his/her soulmate is feeling. In "Black Dawn," Maggie senses Delos's feeling by focusing on their silver cord. The strength of the soulmate connection differs, in "Secret Vampire," Poppy and James have been friends for years, but only realize they are soulmates when James drinks Poppy's blood. In "Daughters of Darkness," Mary-Lynette felt an electric jolt when she first shook Ash's hand and so did Ash. Soulmates also have the ability to completely enter his/her soulmate's mind. When this occurs, their minds are focibly opened to each other and they can explore their memories and thoughts and feeling freely, but like shown in "Huntress," you can block your memories, but any lapse in concentration or an excessive time in one anothers mind will remove the blockages one tries to make. This occurs (usually by accident) in every story when the soulmates find each other and either kiss or one of them drink the other's blood.
Overview of species
Vampires
Smith's vampires are fairly different from the traditional concept of vampires. They also differ from vampires in the universe she created in The Vampire Diaries. In Night World, there are two types of vampires: the lamia (pronounced lay-me-uh) and the "made vampires".
In the Night World books, "Lamia is the term in this series for those who are born as vampires."[2] They age, eat and grow as humans do, but also have the ability to stop the aging process at any point they please; however, once a lamia that has stopped aging decides to begin aging again, the aging process will be accelerated so that their physical appearance will match their true age in a short amount of time. Also, the Lamia are able to have children, unlike the "made vampires"
Made vampires are humans that have been made into vampires by exchanging blood with lamia or with another made vampire. Since older persons cannot survive the physical transition, all made vampires look about age nineteen or younger. Also, unlike lamia vampires, made vampires do not age, eat and cannot reproduce.If a made vampire does not receive enough blood from the vampire and dies, they will awaken as aghoul, where there only aim in life is to kill and eat.
Both lamia and made vampires have superhuman strength, speed, and agility and can have telepathic powers. Unlike vampires in other fiction, they are not harmed by sunlight and cannot transform into bats (with the exception of the original vampire, Maya). Like in most vampire lore, they need human blood to survive. Smith's explanation is that vampire cells are unable to carry oxygen and therefore, vampires must acquire human blood cells for them to breathe (thus making blood consumption more to do with respiration than nutrition.) They are immortal but can be killed and are vulnerable to wood and fire.
The first vampire in existence, Maya, was originally a witch. In her quest for power and immortality, she became the first vampire by the use of powerful magic involving drinking the blood of infants. Maya bore a son, Red Fern, who became the ancestor of all lamia vampires. The first made vampire was a boy from Maya's tribe named Thierry, who was transformed against his will and stars in Soulmate. All made and lamia vampires however descend from Maya. As Maya is the first vampire in existence, she has many abilities her descendants do not (since their vampire blood is diluted), such as shapeshifting. She also retains her ability to perform magic. Despite the fact that the first vampire was a woman, vampires (particularly the lamia) are a very patriarchal society. There are also vampires from the Redfern family who have a greater concentration of witch blood, from a "kinship ceremony" enacted by Hunter Redfern and Maeve Harman.
The symbol for lamia vampires is a black iris, lamia characters such as Ash Redfern are known to carry the image of a black iris which is the symbol for the Black Iris Club, a lamia club which is open to all denizens of the Night World. The symbol for made vampires is the black rose, as stated in Daughters of Darkness, the second story of the Night World series, as well as Soulmate, the sixth story.
Vampires ruled in the 3rd Age.
Witches
Witches as depicted in the Night World series are a matriarchal society bearing a strong resemblance to the neopagan religion of Wicca and to the Goddess movement. They trace their descent to an ancient tribe ruled by Hecate Witch-Queen, and later by her daughter Hellewise Hearth-Woman. All witches are considered to be 'daughters of Hellewise', although the Harman family are direct genetic descendants traced through the female line. Hellewise's sister, Maya, became the first vampire; thus all vampires are descended through Maya from Hecate Witch-Queen[3].
Witch society is composed of 'Circles' to whom all witches belong. Those who take to heart Hellewise's bidding to 'harm none' (which is in fact the Wiccan Rede) belong to Circle Twilight, while Circle Midnight is made up of witches who practice darker magic. The Inner Circle is a coven of the nine most magically talented witches, who are 'the witch geniuses, the prodigies and the sages, the far-seers, the teachers, the policy-makers'[4]. The most important of these are the triad of the Maiden, Mother and Crone (see Triple Goddess), positions which during the events of the books are held by Aradia, Mother Cybele and Grandma Harman respectively. All witches are answerable to the Inner Circle before the Night World council, although an association probably exists between them, but this isn't specified.
