I would like to thank Wednesday Books for providing me with an ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Take Twilight + smash it together with the civil war and a large amount of crushing trauma of enslaved people and you have The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood.
This book is incredibly silly, but also hits on a lot of really important themes of what was going on in American during the 1800’s. Plus vampires.
Jerusalem is an enslaved girl who has more strength and speed than your average 17 year old. She fights her way to the North and freedom and become a vital part of the army as a Saint.
Not a lot of information is given about what Saints are, just that they are faster and stronger than average people. I wish there was a bit more lore about what and who they were.
Jerusalem meets her first friendly vampire, an ancient from Russia who has come to help fight with the North.
There is a lot of banter between our main characters and we see both their points of view. A large majority of this book is seen in flash backs of them reliving their memories as they work on their shared goals.
All in all this is a book about family, freedom, choices, love, and Vampires.
The Dangerous Ones will be available on May 14 2024 at all major booksellers and your local library.
************EDITED AND SPOILERS ADDED*************
I have had a few days to think on this book after my original review and I have gotten more annoyed.
I am still frustrated that there was more no more information about why the Saints exist. It’s still bothering me. There are other supernatural creatures that are in this book, again with no explanation they just appear and disappear. One of those being a Chimera. This creature has octopus tentacles. I have never seen any interpretation of a Chimera having tentacles. Lion, Snake, Goat, Wings – no artwork I could find (on google mind you) showed any sort of octopus creature included. Now, this is a work of fiction and so you can do what you want, I suppose.
Jerusalem talks about how she and her family are looked at being lesser just because of what they are (Black enslaved people) She talks about how they are hated just on the bases of their skin or hair or nose shape. Then she treats Alexei with hatred for exactly the same reason – he’s a vampire. She hates him on sight regardless of who he is, he doesn’t deserve her trust because of WHAT he is. I just found it very interesting that this was never dived into deeper (I appreciate that there is no comparing keeping people as slaves with an imaginary figure, but just go with me on this for a second). I wanted more discussion on what makes a person worth – that their actions, their dreams and desires are more important than how much melanin their skin happens to contain. Jerusalem could have had such an incredible character arc teaching us that people are more than skin deep. Instead she just let her hormones decide she was in love and that made it fine.
The introduction of a supernatural character being the reason that The Underground Railroad successfully help get many enslaved people North to freedom was strange. It seems to negate the real life people that actually put their lives on the line to save other lives. They didn’t magically transport, they woke up every day knowing they were risking everything to save people. I thought it was in poor taste to just erase their sacrifces.
The ending solves all the problems with our couple killing their enemy and then Alexei saves Jerusalem’s brother by turning him into a vampire as well and now they are all going to live together happily and safe because (wait for it) Alexei is white and it won’t raise suspicion him travelling with Black people in the South. Sorry, is this not the epitome of White Saviour Complex? Am I completely off base on this?
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