(Cover picture courtesy of Love YA Books.)

An Uncontrollable Power. An Unstoppable Corporation. A Vampire God.

The vampires of Dayson city are preparing for war. Having lived in constant fear of the Archway Corporation for decades, desperation has forced them into action. Their solution is to bring the First vampire, Alistair, back from the dead, a warrior famed for eradicating entire armies in the name of his kind.

For fledgling vampire Catrina Malinka, the fabled return of some unknown deity falls low on her list of concerns. Between fending off strangers trying to kill her in her dreams and trying to rein in an uncontrollable power that no one else even understands let alone shares, Catrina is forced to fight her assumed role in the war against Archway, which threatens to send her down a path she doesn’t want to travel.

The first book in The Blood of Ages series, “The Genesis” is an urban fantasy about the inescapable nature of Fate and the corruption of power.

[Full disclosure: I received a free ARC ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]

First off, you need to read this book right now.  Yes, The Genesis by K. L. Kerr is so good that I’m starting my review with my recommendation.  But I know what you’re thinking: “Vampires again?  You’re kidding me, right?”

No, imaginary reader, I’m not.  Why would I give such a blanket recommendation of a vampire book when vampires are so over-used in mainstream fiction?  Because these are real vampires: they are bloodthirsty killing machines with very little or no remorse when they take human lives.  They die in the sunlight rather than sparkle and romance certainly isn’t the main focus of The Genesis.  The main focus is Catrina’s change into a vampire and her slow journey to find out why the Clan wants her to be the Vessel to return the mysterious Alistair.

Catrina is an awesome protagonist with an occasionally mysterious backstory that is one of the very few narrators that doesn’t go into complete and utter denial when she becomes a vampire.  No, she learns a bit about being a vampire and actually believes Fox when he tells her he turned her into a vampire because of the clues she notices around her and the changes to her own body.  A logical narrator?  Heaven forbid!  If her being extremely logical isn’t a satisfactory explanation, there’s more of an explanation later on but it’s a spoiler.

The lack of information given to Catrina by Fox is a little frustrating as a reader at times, but considering Fox’s personality it makes sense.  The only thing I didn’t like was that we knew so little about Catrina’s own backstory and there’s really no excuse for this.  However, with the fascinating vampire mythology and the slow, suspenseful reveal of the real conflict I guess I can forgive that.  Coupled with the fact that there were quite a few unexpected plot twists, I really can’t complain about the lack of backstory.  I’m sure K. L. Kerr will explore Catrina’s and Fox’s pasts in the next book in her Blood of Ages series.

I give this book 4.5/5 stars.

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