Alexis Morgan’s Paladins of Darkness series is imaginative, action-packed, and hot. Paladins are warriors who fight along the Barrier to prevent the Others from crossing over from their world into our own. The Barrier is found along fault lines, and every earthquake and volcanic rumble brings it crashing down. Not only are they kick-ass fighters, the Paladins have another special talent that makes them the finest warriors on the planet – they can come back from the dead. Each time they come back, though, they lose more of their humanity, until eventually their Handler must put them down for good. Fortunately I managed to read these books in order (there’s a first time for everything), because they don’t stand-alone. The series plot is revealed slowly, and we don’t know much more by the end of the third book about the illegal trafficking of the mysterious blue stones from across barrier. What’s the best thing about the series? It’s set in Seattle!

At the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Conference, Alexis said that one of the big themes was that these fighters resurrect their honor through finding the woman they love. She must have meant humanity, not honor. The Paladins dedicate their entire lives to protecting mankind, and they always stand up for those who can’t defend themselves. If that isn’t the mark of innate honor, I don’t know what is. The Paladins are not particularly dark or threatening to anyone other than an Other. The Viking berserker rage that is harder and harder to control the more times they die is the only sign of their increasing inhumanity.

Do all paranormal romances have to have “Dark” in their title?

<3 <3 <3 <3

In Dark Protector we meet the Paladins and the secret military organization they work for. Devlin Bane is the leader of the Seattle Paladins and one of the oldest. The lovely and smart Dr. Laurel Young is his Handler, healing his wounds and making the decision each time he dies whether he has enough humanity left to go on living. Discovering a traitor within the organization, he races against time to save the woman he loves. I was a little disappointed by the very professional military baring of Devlin, not scary or dark at all. Also, I was confused that Devlin proposes at the end of the book, and Laurel says yes (I’m not giving anything away- it’s a romance novel, what did you expect?), but no mention of marriage is ever made again and they are described in the next two books as lovers, not fiancés. What happened? My other complaint is that my library copy smells like mothballs. Gross.

Dark Defender was my favorite of the three (even though it isn’t set in Sea-town) and has the best cover of any romance novel I’ve seen in a long time. No man-boobs! Blake Trahern is the most far-gone of any Paladin, but he’s more like a ferocious teddy bear. The treachery among the Paladin organization is widespread, and Blake must return to St. Louis when the Regent he confided in, the man who took him in off the street and introduced him to his warrior heritage, is brutally murdered. The man’s daughter, Brenna Nichols, is in danger as well, and it is up to Blake to save her from the same fate. Brenna has loved Blake since she was a little girl, but she never knew the secret world to which both he and her father belong. While they flee and fight for their lives, they learn that love conquers all. Whoot!

In Darkness Reborn the Other who saved Dr. Laurel Young’s life in the first book, Barak, tries to fit into this new world where everyone hates him. He is assigned to work with Lacey Sebastian researching earthquakes, forcing the lovely Lacey to chose between loyalty to her Paladin brother and the man she loves. I found myself super curious to learn more about Barak and his Other world, but sadly we don’t find out much in this book. Why are the Others coming across the barrier? In the first book Alexis said the Others brought contamination into our world, causing among other things global warming – is that still true? Hopefully the next book will reveal more.