Introducing a new series by author Karen Chance. Midnight’s Daughter is the introduction of Dorina Basarab, Dhampir. Half human and half vampire, She’s got all the perks of the undead such as increased strength, heightened senses, and near immortality. She wont burn up in the sun, and has no need for blood unless you count the blood shed when she blacks out in a common dhampir fit of rage. Sounds like the life right? Hardly.

This book is a spin off of Chance’s Cassie Palmer series, and features many of the characters one would find in said series. In this book Dori is approached by her father; Mircea, and asked to hunt down her Uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula.), who has escaped his prison confinement. Dori was around the last time they had to lock him up and she barely escaped with her life. Her initial reaction is refuse outright, as Dracula is the only thing that truly scares her. But when Mircea offers information on her missing roommate, she must comply. Accustomed to working alone, Dori is angered when she is informed that Master Vampire, Louis-Caesar will be accompanying her. The two bump heads almost immediately.

None the less the two set out on their mission and encounter numerous near death scenarios. Plans start and fail. People die. New friends are made. And of course the epic climax. I know I’m being vague, but I’m trying not to ruin this for you. Though the next couple paragraphs might just do that for me.

If you haven’t read the Cassie Palmer series, I’d suggest that you do so before picking up this book. I found a lot of things relied heavily on knowledge of this other series, and I think some people might get lost in references they don’t understand. I was slightly disappointed in this as I was hoping this series would stand more on it’s own.

I also found the characters to be a little weak in this book, especially compared to her Cassie Palmer series. It feels like you’ve skipped a book at times, with some of the characters, and I’m saying that being someone whose read the CP series. They were likeable for the most part. Dori’s got a kick ass attitude and doesn’t take shit from anyone, but she’s vulnerable which makes her a little more relatable. At the same time I found it hard to follow her train of thought at times. Louis-Caesare bugged me a lot too. He would say one thing, and do another. His disappearing act at the end of the book was a giant let down too.

Speaking of the ending…

I wasn’t impressed with that either. I felt it was rushed and left a lot of things unsaid…too much, even if it was to leave it open for another book. It lacked a certain finality for me. I closed the book feeling confused and feeling like I had somehow missed something.

All of that aside, I did enjoy reading this book. The action was non stop, right from the first page. The sexual tension between Dori and Louis-Caesare was true to Chance’s style of writing. It teases your senses, makes you want it, and beg for it. Gives you a taste, then hangs you out to dry. Frustrating - yes. But, it makes me want to read the next one.

I’m also totally in love with Caedmon. I’ve never been overly into faeries, but if they’re like him, I’m down. And it’s more then just his dreamy good looks (because lets face it, in books like these, most of the men are dreamy looking), I love the quirkiness his personality presents.

I’d give this book a 3.5 out of 5. Enjoyable, but requiring patience, and a knowledge of the world Karen Chance has created in her Cassie Palmer series. I would suggest this book to fans of Chance’s previous work, but I would hand a copy of  Touch the Dark, for those that unfamiliar with this great author.

Disagree with my review? Let me know: Nikka@nerdyblog.com

Things to look forward to in book reviews:

Possession, Ashes to Ashes & All Souls Night - By Jennifer Armintrout

plus, I’m reading an AMAZING book right now. I can’t wait to tell you guys about this one.

Until Next Time,

Later Bitches.

Guitar Evolution 2 (MSRP $49.99)

The first generation Guitar Evolution was only made for PS2, but the Guitar Evolution 2 can work with PS2 or PS3. Other then adding the console’s home button and a D-pad, not much has changed in the aesthetics and functionality department. They both work for Guitar Hero and RockBand.

The people at Icon did this guitar justice. It’s nice and light, easy to use, responsive buttons, and the strum bar clicked! It was easy to rock out to, and pairing it wirelessly wasn’t a problem.

