Review: Midnight’s Master by Donna Grant (Dark Warriors #1)

Midnight’s Master (Dark Warriors #1)
Donna Grant
Published: May 22, 2012 (St. Martin’s Paperbacks)
Purchase: Book Depository or Amazon
Review source: purchased

Reviewed by: Jill

Rating (out of 5): 4.5 stars

Gwynn is on a mission to find her missing father. Instead, she stumbles upon a war that has lasted for centuries. Logan, and four of his fellow warriors, has been sent 400 years into the future (into the present time) to see if he can find one of his comrades that was accidentally brought forward in time. Due to an ancient curse, the best warriors of each Scottish family were chosen to contain one of the primal gods. This gives the warrior supernatural powers, strength, and immortality, so that they can fight evil witches. Sort of like a Celtic version of Lords of the Underworld.

The warriors’ task is to protect all Druids, or magical Celtic people, and to defeat all users of black magic. Gwynn is one of those Druids, who has had her magic lying dormant. Logan helps her awaken her powers, and helps search for her missing father.

This was my first Donna Grant book and it was an instant favorite. This is a sequel series to her Dark Sword books. I haven’t read that series yet, but I didn’t feel lost or confused when reading Midnight’s Master. There’s another set of characters that have already been “paired up” within this book and although you can tell that there are more stories behind them, I didn’t feel lost having not read the other series first.

Gwynn is a very relatable, if bland, character. She’s the quintessential nerdy girl, who stumbles upon something big and magical with a hot, interested dude attached to it. She grows a lot during the course of the book though, and learns that she is braver than she knows. Even with these seemingly cliché facts, the world is interesting and feels new. The characters easily win you favor and you start rooting for them early.

The romance in this book wasn’t just sweet and happy, but also very realistic. Instead of the usual, ‘girl sees guy and guy sees girl and they instantly fall in love’, Gwynn and Logan are hesitantly attracted to one another. Even when they start exploring their feelings for one another, they have doubts and fears, which they have to work through.

I really liked the Celtic-based mythos of this world. The characters were very real and relatable, and struggled with real issues like doubt and hesitation that always comes before a new relationship. The action was really spectacular, and the use of their elemental powers was really interesting. I will be immediately going back to the Dark Sword series, and then finishing up the Dark Warrior series, because I’m in love. High recommendation!

Sexual content: Sex