A fantasy book to really get your teeth into. Its not a light fluffy read but quite dark and very, very intense.
I found it needed a lot of concentration in the early chapters to place in my mind which character was which and I did find that sometimes I was quite ambivalent to them. Roman the hero is initially a straightforward young man who yearns to be an actor in the kings troupe – he sees the kings daughter there when called in to understudy at short notice and they fall in love. Here I liked Roman but when he loses his love to Lokee via an arranged marriage at the kings wish he becomes a vampire and at times is quite dislikeable and selfish. Its not all sweetness and light in this novel but a lot of darkness and killing of humans for food – no “veggie” vampires or “sippers” who take a little and do no harm here...the victims just die! Roman has to wait centuries for his love Alexandria to be reborn as Althea when she is killed by Lokee.
He's made into a vampire so he can live and wait for her by Devendra who we first meet as his horse!!– she's a very clever witch/vampire and leading member of the Combined – those of both races. She's also Lokees mother and becomes Romans lover. Confused yet? That's why this book needs concentration – it all gels together nicely but does mean the early stages take some intense concentration and its not a book to be read when you're heavily involved in something else. Its not a lightweight mind numbing relaxing book but a story to be thoroughly thought through. I think its one of those where you actually gain more from it on a second reading as one has more understanding of this world and its characters.
I felt really sorry for Devendra when she steps back from Roman after two hundred years as his lover because she knows his true love has been reborn and Roman will meet her. Devendra is very much in favour of Fate and this allows her to step back but at times she wants to be able to help Roman but Lillith- the Mother of the Combined, first a witch, then a vampire, tells her she will not interfere even though things look grim and the characters go through great ordeals.
Through trials and tribulations finally things reach a conclusion and I understand the author is writing a prequel – which will be very interesting I'm sure and help with sorting which character fits where in the story – and a sequel. Like all good stories this ends without any deep cliff-hanger ( I HATE with a vengeance ones that end and leave the poor reader waiting for next book to find out what's happening) but there are hints and clues as to what the next book will contain.
For a first book this is very well written – there are very few spelling,grammar errors and its a nice long length – I'm not a short story/novella fan but want something to engage my attention for hours and this certainly fits the brief. I found the characters a little unemotional and found it difficult to empathise with them at times – it could just be a personal thing though as I like to feel immersed in the characters and their story and I felt “outside” this story – maybe as its written in third person rather than first person point of view? Its very subjective how we enjoy and perceive books so this criticism may only apply to those who share my wanting to “be” part of the book.
Its available in kindle in UK and in kindle, nook and paperback in US. The great advantage of online book sellers is that we can read a few chapters to get the flavour of a story and this book is certainly worth a look if you enjoy fantasy novels with supernatural characters.
The stars.... 4. I did enjoy it but the story line didn't completely engross me and I would have enjoyed the book more if I could feel more close to the characters. As always though remember this is my personal view and others will feel very differently – one mans meat and all that!
4 Stars!
You may find Gianna Perada on the Web here :
http://www.giannaperada.com/
Reviewed by Midnight Ruby
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