Ashes of Midnight

Spoiler Disclaimer

Synopsis

After losing everyone he cared about when his Berlin Darkhaven was brutally destroyed, Andreas Reichen vowed revenge against Wilhelm Roth, the man responsible for the mayhem. Andreas possesses a fearsome pyrokinetic ability that he's had trouble controlling in the past, but he now allows it free rein as he carries out his plan for vengeance. His search for Roth takes him to the home of Roth's Breedmate, Claire, who was Andreas's lover thirty years ago. Andreas never wanted to leave her, but he couldn't trust himself to not hurt her with his ability. Now she may be the only one who can help him find his sworn enemy. When Claire shows him kindness in spite of him frightening her by killing her guards, his old feelings are reignited, and when she agrees to help him, they go on a journey to the States, seeking the help of the Order. Once they locate Roth, Andreas knows he has to confront him, but it could mean his pyro consuming everyone, including those he loves and Andreas himself.

Claire Roth loved Andreas deeply, so when he ghosted her thirty years earlier, she was heartbroken. Wilhelm Roth took advantage of her sadness, persuading her to mate him instead. When she realized Roth had no intention of remaining faithful to her, she quickly came to regret her decision, but she's blood bonded to him now. When her former love, Andreas, shows up at her country estate in a ball of flame that consumes her guards and much of the landscape, Claire can't help being a bit scared of him, but at the same time, she's never stopped loving him. She wants to help him, but at first, she doesn't believe Roth capable of the violence Andreas accuses him of. It doesn't take long, though, before Roth's own actions make her realize the truth. Then she's willing to do anything to help Andreas, but she fears that in his thirst for revenge, he may end up destroying himself, too.

Review

Ashes of Midnight is the sixth book in Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series. It follows Andreas Reichen, an ally of the Order, who headed up a Darkhaven in Berlin that was decimated in the previous book, Veil of Midnight. After losing all the people he cared about, Andreas went on a vengeance spree, hunting down everyone who had anything to do with the murders. The last person on his list is Wilhelm Roth who he's certain ordered the hit. Roth happens to be mated to Andreas's former lover, Claire, who Andreas hasn't seen for three decades, but whom he's never quite stopped loving. Andreas has a devastating pyrokinetic ability that he has struggled to control ever since it emerged, but he's basically allowed it free-rein while hunting his enemies. When he finds Claire at her country estate outside Hamburg, his ability and his killing of all her Enforcement Agency guards frightens her, but a part of her is happy to finally see him again. At first she doesn't believe that her mate could have done all that Andreas claims, but it isn't long before she realizes the truth and allies herself with her former lover. They must go on the run to escape Roth and end up turning to the Order for help. The Order is more than happy to take them in since Andreas has assisted them many times in the past. Once in Boston, though, Claire's blood bond with Roth tells her that he's close by, and as she uses her psychic ability to dreamwalk with him, she discovers that he might be in league with Dragos, their greatest enemy. Although Claire begs him to give up his vendetta, Andreas is determined to find Roth and kill him, even if it means his own death. When he won't listen to reason, Claire insists on using her connection to Roth to help them find him. But what none of them knows is that Dragos, with Roth's help, has set the ultimate trap for them that could lead to the demise of nearly everyone in the Order. And even if they make it out of the enemy's lair alive, Andreas's pyro could kill them all if he goes nuclear.

We first met Andreas, I believe, in the third book, Midnight Awakening, as the leader of the Berlin Darkhaven, which housed many of his family members and close friends. All of them were killed when Wilhelm Roth turned Andreas's friend/mistress into a Minion and sent her to infiltrate the Darkhaven. Now he's out for blood. Thirty years earlier, Andreas met Claire and they shared a torrid love affair. Andreas loved her and was considering taking her as his Breedmate, but his pyrokinetic power unexpectedly surfaced when he was attacked. Unable to control it and worried that he might harm Claire, he ghosted her and hasn't seen her since, but he never stopped loving her. Now she's mated to Roth and may be the one person who can lead him to his enemy. At first, he's rather angry with her, perhaps in part, because he thinks she might side with Roth, but even after he frightens her and kills her guards, she's unexpectedly kind to him. Eventually she sees Roth for the monster he is, and helps Andreas escape. Then they head to Boston to take refuge with the Order. He and Claire reignite their passionate affair, but even when she asks him to give up his quest for revenge, he can't let it go. He knows he must see it through to the end, even if Roth or his own pyro ability kills him in the process.

