I am fairly certain Midnight Predator was the first of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' books I ever read. If not, it's definitely the one that pulled me hook, line, and sinker into Atwater-Rhodes' Nyeusigrube universe. However, rereading it now... all the cringe.
So first, the slavery aspect. I know for a fact that I originally read this as more BDSM-coded than not. I think it is BDSM-coded, but it is definitely more than that. Make no mistake, humans are being bought and sold by vampires in this world. I'm not sure if, timeline-wise, it's gone back to a chattel-style thing, but Jaguar confirms it used to be that way. And the BDSM-coding? It's definitely a twisted version of what BDSM actually is. I think the last time I read a character using BDSM to twist his victims like Jaguar admits to doing in the past (and Jeshikah straight-up threatens to do to Turquoise), the character was a villain. That Jaguar ends up being something of a love-interest... cringe. Definite cringe.
I'm pretty sure Midnight Predator was where I fell in love with the idea of vampire hunters with organizations behind them. This doesn't exactly glamorize the idea, but it definitely planted it in my teenage head.
Turquoise definitely isn't the best representation of healthy coping. It makes sense, in this world, that the trauma she endured and escaped from would result in her chosen profession. But man, girl needs some therapy. She's not the deepest of main characters, either. Went from apparently perfect, upper-middle-class? life to slave to vampire hunter... but she has yet to have any motivations other than that. Even by the end.
So, yeah... Midnight Predator... so far in my Nyeusigrube reread, the cringey-est reread.
Favorite Line
"A feeding vampire is as natural and simple as a wolf or lion. It's only when the human mind is in control that any creature has the desire to give pain." - Jaguar
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