Audiobook Review: Into the Fire by Jeaniene Frost

Series:	Night Prince #4
Pub. Date:	Feb. 28, 2017
Publisher:	HarperAudio
Narrator:	Tavia Gilbert
Length:	9 hrs 8 min

Let me start out this review by raving about the narrator. Tavia Gilbert has done such a great job with this series. She portrays every character as a distinct individual and has no problem switching between male and female personas. The performance of this last installment of the series conveyed the appropriate emotions and held my attention for the entirety.

***Please excuse any misspelled names in this review. Listening in audio makes it hard to reference some of the unfamiliar/uncommon names/places/etc.***  Also - SPOILER ALERT - this review may contain slight spoilers for earlier books in the series.

Vlad and Leila are back and going strong in this final installment of the Night Prince series. Leila seems to have healed physically and emotionally from her capture and torture in Bound by Flames, and I think she is actually doing better than Vlad. Vlad was less of an alphahole in this book, while still being the hardass tortured hero that we know and loved in the Night Huntress series. He still seems to be smarting from Leila's ordeal and all it entailed, especially that horrible video that Mircea sent him which caused him to burn down his castle. Leila character seems to have matured, and her painful experience seems to have caused some personal growth. While I would never wish that circumstance on anyone, I was happy to have a less annoying heroine. In the prior books, Leila and her condescending inner monologue got to me, and she was always running off to do things she shouldn't. But that was largely absent in this final installment and I was able to connect with her character a bit more, particularly when was worried about Vlad.

Now our fangtastic duo are on the hunt for Mircea as he is still bound by magic and blood to Leila, and seems to have no qualms about hurting himself to hurt her in the process.  But things take a turn for the worse when more powerful enemies capture Mircea and threaten to kill both him and Leila if Vlad does not do their bidding. Vlad and Leila necessarily enlist help from Mencheres, Marty and my favorite vampire manwhore, Ian. I so loved having Ian in this book because it really brought back some of the humorous aspects that I enjoyed so much in the Night Huntress series. In fact, Ian generated my favorite quote of the book:

Bunch of sexual hoarders, the lot of you. Have you no pity for the last request of a dying man? Blimey, if I do live through tonight, I won't be responsible for what I do ot the next thing in my path that doesn't require consent. Take that chair over there. Mmm, looks soft, doesn't it? Sturdy, too. Why, if that were a La-Z-Boy, I might be pounding the stuffing out of it right now---

The humorous moments were balanced with some sad aspects, which drew me in and created an emotional connection with the story. I couldn't believe some of the stuff that happened, and it has made me extremely excited for the future Night Rebel series featuring Ian.

A new character connected to Leila's past was introduced in this book, and I hope to see more of her. Leoti seems to have interesting history and abilities that I would like to see explored more in the Night Huntress world. 

Overall this was a nice end to the series, but I do hope that we continue to see Vlad and Leila in related and spinoff stories.

Night Prince