Traitor to the Blood

by Barb and J.C. Hendee

Roc, 355 pp, $23.95

Traitor to the Blood is a novel of the Noble Dead.

Leesil is a half-breed elf-human raised in the Warlands as an assassin by his parents who are hostage to the tyrant Lord Darmouth. When revolted by his work, he flees; his parents will be killed if they cannot escape. Driven by guilt, seeking revenge, he returns to the Warlands in the company of his lover Magiere, a fey wolf, and a scholar and linguist. All of them are hunted as well by those more powerful than they.

The Henddees have written another complex adventure with plot twists and plenty of action. While using the conventions of vampire fiction, they have turned it by virtue of setting and character into a genre of their own. I await the continuing series with bated breath. - Pam Allan