Supernatural high jinks abound in this joyfully flippant tale.
Two agents—one a vampire, the other a werewolf—clash when attempting to stop a rampaging vampwolf in this paranormal comedy.
Vampire Special Agent Samuel Johnson’s latest mission from VATE (Vampires Against the Evil) is fairly routine: capture a vampwolf terrorizing Des Moines, Iowa. There’s just one problem. The vampire’s boss, Beryl, is partnering him with Joseph Butler, a werewolf. Samuel, a typically solemn, calculating vampire, dreads working with an impulsive, unruly wolf. Organizations like VATE were created to keep humans, who’d centuries ago hunted vampires and wolves into near extinction, safe but ignorant of both races. When the vampwolf goes on a Friday night rage at the mall, Samuel and Joseph easily agree on rescuing human shoppers that haven’t yet managed to flee. But Samuel wants a precise plan of attack, while Joseph impetuously strikes, intent on killing the vampwolf. Complicating matters are two groups of the Evil Ones (vampires) and Wild Ones (werewolves), feral versions of each that would rather kill/eat than protect humans. They exchange blows with the vampwolf as well but could target humans at any time—or turn on the agents. If Samuel and Joseph can find the vampwolf in human form, they’ll have a chance of killing him. That, however, would necessitate cooperating with each other, an arduous feat by its very nature. The novel is a quick read with beaucoup action sequences. A large portion of the laughs comes from Samuel’s first-person perspective. The lofty narrator repeatedly disparages humans, whom he considers stupid, and even apologizes for possibly offending werewolf readers before calling them “obnoxious.” Carpenter (A Limitless Policy, 2014, etc.) sets his story apart with some unfamiliar genre traits: vampires and werewolves do not turn humans into their kind, and both agents can transform (Samuel into a mist or bat) while somehow retaining their clothes and weapons. Intermittent, chapter-length flashbacks to Beryl handing out the assignment and Samuel first meeting his furry partner slow down an otherwise steady pace; shorter recaps would have been as effective. Nevertheless, a few genuine surprises in the final act make for a solid ending and potential setup for a sequel.
Supernatural high jinks abound in this joyfully flippant tale.Pub Date: April 18, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5234-4089-4
Page Count: 168
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2016
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