The stock guitar that comes with Rockband sucks. I hated the fact that the up/down paddle didn’t make the clicking sound. Everytime that I would push or pull the strum bar, there would be this mushy foam feeling. Even after removing the foam pieces, I would still miss notes due to the fact of the lag.

The Evolution 2 ran wirelessly on 4 AA’s that gives it an extremely long battery life. Since I got the guitar about 3 months ago, I changed the battery once. This is also with using the controller almost everyday.

One quiff I do have is that about three weeks in, the whammy bar snapped on my on the inside of the guitar (and hence giving the guitar the “loose sand” sound that we’re so common to as kids with our toys). The whammy still worked, but I now had to rock it between my index and middle finger on sustain notes. All the other functions

Other then the whammy bar issue, the rest of the guitar worked flawlessly, and now replaces the stock one.

Rock Throne (MSRP $29.99)

I was impressed with the how heavy the box that the throne (seat) came in. Upon opening it, I noticed that the main weight is from the legs, so that immediately gave me a good first impression.

The seat was nice and thick, and the legs (when securely tightened) did not slip or loose height. What really impressed me was the the seat used a hard bolt to keep it at a specific height. This way, there is not chance that it can slide up or down.

The shaft from the seat to the base is just a fraction of an inch smaller, so the seat rocked a slight bit. After applying a bit of electrical tape to the seat shaft, the throne was solid as a rock.

The Guitar Evolution 2 and the Rock Thrones were definitely a good buy for it’s money. Both products are very sturdy, performed incredibly well, and have since replaced the stock controller and a cheap Ikea chair that was in my house. The best part about it is that Icon (which is ran by ASD), is a Canadian company from Stratford, Ontario! If you buy their products, you’re support your own economy!

Check them out today!

Guitar Evolution 2: http://i-con-products.com/products/view/85

Rock Throne: http://i-con-products.com/products/view/71

Here’s how this contest is going to work. In order to win, you will have to be a registered commenter. To be THE winner, you will have to be the TOP commenter. So sign up, and comment your face off. The top commenter, or maybe even top two commenters will win themselves a copy of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

On Launch day, winners will be selected, and sent their Wrath of the Lich King serial keys and if requested the DVDs/CDs will be shipped out to them as well!.

So sign up using the link in the top right corner, and enjoy!

Frag for Cancer is a non-profit gaming tournament that every year raises money for the Canadian Cancer Foundation.

The event features tournaments in many games including but not limited to Rockband, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Halo 3, and DOTA.

Frag for Cancer also has some awesome auctions going on right now.

The auctions include:

• A Toshiba Qosimo X300 Gaming Laptop
• Rockband Special Edition (Wii) Signed by the team at Harmonix
• 3 Day Pro Gamer Training from Gamer Fitness Guide
• As well as a bunch of awesome Pure Pwnage Gear!

Click any of the auction titles to be brought to the auction and bid! We’ve got our eyes on the laptop, so take it easy with the bids lol!

I know the video is pretty small, however if you head over to NerdyBlog TV you can view the full resolution video, as well as subscribe to our videos VIA iTunes! Enjoy the preview!

I must say, we here at NerdyBlog.com are truly excited for its release and are even more stoked that our friends over at Blizzard Entertainment have let us in on the ground floor to check out the Wrath beta before it goes live!

I have loaded up myself, as well as two of our guildies with beta keys, and FRAPS. We will explore as much as we can over the coming weeks, and post our findings in the form of video with commentary by myself and our guildies.

If you are a WoW player, and would like an invite to our guild, please just whisper myself (Dorkins / Huntins) or Myren (Isthmaril) and we will get you set up.

So guys stay tuned as we totally abandonn our social lives to jump into World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King!

As it turns out, this laptop has a couple of issues that need to be resolved before it could ever be considered a “Mobile Gaming Machine”

See what it needs after the jump!

