The Dangerous Ones

💬:

📖Genres: historical fiction, vampires, romance, historical

📚Page Count: 368

🎧Audiobook Length: 11:06

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 2/5

TW - <spoiler>Confinement, Child death, Racism, War, Blood, Murder, Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, Body horror, Gore, and Slavery</spoiler>

The Dangerous Ones takes place during the civil war, where vampires are working with the confederates to continue enslaving Black folks. Jerusalem is a Saint and Satins have demi god strength and power and they use it to fight vampires. She is a former slave who fought against her slave master and killed him resulting in what she believes to be her whole family being slaughtered. Jerusalem gets word that her brother might be alive so now she's searching for the vampires from her past because they might have him. Alexi is a 300 year only vampire working with Jerusalem, a group of Saints, and the union to fight against the confederates. This definitely reminded me of Ring Shout but I don't think "The Dangerous Ones" reaches it's full potential.

There were a few problems with this story; including confusing time jumps and flashbacks, to misplaced romantic banter, little to no world building and character development, and one dimensional characters. The time jumps were continuously confusing, I don't think they were very helpful in terms of story telling, they actually seemed to detract from the main story. I know that love is supposed to be part of the plot but it really felt like it didn't fit right in the story. It felt like I was reading two different stories, one where the main characters were in an enemy to lovers romance and one where there's action and the civil war with death and vampires. The two genres didn't really mesh well.

Overall, the audiobook narration was okay but, the pacing felt off, the flashbacks were more confusing than anything, the characters were one dimensional, there was little to no character building, the romance didn't really work in this story, little to no world building, and the author used current and modern language instead of historical language from the times (seeing as this is a historical novel). I'm giving this 2 stars out of 5.

⭐️⭐️ - 2/5 Stars

Thank you [NetGalley.com], Lauren Blackwood (the author), and Macmillan Audio (the publisher) for the arc audiobook (advanced reader's copy.)

I just finished The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood and here are my thoughts.

It's 1863. The confederates have declared a civil war and made the unique decision to partner with the Vampires who also benefit from slavery. The Union army is lucky to have the Saints on their side. A group of people with demigod style abilities. Jerusalem fights for the Union army... she is a saint and one of the best.. Fearless and headstrong...

Jerusalem understands what it is like to be enslaved. She recently escaped the vampire who held her captive after her family was murdered. She has rage in her heart and killing vampires is all she wants to do. Revenge and fighting for colored peoples rights are what keep her going.

The last thing she expected was having to work with an ancient vampire but Alexei has proven himself time and time again that he is on her side. Together they set out to win the war that is raging and Jerusalem's ultimate goal of killing the vampire that killed everyone she loved.

The cover is so pretty. It got a whole star just for that. I know, I am easily pleased. This YA historical fantasy read is a very interesting concept. The Saints are vampire killers, the first being van helsing. Was a clever way of setting the story up in my opinion. Having a saint and a vampire working together was great too. You can feel the tension between the two of them, especially knowing they could take each other out at any point.

I like the idea that they are fighting in a real historical war and throwing in the paranormal on top was genius. The character development was well done but I had a bit of an issue with the modern terms being thrown in. Words not used back then. I normally can accept in the fiction world anything goes but when you make the decision to dip your toe into the historical fiction world, I expect a certain level of consistency. I understand why it was done but I found it a tad aggravating. Plus side, that was my only grip.

The writing was great, the plot sublime and I was entertained from start to finish.

4.25 stars.

Really well done and I want to thank @wednesdaybooks for my gifted finished copy! Out now!

#thedangerousones #laurenblackwood #ya #historicalfantasy #vampires #fantasybook #fantasyreader #wednesdaybooks #wednesdayinfluencer #bookishreview #readerlife #readingtuesday #booksbooksbooks #booksarelife

I loved the vast cast of supernatural characters! It wasn't explained and it was just there. I'm sure some that will bother some people, but I was just along for the ride.
Alexei and Jerusalem grew on me. At first I wasn't sure if I liked them, as individuals or as couples, but by the end, I enjoyed their complexity and flaws. Sometimes the balance between romance and action was off, but each part was interesting to me.
I love alternate history and mostly I think this was well done. I think it would have enhanced the story if the world was broadened a little and we saw more plantations and more of the South. But that could have also introduced a lot of characters that didn't go anywhere. So I can't really fault the author for keeping a right focus on Jerusalem and Alexei's mission.
Overall I enjoyed it, but it might not be for everyone. If you like stories that drop you in a world and just go, then you will like this one. If you liked Dread Nation by Justina Ireland, you will enjoy this one because the alternate history and strong woman vibes are similar in this one.