An electric, often tantalizing installment enhances this vampire series.
In this erotic thriller sequel, a New Orleans vampire and his human lover struggle to understand their enigmatic but undeniably strong bond.
Dante Gabriel and Erin Hamilton’s first time together culminates in her consenting to the vampire biting her neck and consuming her blood. But coming out of her euphoric haze, Erin is disconcerted by the full realization that her lover is a vampire. Though she steers clear of “the V word,” she can’t deny their mutual allure. This, according to Dante, is a blood bond, an occurrence so rare that information on it is scarce. The Vampyre Texts may explain it, but Dante’s grandfather Bill hasn’t yet finished the translation. But why has it been so long since anyone has translated the ancient tome? That’s just one of the countless mysteries challenging the couple. Erin, for one, has bite marks on her thigh and doesn’t know where they’re from, which likely means a vampire—most assuredly not Dante—has attacked her. There are also patients disappearing from University Hospital, where Erin, an emergency room nurse, works. She connects the missing patients by blood: They’re B positive, the same type the hospital keeps running out of. And though she’s trying to accept that vampires exist, Erin soon encounters more of the supernatural, including ghosts and, maybe, werewolves. Dante, meanwhile, is still recovering from his decade of captivity, courtesy of a female vampire known only as the queen. Her voice is constantly in Dante’s head, insisting she retains control of him. As in the preceding novel, Hardt’s (Unchained, 2018, etc.) second installment, though split into three parts, is one cohesive story. In fact, this book picks up immediately following the earlier one, carrying over mysteries ranging from Erin’s inexplicable bite marks to the still-unknown queen. The couple’s relationship shows unmistakable progress: While the first book teased their inevitable sex, Dante and Erin now face entirely new hurdles post-coitus. The most striking example is Bill’s claim that if their blood bond is broken, both will die. The author’s simple, concise prose sets an impressive pace. Succinct but descriptive details make periodic scenes in the ER exhilarating, as Erin and fellow nurses or doctors need to make quick decisions. Similarly, brevity during the explicit sex scenes amps up passion: The two are so desperate for each other that they typically forgo foreplay, leading to a fair share of thrusting and animalistic growling. The story grounds much of the supernatural elements, making the highlighted romance more believable. Dante, for instance, stresses that vampire myths are generally baseless (vamps are born and can’t transform humans by biting them). And, like others of his kind, he is akin to humans. It’s consequently amusing when this vampire hero doesn’t seem to believe in ghosts. Along with spirits, Hardt adds numerous mysteries in the second volume and leaves quite a few questions unanswered. Nevertheless, there’s some resolution (for example, the fates of Dante’s father and uncle, who vanished while searching for their abducted relative) and plenty of material for the third book.
An electric, often tantalizing installment enhances this vampire series.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64263-014-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Waterhouse Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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