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Initiation (The Warrior Book 1) | By Rebecca Royce

August 23, 2011 in Drama, Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Initiation is the story of sixteen year old Rachel Clancy, born with a specific set of genes that let her fight monsters, she has trained her entire life to kill Vampires and Werewolves.


Knowing since birth what her destiny would be has not made the onslaught of emotions she faces as she journey Upwards any easier. It doesn’t help that her father is drunk and her best friend just doesn’t get ‘it.’


Plot
My name is Rachel Clancy. Thirty years before I was born, the world ended. Today is my sixteenth birthday. Today I will go Upwards to fight the monsters and, statistically speaking, I won’t be coming back—at least not still living.


Rachel isn’t prepared for the level of deception she faces, and before long she will find herself on a quest she is in no way prepared to handle. What happens next will alter not only Rachel’s life but the lives of everyone she knows.

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She will learn beyond a shadow of a doubt that sometimes the monsters we know are worse than the ones we don’t and that love can surprise us when it comes from somewhere we never anticipated it.


If she lives, she will be a Warrior. If she doesn’t, no one will ever remember her name.


Impressions
First of all, don’t get put off by the drab cover. The story is fab.


It took me maximum three hours to read this book, it was flowing so fast on its own. Easy language, likable heroine, engrossing world. Some sort of dystopia with werewolves and vampires against humans huddled up underground.


Rachel Clancy has Warrior genes. It means that she belongs to a small part of the population who at sixteen go above ground and start fighting monsters in defense of their safe haven and in search of valuable resources.


On the day of her sixteenth birthday she finds out that the head of the Council plotted her first venture above ground in such way that she will inevitably die. She still goes and unexpectedly gets saved by werewolves.


Then all she knows about them as monsters crumbles when they tell her that since Apocalypse the world has changed, and there are too many things that people underground do not know.


She plays along with the pack’s plan to show her some important truths and then let her be the messenger for her people, but what she doesn’t count for is that she will fall in love with a wolf-boy Jason.


Rachel matures through the book immensely and shows incredible courage, strong survival instincts and ability for leadership. She is smart, has sharp sense of humour and tight grip on reality. She is one of these characters you can’t help but admire.


The world described in the book is fascinating, but I could only catch glimpses of it, and it left me with more questions than answers. What happened during the Apocalypse? What was the agenda of the evil guys? Where did Warrior gene come from? Why some werewolves suddenly came to their senses and some not? What about vampires?


I also liked that Rachel like any normal teenager didn’t stick to her attraction to only Jason. She was open to other possible love interests. Chad and Deacon were *grinning* really promising characters, and I would like to see more of them in the second book (which is out, by the way).


All in all, great beginning of the series, which with a little more polish and deeper background story, also with a new cover will get a lot of fans. Do read it.




Find this review and more at Karina’s Blog, Nocturnal Book Reviews.


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Fury (Fury Book 1) | By Elizabeth Miles

July 30, 2011 in Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems…


Plot
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better–the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.


On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel…something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.


In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.

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Impressions
Ok, let me point first, that like everyone else I am guilty of judging a book by its cover. Look at it! It’s gorgeous (I mean the American cover, I’m not keen on the UK one). Of course, I couldn’t resist reading it.


The writing is absolutely beautiful as well. It flows smoothly and draws a very clear picture of what’s happening. The winter as my LJ friend noticed is described particularly well. It’s all very haunting and filled with despair and confusion and tons of teenage angst. Well, therein lies my problem.


Plot bunnies, I loathe you. Let’s see.


A girl commits suicide, and then the Furies come to town. Among all people they target Chase who played a cruel joke on a girl who humiliated him and refused his friendship first. They also target sweet and confused Em, whose only fault is falling a victim to a careful seduction by her best friend’s boyfriend, who just you know does. such. things. regularly. for fun.


Really, no really? We have two confused but inherently good people having their hearts ripped apart, being sadistically hunted and tortured for succumbing to peer pressure or to a lying worthless scumbag?


Yes, I was furious. Zach (the scumbag) reminded me to a fault one of my exes, and it all went downhill from there.


Chase and Em were described beautifully. You can’t help but feel for them while their world is falling apart.


Apart from Chase, Zach, Em and JD (Em’s best boy-friend, who was absolutely wonderful) everyone is pretty much barely sketched, even the Furies. There is no explanation for them all, only a vague mention of three girls always playing havoc in Ascension, a convenient mention by a random friend of a dead girl, who with no apparent reason studies them. Here is your plot bunny #1.


