Tagged: vampires

Dark Genesis by A. D. Koboah

Dark Genesis by A. D. Koboah(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Life for a female slave is one of hardship and unspeakable sorrow, something Luna knows only too well. But not even she could have foreseen the terror that would befall her one sultry Mississippi evening in the summer of 1807.

On her way back from a visit to see the African woman, a witch who has the herbs Luna needs to rid her of her abusive master’s child, she attracts the attention of a deadly being that lusts for blood. Forcibly removed from everything she knows by this tormented otherworldly creature, she is sure she will be dead by sunrise.

Dark Genesis is a love story set against the savage world of slavery in which a young woman who has been dehumanised by its horrors finds the courage to love, and in doing so, reclaims her humanity.

I’ve been putting off doing a review for Dark Genesis for two weeks now.  It’s not because I’ve forgotten the plot lines and character names and have had to re-read it or because it’s so horrible I don’t have the energy to write a review.  No, it’s because of how amazing it was.

Words really don’t do this book justice.  It evokes so many different emotions in the reader from happiness to despair and everything in between.  I’m not the sort of person that cries over books frequently, but believe me when I say the waterworks were on for this one, especially at the end.  Just when you think you know what’s going to happen, the author sends a huge plot twist your way that you’re desperate for the next book.

Dark Genesis is a book with a strange sort of beauty.  A. D. Koboah’s descriptions and vivid imagery are absolutely unmatched; you’re instantly transported to Luna’s world.  Yet the topic that features in her book, slavery, is anything but beautiful.  Koboah didn’t flinch away from all of the horrors slaves like Luna had to face and one of her greatest strengths was how she portrayed the effects of such treatment even years afterward.

On the topic of Luna, she is an incredible character.  She’s now one of my favourite heroines ever not only because she was such a strong woman but because she had to go on a long journey of self-reflection to become that woman.  The time she spent with Avery really did change her, even if the scars from her years of enslavement were still beneath the surface.  Avery too was a very flawed character and you don’t really realize the depth of his sorrow until the end of the novel.  He’s not your typical vampire the same way Luna isn’t your typical heroine.  I won’t go into much more detail than that because I don’t want to spoil all of the good parts for you.

The plot remained relatively fast-paced despite being a mainly character-driven novel.  That in itself would have been quite impressive if not for the fact that there were so many plot twists.  Believe me, you may be able to predict some of the twists but most will blindside you in a good way.  I read Dark Genesis two weeks ago and I’m still reeling from that final twist at the end of the novel!  It’s hard to believe that this was A. D. Koboah’s first novel.  I don’t expect this level of awesome from many established authors, yet here I am writing this review.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t like vampire novels.  If you like any sort of character-driven novel or even just plain historical fiction, go and download Dark Genesis this instant.  It’s free on Amazon and Barnes and Noble as an ebook so it’s not like you’re losing anything by taking a chance on this wonderful novel.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Cameron’s Law by Mia Darien

Cameron's Law by Mia Darien(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

Vampires are people, too.

Cameron’s Law has made all supernatural creatures legal citizens, and the boy next door has suddenly become the werewolf next door. With Sadie Stanton, vampire and one of the public faces of the legislation, calling the little town of Adelheid, Connecticut home, it can’t help but be a focal point for these once mythical beings.

But when vampires start attacking werewolves without provocation, Adelheid draws the attention of those that would seek to have Cameron’s Law repealed and would send the preternaturals back into the shadows they used to hide in, but without the safety of their anonymity and their law.

Can Sadie keep the city’s two biggest species from descending into chaos and war before it brings all of them to harm? And can she do it when she herself gets thrust into the spotlight?

[Although I’m publishing this review in conjunction with the Adhelaid blog tour, I downloaded an ebook copy for free because I was interested in Cameron’s Law anyway and the tour gave me an excuse to read it.  As always, this is still an honest review.]

I’ve become almost immune to books with action-packed beginnings, but when a book starts out with someone getting staked you know it’s going to be good.  And when the character that gets staked is heading to the police station even though they’re a vampire, you know there’s a whole new exciting world yet to be revealed.

Welcome to Adhelaid, Sadie Stanton’s headquarters where she fights for supernatural rights.  You see, only a year ago she helped pass Cameron’s Law, the law that made all supernatural beings citizens of the United States with full rights.  As you can probably guess, there were a lot of people unhappy about that and they go to extreme lengths to express that unhappiness.  You might be thinking that this sounds a little cliché but I’m vastly over simplifying all of the politics between supernatural beings and humans Mia Darien throws into her novel.  If you were to read Cameron’s Law for one reason and one reason only, it would definitely have to be for the world-building.  It’s impressive.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Sadie in the beginning, but she’s definitely the kind of snarky character you can’t help but fall in love with.  She’s snarky and she knows it’s a defense mechanism, but she’s also a little vulnerable when it comes to her heart.  Let’s just say I love how she doesn’t fall in Insta-Love and that when she’s in love it’s not all rainbows and sunshine either.  Especially when the mysterious murders of werewolves by apparent vampires cause tensions between the two supernatural communities.

