A familiar but nevertheless engaging tale of love and war in the vampire world.
A love story unfolds amid a war between vampire clans in this first book in Rago’s Enchanted Bloodline series.
The story opens with French Revolution–era vampire Christian Du Mauré getting the shock of a long lifetime: His doomed human lover, Josette Delacore, has left him a note informing him that her daughter, Solange, is not the child of her human husband—she’s Christian’s daughter, an almost unprecedented successful union of vampire and human. Centuries pass, and Christian and his friend Michel are part of an ongoing international clash between warring vampire factions, opposed by Gaétan and Gabrielle.An encounter between vampire Lucien and young drug addict Ryan Perretti (in which Lucien partially drains Ryan's blood to sustain himself) gives Lucien a vision of his victim’s beautiful green-eyed sister Amanda, who works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “The French Revolution was her passion,” readers are told, and she learned a lot while working on a recent exhibition of French Revolution–era jewelry. Unbeknownst to her, she has a deeper connection to the period that fascinates her so much—indeed, a deep blood relationship. After she witnesses her brother’s murder in Central Park, she investigates his strange claims of associating with vampires, and her world and Christian’s collide. Throughout this book, Rago hues fairly closely to the Anne Rice pattern of modern vampire fiction, with vamps that are sexy and alluring rather than outwardly monstrous as well as factional infighting, moments of homoeroticism, and bodice-ripping romance. The characters are dramatic, if sometimes underdeveloped, and the dialogue is often arch. The author also indulges in Rice-style purple prose at times: “She relished drinking their blood, just as the new Regime gorged themselves on the aged champagne of the French aristocrats.” That said, the story’s fast pace will keep fans of the genre intrigued to the last page.
A familiar but nevertheless engaging tale of love and war in the vampire world.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4528-7753-2
Page Count: 279
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Epic stakes, palace intrigue, and plenty of magic: Stark’s newest series is off to a solid start.
A romantasy mash-up of Crave (2020) and Fourth Wing (2023) from the bestselling author of A Court This Cruel and Lovely (2023).
When an undead stranger shows up on Arvelle’s doorstep, he offers her an impossible choice: Agree to kill the emperor, or watch her brother die. The bad news is that the emperor is an ancient and very powerful vampire protected by an elite company of soldiers. The good news is that Arvelle is a champion fighter herself—or at least she used to be. And, left with a choice that is no choice, she sets out for the capital to do the impossible. This is, on the whole, an engaging read. The Rome-inspired setting is interesting, its magic system is well-defined, and the politics of the emperor’s court is a nice complement to the action in the arena. Arvelle is a complex but sympathetic protagonist and Stark surrounds her with characters who also feel real—most importantly, the boy who broke her heart and the emperor’s sadistic son. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, but readers who get past the first third of the book will be amply rewarded. Fans who come to romantasy mainly for the love story may be slightly disappointed that the romance elements mostly stay in the background, while other readers may appreciate the emphasis on the action (and, of course, there are more installments to come). Stark has been building a dedicated following since she self-published Speak of the Demon in 2021, and her Kingdom of Lies series has been huge on TikTok. This author clearly understands the demands of her chosen genre: She knows how to hit the tropes while introducing intriguingly novel details and maintaining suspense.
Epic stakes, palace intrigue, and plenty of magic: Stark’s newest series is off to a solid start.Pub Date: Dec. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780063436718
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2025
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