Second bunny is the end. It didn’t make sense to me. The time frame for the arrival of JD felt too improbable, I can’t go into details and don’t want to give more spoilers that I’ve already given. In fact the whole book didn’t make much sense to me.


However, the writing was stunning and I enjoyed it very much and would read another book by Elizabeth Miles, although maybe not Fury #2.




Find this review and more at Karina’s Blog, Nocturnal Book Reviews.


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XVI | By Julia Karr

July 18, 2011 in Dystopian, Fiction, Life and Family, Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

In the year 2150, being a girl isn’t necessarily a good thing, especially when your sixteenth (read sex-teenth) birthday is fast approaching. That in itself would be enough to make anyone more than a little nuts, what with a forced tattoo and all – but Nina Oberon’s life has taken a definite turn for the worse…


Plot
Nina’s mother is brutally stabbed and left for dead. Before dying, she entrusts a secret book to Nina, telling her to deliver it to Nina’s father. But, first Nina has to find him; since for fifteen years he’s been officially dead.


Complications arise when she rescues Sal, a mysterious, and ultra hot guy. He seems to like Nina, but also seems to know more about her father than he’s letting on.


Then there’s that murderous ex-government agent who’s stalking her, and just happens to be her little sister’s dad.

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Impressions
I love dystopian novels because you can actually imagine future like that happening. 22nd century, I have to say, is extra scary – Big Brother watching, police state, obligatory GPS trackers under the skin for teenagers, cards pay for everything, plenty of police and government agents swarming the streets, adverts screaming murder on each and every corner brainwashing you to the maximum.

This is consumerism society at its worst. Religion is prohibited, freedom of speech is non-existent, and history books are completely changed.


Society separated into 10 tiers (like casts in India); the lower you are the less you are allowed to do. If you are homeless, no one will blink an eye or protect you if you are beaten or getting killed.


And there is the matter of sex-teens. Each girl has to get a tattoo when she is sixteen, which says that she is available for sex. Any man can have her; if she is pregnant and the man doesn’t want a baby, she will have to have an abortion, the illegitimate children pretty much have little rights, and there are stories of them working as Cinderellas, free servants for their fathers’ families. Scared yet?


Nina Oberon is approaching her sixteenth birthday and dreading it as opposite to her scatter-brained friend Sandy, who bought the whole media hype about how cool it is o be sex-teen.


Her fight for her own identity and her freedom is almost hopeless until her mother dies from the stab wound and tells her before she dies that her father is alive, and that she needs to get to Chicago to find him and give him a special book from her.


In Chicago Nina finds new friends, wonderful Sal and Wei, and dodges old enemies, while she is trying to accomplish her mother’s last wish. I loved Nina; she is a fighter, despite her weaknesses and mistakes. I loved secondary characters; they were full of life and hope.


It’s a dark, violent and twisted story, but it’s a story of resistance of perseverance, and I would recommend it to anyone!


Favorite Scene
Nina’s birthday in the end


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Bloodshot (Cheshire Red Reports Book 1) | By Cherie Priest

July 9, 2011 in Drama, Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Cherie Priest is famous for her steampunk series, especially Boneshaker, but this is her very successful debut in urban fantasy, which a lot of people called vampire noir.


Plot
Raylene Pendle (AKA Cheshire Red), a vampire and world-renowned thief, doesn’t usually hang with her own kind. She’s too busy stealing priceless art and rare jewels.

But when the infuriatingly charming Ian Stott asks for help, Raylene finds him impossible to resist—even though Ian doesn’t want precious artifacts. He wants her to retrieve missing government files—documents that deal with the secret biological experiments that left Ian blind.


What Raylene doesn’t bargain for is a case that takes her from the wilds of Minneapolis to the mean streets of Atlanta. And with a psychotic, power-hungry scientist on her trail, a kick-ass drag queen on her side, and Men in Black popping up at the most inconvenient moments, the case proves to be one hell of a ride.


Impressions
This is not a book for everyone. I know I absolutely loved it, but a lot of people didn’t for exactly the same reasons I found it great.


Raylene is paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, prone to anxiety attacks and snarky as hell vampire loner, who has a problem with authorities and that’s why she doesn’t live in vampire Houses (like mafia families) like everyone else. She is a great thief, she doesn’t feel remorse if she needs to kill someone and she’s got her own strong moral code.


When Ian, a blind vampire who was captured by the government years ago for some experiments and managed to escape, asks Miss Pendle to steal documents with his case from a military facility, she decides to help him because she can’t stand the idea of vampire like him suffering the possibility of staying blind forever.