Dell XPS M1730 System Specs

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo Processor @ 2.4GHZ
RAM: 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
HDD: 250GB Sata
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium
Graphics: NVIDIA®GeForce®8700M GT

Now the biggest flaw with this system was the OS. Windows Vista is not by any means meant for a gaming machine unless you have 1TB of RAM. Otherwise Vista’s flashy new style will slow your gaming down to a dead crawl which is what we experienced with a very basic game: World of Warcraft.

We maxed out all of the video settings figuring that this machine could handle it. As it turns out, not so much! The video lagged horribly! It actually hurt to play the game.

The weight of this machine makes it basically impractical to carry around as a “notebook”. It weighs about 15LBS give or take. The power supply is monstrous!

There were some design elements about the laptop that I found appealing such as the LED backlight keyboard, and speakers. The outer lid also lights up.

This notebook would be very suiltable for someone who occasionally needs to take their system with them, however this is not recommended for those of you who need their notebook with them all of the time. In any case, thanks to Dell for letting us check this laptop out, but please we beg of you, scrap the pre-installed Vista and go with XP.

Digsby supports the following social networks / IM platforms:

• AIM
• MSN
• Yahoo
• Google Talk
• ICQ
• Jabber
• Facebook Chat
• Facebook
• Hotmail
• GMail
• Yahoo Mail
• IMAP Accounts
• POP Accounts
• Twitter
• Myspace

This client fully integrates all of the above mentioned social networks, email providers, and IM platforms into a simple and easy to use IM application. Hit the jump for screenshots, and more info!

I must say that the people working on Digsby have thought of almost everything, and this is a rather excellent offering considering that Digsby is free of charge!

After using Digsby for approximately 3 weeks, I have completely moved over to the platform. Digsby even supports video conferencing! I have not had the chance to test it, however it looks promising as most Multi-IM clients don’t offer any kind of video calling / conferencing.

Digsby is a great IM application, and we highly recommend checking it out for yourself at Digsby.org!

Now if I could just get an iPhone application just like this client, I would be one happy panda!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out Nintendo’s Wii Fit for you guessed it! The Nintendo Wii.

When you first start up the game, it takes some basic information from you such as your height, name, and date of birth. The game then asks you to step on to the Wii Balance Board. Using the information you provide, as well as a quick weigh in, Wii Fit determines your Body Mass Index (BMI) and decides wether you are in shape, fat, or obese.

Once you have been shamed by the game, you are then given a screen where you can input a goal of how much weight you’d like to loose, as well as how much time you’d like to loose it in.

With the help of several fun but physically strenuous games / workouts, the object of the game if ultimately for you to reach the goal you set.

After playing Wii Fit for just under an hour, I had already worked up a sweat! The game really makes you work, and encourages you along the way to your fitness goal.

I really enjoyed Wii Fit, and would highly recommend this for anyone looking for an alternative way to stay fit, or get in shape. This game is great for all ages, and would be excellent for your couch potato kids!

Definitely Check Out Wii Fit for the Nintendo Wii! Photos After the Jump!

The Photos

The people over at Seagate and Maxtor have supplied me with yet another Terrabyte hard drive, and we are going to make this one count!

A close friend to the site, and a hosted NerdyBlogger (IrishPyrate.com) wants to attend the premiere, however due to a scheduling conflict her plane ticket is going to cost $300 more!

That being said, NerdyBlog.com has teamed up with Maxtor to offer this 1TB hard drive on eBay for purchase. All proceeds / funds will then be transfered to IrishPyrate (Kait) to attend the premiere.

For anyone who has been to a premiere you must know how much fun it is, and if we can make that happen for someone then we are stoked!

Here’s all the info:

Pure Pwnage Forums Thread: http://forums.purepwnage.com/index.php?showtopic=77745
eBay Auction Page: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=330245308893

The Digg Story: http://digg.com/hardware/Auctioning_A_1_TB_Hard_Drive_to_Bring_a_Friend_to_Toronto

Happy Bidding and Thanks for the Suport!