Part of what I really liked about Cameron’s Law in regards to the plot was that it was fast-paced but there were some slow moments for readers to catch their breath.  The slow moments aren’t boring and actually forward the plot, but it’s nice not to have constant action so you can get a little backstory.  The interactions between Sadie and Vance are definitely slower than the greater conspiracy but they further both the plot and their characterization.

Even if you’re not really into urban fantasy or paranormal romance I’d highly recommend Cameron’s Law.  I’m so glad that I got an opportunity to pick up a great book I otherwise would have missed because of Mia Darien’s blog tour.  So seriously people, if you’re looking for a short but good read, pick up Cameron’s Law.  You won’t regret it.  Besides, it’s free right now on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble if you get it in their respective ebook formats!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Reign of Blood by Alexia Purdy

Reign of Blood by Alexia Purdy(Cover picture courtesy of Alexia Purdy’s Blog.)

“Never tease anything that wants to eat you. My name is April Tate and my blood is the new gold. Vampires and hybrids have overrun my world, once vibrant with life, but now a graveyard of death shrouded in shadows. I fight to survive; I fight for my mother and brother. The journey is full of turns that I am quite unprepared for. And I’m just hoping to make it to the next Vegas sunrise…”

In a post-apocalyptic world, a viral epidemic has wiped out most of the earth’s population, leaving behind few humans but untold numbers of mutated vampires. April is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in the remains of Las Vegas one year after the outbreak. She has become a ferocious vampire killer and after her family is abducted, she goes searching for them. What she finds is a new breed of vampire, unlike any she has seen before. Unsure of whom she can trust, she discovers that her view of the world is not as black and white as she once thought, and she’s willing to bend the rules to rescue her family. But in trying to save them, she may only succeed in bringing her fragile world crashing down around her.

[Full disclosure: I was sent a free ebook by Alexia Purdy in exchange for an honest review.]

With the vampire over-saturation of only a couple of years ago, it’s difficult to write about vampires.  What’s even harder in general is reading about vampires as I love vampires that are portrayed as stone cold killing machines.  Most YA vampires at not like that at all.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by Alexia Purdy’s vampires.  There are rabids, which are stone cold killing machines with few emotions or thoughts and then there are vampires as we’ve come to know them: sophisticated, intelligent and strong, but still undeniably human.  Both types of vampires drink blood, but with humans in short supply how they adapt is fascinating.  The thinking vampires also have a few more traits I found interesting but won’t really get into because they’re spoilers.

What I liked the most about Reign of Blood was April herself.  In the beginning, she sees the world in black and white: humans good, vampires evil.  Simple, right?  Obviously by the end this viewpoint has changed drastically but I love how she changes over a longer period of time.  April doesn’t wake up one day and think “Hey, vampires are okay”.  No, she gradually comes to befriend some of them and learns that maybe she isn’t entirely innocent herself in this world.

Characters like Blake and Rye were interesting and just when I was getting ready to cringe (two males, one female = love triangle), Alexia Purdy spared me.  She even sort of inverted the love triangle trope by the end, but I’m not going to get into that.  Either way, Reign of Blood was action-packed but still slow enough that character development and world-building were present.  My only complaint about the book is that the dialogue can be quite stiff at times.  I don’t know any seventeen-year-old, let alone one that lives with only her mother and baby brother with no human contact, that speaks like that.  But the dialogue problem was minor compared to the world-building, character development and pacing.

I give this book 4/5 stars.

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The Genesis by K. L. Kerr

The Genesis by K L Kerr(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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Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike

Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

What Alisa has desired for five thousand years has finally come true: She is once again human.  But now she is defenseless, vulnerable, and, for the first time in centuries, emotional.  As she attempts to reconcile her actions as a vampire with her new connection to humanity, she begins to understand the weight of life-and-death decisions.  Can Alisa resolve her past and build a new identity, or is she doomed to repeat her fatal mistakes?

With the cliffhanger at the end of Thirst No.1 I just had to read the second volume of stories.  Alisa/Sita becoming human?  This I had to see: a ruthless, conscience-less 5000 year old vampire being human.  As it turns out it doesn’t work out really well, as much as Sita keeps wishing it does.

Without giving too much away, I have to say that both the mythology mixed in to Christopher Pike’s series and his new emphasis on the characters makes Thirst No. 2 even better than the first volume.  The focus of the first set seemed to be more on Sita’s past and her present situation, with a much broader focus on plot, but I love how Christopher Pike turned to exploring Sita’s character more here.  There is so much potential for a character like Sita and some of the things she encounters in this book really change her outlook on life.  The other characters that I can’t mention because of spoilers are amazing too and are definitely not what they seem to be.

If you loved the first volume in Christopher Pike’s series, you’ll love the second one even more.  A fast paced plot, a bit of interesting mythology and Christian theology and even better character development make Thirst No. 2 one of the better books I’ve read lately.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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