Despite all her cold façade Raylene also looks after two street urchins who live in one of her houses.


So she is powerful and bitchy and ruthless, but she is also inherently good.


The supporting characters are entertaining as well. You know from the description that Raylene has a kick-ass drug queen helping her. Adrian/Sister Rose is an ex-navy SEAL (don’t ask me how they got together, otherwise it will be a spoiler) and a riot. Their tandem works great, and I’m quite looking forward to the next installment Hellbent, which should come out this year.


The street kids are tough and amusing too. First Raylene couldn’t get rid of them, and then she got used to them and now calls them her “pets”. She just can’t admit that they are very important to her; she is great at deluding herself.


If you look for a snarky sense of humor, moderate amount of violence and almost no romance in your urban fantasy you will like this, and you will like Raylene Pendle.


Favorite Scene
Raylene directing the boy’s escape from CIA through the ventilation system.


Favorite Quote
But I wasn’t up there, I was down in the basement with the slowly cooling husk of my latest meal. It was like a bad one-night stand. I was finished with him, and I didn’t want anything more to do with him. Ten minutes before he’d been irresistible. Now he was a mess that needed cleaning up.

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Vampires: The Recent Undead Anthology | Edited By Paula Guran

June 27, 2011 in Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

I don’t usually read anthologies, but this one was won in one of the numerous giveaways around the web. You know what? I’m glad I’ve read it.


What anthology is good for: it brings new authors to you.


There are some that I know very well, others that I’ve decided not to get to know at all and few which stand out.


Because it’s an anthology I can not describe the plot, but instead I’ll tell you about few stories which I thought were the best and give them my ratings.


Zen and the Art of Vampirism | By Kelley Armstrong
This was a unique take on a very old vampire living in Toronto, who fears the monster inside her and makes a conscious effort to live peacefully. Then two newcomers decide to take the city from her because she’s got a reputation of a coward. She agrees and nicely suggests to show them the ropes.


It all becomes quite comical as all her friends and connections unite to make the worst impression on new vamps. Great style and fantastic sense of humor, which made me want to read more.


If you still don’t know her, Kelley Armstrong is a famous paranormal and urban fantasy author famous for her Otherworld series and two YA series. I strongly recommend her for anyone who wants to start reading urban fantasy or YA.


4.5/5


The Ghost of Leadville | By Jeanne C. Stein
Jeanne C. Stein writes extremely successful UF series about a vampire and a bounty hunter Anna Strong, which I again recommend.


But this story is about an old vampire Rose Sullivan reminiscing of her one and only meeting with a legendary Doc Holliday and her lost opportunities. It’s a sweet and touching.


4/5


A Gentleman of the Old School | By Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
I’ve heard of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro before, but never read any of her books. And I tell you: boy, I was missing out big time! She is one of the first modern writers who portrayed a vampire (in her case Count Saint-Germain) as a good guy.


This short story is about him, old fashioned, very charming and extremely clever Le Comte de Saint-Germain who subtly helps a young and attractive reporter Solange Berendis in her murder investigation.


4.5/5


Outfangthief | By Conrad Williams
This was the scariest story in anthology and it was written by a British author. If you liked “30 Days of Night” you would like this one as well. For me it was too scary!


Conrad Williams wrote about a young mother and her daughter on the run from a gangster and a loan shark with a particular preference for young mutilated girls. The vampires here are monstrous and ferocious but nowhere near as scary as the human monster.


5/5


Vampires Anonymous | By Nancy Kilpatrick
This woman has a really black sense of humor! This is a very unique story about a website for vampires and their victims. Each vampire tells their story and then humans who cluelessly chat with each other and conveniently register with their pictures and home addresses, disappear one by one.


I loved the blogging and chatting made into a story.


4/5


The Wide, Carnivorous Sky | By John Langan
This is the last and the longest story in the anthology with a very peculiar look on vampires.


Here few surviving soldiers from Afghanistan talk about their experience in their last battle where they and their enemies got slaughtered by a monster from the sky. The experience left them with the psychic link to the creature, and now they’re planning to lure it to them and destroy once and for all.


It’s a very strange and extremely believable story, where vampire is some sort of an alien.


4.5/5


Overall, it’s an anthology worth reading with vampires for all tastes, be that a monster or a gentleman.

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Pale Demon (Hallows Book #9) | By Kim Harrison

May 19, 2011 in Fantasy & Paranormal, Non-Fiction, Urban Fantasy

If you’re still unaware of this name, but want to venture into the world of Urban Fantasy, there is no better author to start your journey than Kim Harrison (along with Karen Marie Moning).