A third renegade Circle also exists, known as Circle Daybreak,first mentioned in Spellbinder, which promotes the teaching of magic to humans and peace between the races. This circle used to exist alongside the other two but was banned due to the persecution of witches during the Burning Times. Circle Daybreak is kept secret from the rest of the Night World, although a few suspect its renewed existence. During the events leading up to the apocalypse, the witches opt to leave the Night World and join Circle Daybreak, as they want to help save the world, whereas the Night World council and most of the vampires want to take over and enslave the other races[5].
Witches practice magic with the aid of herbs, gemstones, effigies and incantations, all of which may be used in a spell; they worship the Goddess in her many manifestations, celebrate Samhain, and probably other festivals on the Wheel of the Year[6]. However their magic is innate and does not always require external aids, although these can accentuate their power[5]. Human psychics in the series are "lost witches" who are unaware of their true descent[7].
Identifying symbols for Night World witches are the black dahlia and the crescent moon with three stars[6]. The symbol for "lost witches" is a black violet. Iron is mentioned in Daughters of Darkness as their poison.
Witches ruled in the 2nd Age.
Werewolves
Because no main characters in any of the novels have been werewolves (Lupe Acevedo in Soulmate was only half-werewolf and she was an minor character; and there was barely anything known about Jeremy Lovett from Daughters of Darkness), less is known about this species than others. In Night World, werewolves (sometimes called 'wolves or just wolves) can transform from human to wolf (and vice versa) at will. In Daughters of Darkness, werewolves are described as wolves that take human form, rather than the reverse. This means that they have animal instincts and urges, even in human form. This is all contrary to modern werewolf lore where a werewolf is basically a normal person but undergoes an involuntary transformation. Though it is not stated explicitly, it appears that, like vampires, werewolves can be born as such and also be made.
Unlike vampires, werewolves must kill every time they feed because they need to consume organs. Thus, Night World law states that werewolves can only kill and eat animals. In the Night World, werewolves are treated as second-class citizens and are the victims of prejudice and racism. As in modern werewolf lore, Night World werewolves are harmed by silver.A werewolf is a type of shapeshifter
The symbol for werewolves is a black foxglove.
Shapeshifters
Shapeshifters make their appearance very late in the series. No main character is a shapeshifter until the ninth book, Witchlight. Before that, only allusions to shapeshifters are made, usually in the context of a Night Person explaining the Night World to a human and listing the Night World species. In Witchlight, the protagonist, Keller, is a shapeshifter. She has the ability to change into the form of a panther at will.
Some history about shapeshifters is given in the novel: Shapeshifters had control of the world long before witches and vampires. Their leaders were known as "Dragons", beings that could change into the form of any animal as long as they have had physical contact to that animal. (Normally shapeshifters can only change into one pre-determined animal form). The witches rose to power and put the dragons to sleep, except for the youngest one - The dragon princess who was only 4 at the time, the witches left her awake and raised her carefully watching over her. All of the ruling house of shapeshifters are descendant from her. The descendants of the ruling house have the ability to choose what animal they will become, but this choice is permanent.
In the early books of the series, werewolves and shapeshifters are described as separate groups or races of the Night World. For example, in Daughters of Darkness, Night World is described as comprising vampires, "witches and werewolves and shapeshifters, too"[8]. Though never explicitly stated, the later books tend to treat werewolves as a subset of shapeshifters. In Witchlight, when Keller tells the history of shapeshifters, she lists felines, bears, eagles, and wolves as groups or clans within the shapeshifter race[9]. The description of both werewolves and shapeshifters as second-class citizens also supports the notion that werewolves are a subset, or one family, of shapeshifters. However, in Witchlight there is no real mention of Keller feeding or abiding by the rules for werewolves described in Daughters of Darkness.
Since werewolves are a type of shapeshifter, all 'shifters are hurt by silver
The symbol for shapeshifters is a black lily, type differs,e.g. tigers use tiger lilies.
External links
- L.J. Smith's Official Website.
- Night World Information Collective This site contains information about the books, characters, and concepts of the Night World series.
- Review of all Night World published books
- Fanlisting for the Night World series.
Notes
References
- An interview with L.J. Smith. Bookalicious.
- Smith, L.J. Trying to catch up. Ye Olde Blog by L.J.
- Smith, L.J. Latest news. L.J. Smith's Amazon Blog.
- Smith, L.J. (1996). Daughters of Darkness. New York: Archway. ISBN 0-671-55136-5.
- Smith, L.J. (1996). Enchantress. Hodder Children's Books. ISBN 0-340-69001-1.
- Smith, L.J. (1996). The Chosen. Hodder Children's Books. ISBN 0-340-69003-8.
- Smith, L.J. (1997). Black Dawn. Hodder Children's Books. ISBN 0-340-70954-5.
- Smith, L.J. (1998). Witchlight. New York: Archway. ISBN 0-671-01477-3.