Review: Dark Protector by Alexis Morgan
Reviewed by Zelda Gillian
Rating: 
(2 Books)
“A Shallow Read”
So, initial thoughts on this one was that it was a lackluster read. It’s the first book in the “Paladins of Darkness” series by Alexis Morgan, in which it appears there are currently five additional titles. I understand that first books can often be less spectacular than the consecutive books in a series as the author gets his/her story together, but after this read, I’m not sure how this book would encourage a reader to pick up the second book.
I admit I picked up this book because I was looking for a little more romance. The “urban fantasy romance novel” pendulum swings many ways — mystery, sci fi, supernatural, horror, romance, etc. I like a good mix of supernatural romance in my books and was feel a bit unsatisfied on the romance end. I should remember those old adages like “be careful what you wish for”…
Dark Protector is a novel about Devlin Bane and his “Handler” Dr. Laurell Young. Devlin Bane is a “Paladin,” one of the modern warriors trained/bred to protect the world from invasion from the “Others,” otherworldly, vicious, killing monsters that live inside the Earth. Paladins are a bit supernatural in themselves in that they have the ability to be brought back to life after death in order to continue in their charge of protecting humankind, but, much like a rechargeable battery, their regenerative power only lasts so long — before they become one of the Others themselves. Paladins regeneration is guarded by doctors (the Handlers) to ensure that they have retained their humanity in their brush with death. Laurell Young is Devlin’s Handler and finds herself unable to avoid being attracted to Devlin’s alluring physique.
This novel starts out with Laurell bringing Devlin back to life after another bout fighting the Others. They quickly decide they can’t deny the attraction between them and, despite the social consequences of a Handler dating a Paladin, jump right into a physical relationship.
What I found woefully missing from this novel was character development. The reader gets very little one-on-one time with each of the individual characters and always feels a bit disconnected from them — never really understanding their motivation for doing the things they do, or being given enough information about them to truly care about their decisions or relationships. Nefarious characters are introduced as enemies without any explanation as to why they are evil and trying to do harm to the Paladins. The Paladins themselves are essentially flat characters without explanation of how or why they are specially chosen for their roles. Even the main characters, Devlin and Laurell, are so flat that the reader only ever really sees their lust for each other. We don’t know much about their backgrounds or emotional responses to truly believe that their relationship is more than sex and sneaking around. There are allusions to more, but the instances all seem contrived since we have no background with which to substantiate them.
In the end, the reader is left with a story that has a plot that runs much like a bad Sci-Fi made-for-television movie. This, combined with the fact that the lust and romance between Laurell and Devlin is not even spectacular or extraordinary enough to sugar-coat the lack of character development, gives me little motivation to read more about them.
I will read the second book in this series, Dark Defender, to see if the style improves at all, but if there is no improvement, I’m afraid this series will have to go into my Do Not Read (“DNR”) category.
To read more about the book Dark Protector or other Alexis Morgan books, please visit Ms. Morgan’s Web site at www.alexismorgan.com.
Zelda Gillian is a wife, a mother and a lover, likes strong espresso, stiff corsets and never strays far from her Kindle.