Kim is one of the first big names in the genre and one of the most successful, her books have been published internationally and her sales are huge. Along with her bestselling series Hollows about a witch Rachel Morgan, she’s got successful YA series as well about a schoolgirl Madison Avery.


I highly recommend both as none of her none of her books have ever disappointed me so far. Pale Demon is a book #9 in Hollows, and it just came out this past February.


Plot
Condemned to death for black magic and shunned, Rachel Morgan has three days to somehow get to the annual witches convention in San Francisco and clear her name. If she fails, the only way she can escape death is to live in the demonic ever after… for ever after.


Banned from the flight lists, Rachel teams up with elven tycoon Trent Kalamack, headed for the West Coast for his own mysterious business. But Rachel isn’t the only passenger along for the ride. Can a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy in one car survive for over 2,300 miles? And that’s not counting the assassins on their tail.


A fearsome demon walks the sunlight, freed after centuries of torment to slay the innocent and devour souls. But his ultimate prey is Rachel Morgan. While the powerful witch with nerves of steel will do whatever it takes to stay alive, even embracing her own demonic nature it may not be enough to save her.


The Impressions
What can I say? Kim Harrison’s writing has always been tough, vivid and absolutely marvelous. She will reduce you to being a nervous wreck, you’ll be biting your nails until the book finishes, because once it grabs you it never lets go.


Despite simple enough plot, i.e. get from A to B and try to stay alive, there are so many intricacies, so much tension and action, you will never be bored.


For those of you who haven’t read these series yet I urge you to try from book #1. Kim Harrison created a peculiar world post plague which wiped out a lot of humans but left magical creatures untouched, which is why they decided to come out.


There are usual bunch of characters (for UF) – pixies, vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, elves and many others. This world is complicated and there are several institutions which keep it in order.


Rachel is a good witch, tough, snarky and fiercely loyal, and all she is trying to do from book to book is to survive and save her loved ones. But series of bad circumstances and some genetic modification at birth made her something unique and left her being able to use black magic, demon magic which is a taboo in this world.


You can’t help but love Rachel’s character – she is strong, willful, extremely protective of her friends and family and very kind, she also has got raging hormones and a messy love life, which only makes her more believable and alive.


The supporting cast is marvelous as well, – a pixie Jenks, a living vampire Ivy, an extremely rich and spoiled elf Trent, an ex-ghost and a demon familiar Pierce, a quirky demon Al with a fake British accent, and a coven witch Vivian. I loved and sympathized to them all, and as usual I can only applaud Miss Harrison and ask for more books. This was superb!


Favorite Scene
Rachel recreates a place from the Petrified Forest in ever after.

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Etched in Bone (The Maker’s Song Book 4) | By Adrian Phoenix

April 29, 2011 in Drama, Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Suspense, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

Adrian Phoenix is undeniably one of the best authors in Urban Fantasy genre. With her brilliant characters, complicated plots and subplots and unique concept of the world building she breaks the rules of urban fantasy and goes far beyond.


If you haven’t tried UF until now, but love thrillers and mysteries, good old John Grisham and Stephen King I would definitely recommend Adrian Phoenix for a smooth transit between genres.


Previous books in the series:

A Rush of Wings
In The Blood
Beneath the Skin



Plot
SON OF A FALLEN ANGEL. FORGED IN VAMPIRE’S BLOOD. SWORN TO A MORTAL WOMAN. IF DANTE FALLS, THE WORLD FALLS WITH HIM. . . .


THREE LEGACIES ETCHED IN BONE
More beautiful and powerful than any creature the world has ever seen, Dante Baptiste has become the supreme target of the three worlds that spawned him.


The mortal agents of the Shadow Branch have tried to control his mind through psychological torture. The vampire elders who guide nightkind society have plotted to use him in their bloodthirsty bid for power.


And the Fallen have waited for millennia for Dante to claim his birthright as their Maker. But Dante belongs to no one—except the woman he loves…


ONE PASSION SWORN IN BLOOD
Determined to face the Fallen and the world on his own terms, Dante hopes to piece together his shattered past and claim his future, with FBI agent Heather Wallace at his side.


But in Heather’s human family awaits an unexpected enemy. One who could rip Heather from Dante’s heart and fill the holes with bullets. One who could force Dante to choose his darkest destiny—as the Great Destroyer…


Impressions
If you haven’t read previous three books do it now! And if you do it, you don’t need me to recommend Adrian Phoenix to you. Her skill speaks for itself.


