dark fantasy

Minion is the first in a four book series. In this book we are introduced to Damali Richards, a spoken word artist, and her guardians. Damali is nearing her 21st birthday and about to come into her full powers as the Vampire Huntress. She is about to have power beyond her wildest beliefs and it is up to the guardians to teach her everything she needs to know to handle this ripening.

They have battled many vampires in the past, but now there is something different. The vampires are not just leaving the common marks, the two puncture wounds on the neck - they are mutilating their victims. Something strange is going on and they have to find out what while keeping Damali safe.

The Vampire Council has captured the one person who can get close to Damali. The problem they have is that Carlos loves her. Will he be of help or hindrance to the council?

With the hip-hop music world as the backdrop of the story, L.A. Banks does a wonderful job in creating parallel worlds. Minion is filled with action, horror and eroticism. I found the beginning to be a bit confusing because of all of the information and characters introduced at once, but there was no way around that. I quickly caught up and was able to enjoy the ride. I am looking forward to 'Awakening' the next book in the series.

Tina
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

I was drawn to the premise of this book almost immediately. I also really liked the cover.

Reading Minion was a little hard to do in the beginning. I honestly wasn't prepared for L.A. Banks' writing style, and her use of black slang. This unfortunately turned me off, at least early on. I found myself comparing Damali to a female Blade, albeit a whiney, self-absorbed, bratty Blade.

The story follows the young vampire huntress Damali Richards a week before her 21st birthday. She's surrounded by "guardians" all of who are from various backgrounds. Damali also has a makeshift den mother, whose sole purpose it seems is to make Damali's life all work no play.
The story itself is weak in the beginning. A whole chapter is devoted to the team discussing how they feel weird about what might happen that night. A whole chapter. And it's not as if we learn anything about the team as they're talking, just that they're all on edge for some strange reason. There's a lot of filler in the beginning of the novel, if left out, would have made "minion: more enjoyable and easier to read.

When this guy Carlos enters the picture, the story rakes an interesting turn. Carlos is basically a drug lord with various real-estate holdings, including a trendy club named Vengeance. He and Damali have a shared past, and it's quite interesting.

I won't give too much away, because the second half of the novel was the most enjoyable part.

A couple things bothered me. One was the fact that the entire team hunted vampires by night and were successful spoken word musicians by day. Spoken word? Is that even a nationally accepted form of entertainment? At least, I don't think so.

I know we all think differently than we talk, but Damali's string of slang she uses sometimes is baffling. In her mind, she's an educated young woman with a strong will. When she talks, her IQ lowers drastically and she constantly craves a "soda" and hot barbeque chips." ?!? The whole chips thing was really strange. My only hypothesis is that the author has a thing for them and incorporated them into her character. Banks doesn't write dialogue for a 20 year-old Damali very well. All the other characters whom are close to Banks' age sound believable, but something with Damali doesn't fit.

This wasn't anywhere near the steamiest vamp novel I've ever read, but it has potential. The shower scene is evident of this.

I wasn't going to order the sequel, "Awakening," but after finishing "Minion," I'm curious of Damali's fate.

The version of Minion that I am reviewing is the paperback special edition which boastes to be a slightly rewritten from the tradesized version. Minion is the uneven first book in series that tells the story of the Millenium Neteru Damali Richards, whose destined to be an uber Vampire Huntress. The Vampire Huntress Legend is a series in every sense of the word, because this book is not a complete story arc but a set-up for the rest of the series.
I don't think I've ever changed my feelings about a book as much as I have this one. After reading the prologue and first few chapters, I thought the book sucked but I was going to read it anyways since it was less than 300 pages long. The book would plod along and every know and again I would come across a scene that was just mesmerizing. Then it would plod along again. The only reason I'm giving the book 3 stars is because the last 40 or so pages were when the story finally seemed ready to take off.
The major problem with Minion is that it trying so hard to set the scene for the rest of the story that it forgets to give us readers a real pay-off. As the story ends, most of the characters in Damali's band/slayer group are still sketchily developed, Damali herself is only *just* coming into her awsome powers, and the forces of darkness are just getting ready to act on their plans. Aside from the first chapter and a scene were Damali's Neteru powers compell her to chase after a vampire there is very little action on that front. Most of the time the hunters are holed up in their hide-out waiting for Damali to awaken to her powers. Lots of talking about the mystical mechanics that this world runs on too. Banks definitely could have introduced those elements in a better way than endless chunks of dialogue.
Another thing I wondered about was how wise is it to give these vampire hunters such a visable day job? When the forces of evil want to kill off man-kinds last and best hope, I don't think I'd want our last hope up on a stage for all the world to see.
I don't really think that Damali has a very strong personality or is that compelling a character to carry a whole series. The evil characters like Fallon Nuit and Carlos are much more interesting. Given that Carlos, Damali's ex-boyfriend turned vampire, is slated to play a big part in the series, this could easily turn into a series where the love-interest steals the thunder of the supposedly powerful and strong heroine.
Perhaps, the most troubling plot-turn is the revealation about how the various factions of evil want to impregnate out virginal yet lustful vampire slayer. This plot turn would be quite hokey and silly if Banks hadn't vividly laid out how the stakes were. What has me uneasy is that I'v seen good series go to the dogs when the plot demands that people have sex. Case in point is Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series which Minion will inevitably be compared to. Hamilton put in a plot device that demanded the heroine of that series do all kinds of kinky activities effectively reducing Anita Blake into an avatar for the author to vicariously play out her blood and guts S&M fantasies. Hamilton's work has gotten so ludicrous and distasteful that it would be more merciful for everyone if she just sent her publisher a headless decomposing cat instead of her manuscript. What path Banks will take with this plot element will determine for me if this series tanks or succeeds.