Clay Griffith

Advance copy provided by NetGalley

It was all forms, frames and figures with this one. There was never simply someone doing something. Instead, it was the figure/frame/form of someone doing something. Or someone observing the figure/frame/form of someone/something. I found this distracting.
I wasn't sure I would stick with it, but I read a review that said the book got better. And it did get better for a while. I kind of liked Kate Anstruther. But I didn't love her or any of the characters, really. I felt like I'd seen them all before.
The constant battles and high body count was tiresome, although I did like the descriptions of how Simon and Nick used their magic in battle.
If you're in the mood for non-stop action and lots of bloodshed, and not much else, this might be just the thing for you. It's the first of a trilogy. And to the authors' credit, they didn't end on a cliffhanger. There are plenty of unanswered questions, but this part of the story had a beginning and end. I do appreciate that.
… (mer)

I had the disadvantage of not having read any of the books in the Vampire Empire series before I read this one. Sometimes that doesn't matter and sometimes it does. In this case, well I had no problems getting into the book thanks to the author explaining now and then what had happened in the books in the first series and also explaining things like a vampire is not an undead human, it's apparently a parasite that causes it. The geomancy-thing was a bit strange, but I think I got a hang of it.

But I think it's best to read the series from the beginning because even though the book was not boring to read, I just couldn't really find myself engrossed in the story or the characters. For me, something just was lacking and I think it's because in the end I just couldn't connect with Adele and Gareth. And, perhaps it would have worked better if I had read the previous books, I don't know. All I know is that I just didn't find them or their relationship terrible interesting.

But I did enjoy the vampire with a dash of steampunk world that the authors have created. I found it intriguing to read about how the world came to be like that with vampires dominating the northern latitudes and I loved the royal vampire family in Versailles. I just wished that I could have found the story a bit more interesting to read.

Thanks to Pyr and Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (mer)