Two main protagonists Heather Wallace, ex-FBI agent and Dante Baptiste, vampire and rock-star extraordinaire are both extremely strong and appealing. There is an unusual dynamic in their relationships.


First of all, Heather is older than Dante, she is protective of him. He is young, tortured and defiant, but also very caring and protective, despite all the flipping and swearing.


They’re both fierce, but Dante has this vicious beastly side in him, mostly because he was raised to be a psychopath in the secret project Bad Seed which was created to make psychos from children. But Baptiste is only vicious to those he considers monsters.


The amount of secondary characters is staggering. They are all full of life and in 3D, and we have an opportunity to look into their minds and know what they think. This is what makes the plot so intricate so full of complex twists and turns.


The world that author created is extremely rich, you are surrounded by earthy tones and Creole jargon of New Orleans, mystical language of Fallen angels, the dynamics of night-kind and of course plenty of government conspiracies.


I could have talked about this book for hours, but instead I’ll just say – read it and you won’t regret it. There is love, there is mystery, there is butt kicking, at last there are vampires and fallen angels. What else do you want?


Favorite Scene
The beginning and the end.

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Raphael (Vampires in America Book 1) | By D. B. Reynolds

April 25, 2011 in Drama, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

WARNING! This series is so freaking GOOD, and the first book stops so ABRUPTLY, that all you can do is snatch the second one (Jabril) and gobble it up until the logical end i.e. HEA (Happily Ever After) as much as it can be in Paranormal Romance.


But I’m running ahead of myself. Ever watched TV series Kindred: the Embraced? This has the same feel about it.


Plot
Malibu, California—home to rock-and-roll gods and movie stars, the beautiful, the rich… and vampires.


Powerful and charismatic, Raphael is a Vampire Lord, one of the few who hold the power of life and death over every vampire in existence. Thousands call him Master and have pledged absolute loyalty on their very lives.


But when, in a brazen and deadly daylight attack, a gang of human killers kidnaps the one female vampire he’d give his life for, Raphael turns to a human investigator to find his enemies before it’s too late.


Cynthia Leighton is smart, tough and sexy, a private investigator and former cop who’s tired of spying on cheating spouses and digging out old bank accounts. When Raphael asks for her help in tracking down the kidnappers, Cyn’s happy to accept. But she soon realizes her greatest danger comes not from the humans, but from Raphael himself.


Battling Russian mobsters and treacherous vampires, and betrayed by those they trusted, Cyn and Raphael find themselves fighting for their lives while caught up in a passion of blood and violence that is destined to destroy them both.


Impressions
I would never have heard of D.B.Reynolds who is much below the radar of the big names in Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy if not for the author Marta Acosta, whose blog I follow.


She recommended the books and said that she almost missed them because of the covers, which definitely give you the wrong impression of the books (you think they are either indie or Ellora’s Cave, which I tend to avoid. First is self-publishing, second is erotica).


So I got book one and started reading, and oh boy… This is the vampire world how you want it to be: Laurel K.Hamilton before the Ardeur, Christine Feehan without tiring uber-Alpha dominance, Nalini Singh with her superb Angel’s Blood – it’s just so perfectly balanced.


Cynthia Leighton is my love at first sight, a female protagonist who is neither week, nor overly tough. She is lean and mean, very clever, kind to those who need her help, appreciate handsome men and have zero paranormal skills, which is unusual for this type of book.


Raphael is a very powerful, ruthless but also very modern Vampire Lord, almost like CEO of a big corporation. He doesn’t intimidate Cynthia and doesn’t smother her, and she in turn doesn’t give in to him.


What is also unusual is that there is no Paranormal Romance formula present, i.e. you are my mate, we must mate, you’ll stay in my cave forever, and I’ll hunt and provide, which is the main reason why I stopped reading this genre and switched mainly to urban fantasy.


They are very equal, Raphael and Cyn, they almost reminded me of another couple, Roarke and Eve Dallas (fans of J.D.Robb, you know what I’m talking about).
The plot is quite a thrill too, but definitely comes second to the interaction between main characters which is typical for the genre.


Cyn does what she’s hired for, and does it well. She is an ex-cop with great intuition and reflexes, and she utilizes everything Mother Nature gave her to survive in vampire world and find Raphael’s vampire girl.


There are some minor historical and language inaccuracies which made me cringe a little, as Raphael is supposed to have Russian origins (and I am Russian). But nothing to worry about for the average reader, who wouldn’t notice anything at all.