I've loved Andreas since he was first introduced. He's such a strong leader who cared for all his people, which is why the decimation of his Darkhaven was so heartbreaking. He's all alone in the world until he reconnects with Claire and the Order takes him in. Then he finds a new sense of family. My only complaint about his character is that he's spent three decades worried that his pyro ability might get the best of him. After it initially went out of control, he finally managed to tamp it down, until his family was murdered. Since then it's been out of control again and getting worse each time it surfaces, but in the end, he just kind of finally does get a handle on it. It almost seemed a little anticlimactic and too simple of a solution that made me wonder why he couldn't have done it before. I think maybe I was expecting that Claire would have some affect on him getting it under control, which wasn't really the case. Otherwise, I really liked Andreas.

After her parents were killed while working as doctors overseas, Claire was raised by her grandmother. As a college student, she went abroad to study in Germany. There she was attacked and rescued by Roth who informed her of her status as a Breedmate, but since he was already mated at the time, he merely took her under his protection. Later she met Andreas and fell madly in love with him, but he eventually ghosted her. Heartbroken, she and Roth, whose Breedmate had just been killed, turned to each other, and although it was never a love match, she agreed to be his mate. Ever since, though, they've basically been living separate lives. She knows nothing of his dirty dealings, so when Andreas shows up in a rage, killing her guards and setting things on fire, she's a little frightened. However, since her love for him is still alive even after three decades apart, she wants to help him. After using her dreamwalking ability to contact Roth, she realizes that he's not the person she thought he was, and fearing that he might try to kill her, she gladly throws her lot in with Andreas. Together, they go on the run and meet up with the Order in Boston. Fearing that Andreas has a death wish and might get killed if he continues searching for Roth, she begs him to stop, but to no avail. When she can't convince him to let it go, Claire instead volunteers to use her blood bond with Roth to try to ferret out his hiding place. But they don't realize Roth has managed to trap them until it's too late. And even if they can get out of it alive, they still have to contend with Andreas's out-of-control pyro. I really liked Claire. She may have made a bad decision when she chose to mate Roth, but in all fairness, she didn't know what a monster he'd turn out to be. I like that her love for Andreas never died and that she was willing to help him even before she knew the full truth.

Because I liked Andreas so much and was so heartbroken for him after everyone in his Darkhaven was brutally murdered, I was really looking forward to Ashes of Midnight. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I finished it feeling like there was a little something missing for me. I think part of it was that the relationship dynamic between Andreas and Claire was different at the beginning because of her already being mated. Granted it's a loveless union, but I felt like it put some distance between them initially in spite of their history together. Once they reach the States and spend a little time alone together, I could feel their connection much better. Your mileage may vary, but I didn't necessarily consider it cheating when Andreas and Claire made love and she shared her blood with him before Roth was out of the picture. This is mainly because Roth was a no-good, rotten scoundrel who just wanted Claire to get back at Andreas for a petty grievance, and it was clear that he cared nothing about Claire and actually wanted to kill her. The other part of the story that I struggled with is the conflict that keeps Andreas and Claire emotionally at arm's length. Even after they've technically broken Breed law to be together, Andreas keeps insisting over and over--at least in his own mind--that he can't let himself get too close because he fully expects to die on his mission to kill Roth and also because he fears his pyro might hurt Claire. It all felt kind of repetitive, which frustrated me a little. In spite of all this, I did like Andreas and Claire as a couple (I'm always a sucker for second-chance romances) and look forward to seeing more of them in future books of the series. All the members of the Order and their mates put in appearances, which was great. The ending was also pretty strong, with an exciting showdown, and some interesting new developments in the greater series story arc that should make for intriguing storytelling in the remaining books. So all in all, despite a few small missteps, Ashes of Midnight was a good addition to the series.

Visit

Lara Adrian

Themes

Reunion Stories
Tortured Heroes