Otherwise, please, don’t miss these very good series! So far there are 3 books out, and the forth one comes out in April, 2011.


Favorite Scene
Aftermath of the fight in the warehouse

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Infinite Days (Vampire Queen Book #1) | By Rebecca Maizel

April 17, 2011 in Drama, Fantasy & Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult

This young adult novel is a debut work of Rebecca Maizel, and I admit that ever since I’ve heard of the unusual plot I was waiting to get my hands on this book. You know what? It was SO worth the wait!


Plot
Lenah Beaudonte looks like your average 16 year old. As the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive, but stands out catching the eye of the golden-boy Justin Enos.


But Lenah in fact is not an average teenager, she happens to be a five-hundred-year-old ex-vampire queen, who after centuries of terrorizing Europe was able to realize the dream all vampires have — to be human again.


Waking up in Wickham after 100 years of hibernation Lenah finds out that her lover performed a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, sacrificing his life in order to succeed…


She rediscovers humanity and life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone.


What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?


Impressions
Gorgeous, gorgeous book! Lenah is a fascinating character. Ex-vampire, one of the most brutal killers in existence, she wanted to regain her soul by becoming human again.


When she wakes up we know what she feels, how she enjoys breathing and how confused she is with limitations of her new body. On one side she has to learn to adapt, to blend in with human society in order to disappear from the radar of the coven of the most powerful vampires on Earth which she created, and its leader, Vicken.


On the other side she still retains her sharp eyesight, the ability to read lips and feelings, her vampire understanding of humans as prey; she knows their weaknesses and can judge how tasty they will be just by looking at their veins.


The book is also structured as present time and flashbacks into Lenah’s monstrous past, which were fascinating. I actually wanted a better view of her past as we are only given glimpses of it.


By usual YA design, there is a love triangle, which strongly reminds me of Twilight. Lenah is surrounded by two boys. One is Justin, her love interest. Another is a painter, Tony, her friend. They are both intriguing and believable characters, and I liked them. I also wanted to find out more about Vicken, who seemed like a complicated character… Oh well, can’t have everything!


From time to time Lenah forgets herself and lives a life of a teenager, which is very endearing, but soon her coven will discover her, and now she needs to say goodbye to her happiness and deal with the past that haunts her and endangers her friends.


All in all, despite minor flaws I couldn’t put this book down, and I can’t wait for a second novel Stolen Nights which should come out this year. I loved Lenah’s sadness and her old soul musings, but I also loved her discovery of what living is.


Favorite Scene
Dissecting the frog.


Favorite Quote
Find it in my favorite scene. Let it surprise you.



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Reviewer’s Final Rating



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The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) | By Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

March 10, 2011 in Drama, Fantasy & Paranormal, Fiction, Historical, Urban Fantasy

These two authors are new and unknown entities in the genre of steampunk for me. But oh boy, they are GOOD. The book is supposed to be the first installment in the trilogy and I can’t wait to read the second one.


The Plot
In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine in the chaos that followed.


Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the grey empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics where the vampires could not tolerate the constant heat. They brought technology and a feverish drive to re-establish their shattered society of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya.


It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun.


Eager for adventure before she settles into a life of duty, her world is turned upside down when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious figure who fights vampires from deep within their territory.


Impressions
I totally loved Adele. She is fearless, desperate to survive or to damage the enemy to the maximum even if she is destined to die. I can’t wait until she becomes an empress and starts ruling her empire. But I’m running ahead of myself in all the excitement.


The Greyfriar is a mysterious, legendary figure, who for years has been stealing humans from the most dangerous places in vampire ruled Europe and delivering them to safe Havens. However, he doesn’t succeed with Adele straight away, and she is whisked away to a morbidly horrifying London full of old bones, mass graves and human cattle, bred as food for vampires.


There are two characters which shine through the book: Adele and vampire prince Gareth, who is trying to protect her from his younger brother Cesare, a vicious cunning figure who organized Adele’s kidnapping. They both are warriors to the core, quiet and magnificent, beautiful in their strength and ability o keep their wits about no matter what.


Vampires in the book are totally alien and most of them you can’t help but find revolting. However, there are few you feel for and like more than some human characters.
The book is full of fight for survival, bloody battles, politics and intrigues, mysterious power hidden in Empire Princess, but also tender and touching feelings, which I adored.


I would strongly recommend reading it, especially if you’ve never tried this genre before. If you like it, try The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook next and you will be totally hooked.

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Reviewer’s Final Rating



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