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Shadows & Dreams
3.3
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Second rule in this line of business: be careful who you kill. My name’s Kate Kane. And right...
Science fiction fantasy
Deeper Than Midnight
Book
In an instant her privileged world disappears and a new, dangerous and erotic one beckons...At the...
SF
Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Sequels, Series and Remakes: An Illustrated Filmography (1996-2016): Volume II
Kim R. Holston and Tom Winchester
Book
Science fiction, fantasy and horror movies have spawned more sequels and remakes than any other film...
The Lair of the White Worm & The Lady of the Shroud
David Stuart Davies and Bram Stoker
Book
With an Introduction by David Stuart Davies. 'The worst parts were the great masses of flesh of the...
OneStarReads (141 KP) rated Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) in Books
Sep 2, 2018
Contains spoilers, click to show
Interview with a vampire is (shock) quite literally an interview with a vampire!
I give this book 4 stars but it’s kinda stuck between 3 and 4. I feel like this book would have been more mind blowing and interesting had I not been exposed to so many conflicted supernatural creature/broody vampire stories in the past years. Reading this book now is kinda lackluster because of it- everything seemed very predictable. I can appreciate it for what it did to vampire fiction, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to enjoy the story to its full extent.
I did enjoy the characters though. Again not as much as I could have (had this been my only time exposed to characters like these I’d have enjoyed them way more) but they were still clearly well thought out and their motivations and thoughts seemed very natural. Not necessarily sympathetic characters though- seriously Louis, grow some balls.
I enjoyed Claudia’s character, but the two characters I really liked were Lestat and Armand. I wasn’t expecting that Armand had killed Claudia and Madeline, but looking back I feel like it was obvious. Lestat was annoying and great, and since this next book is about him (I think?) I’ll probably continue with the series, because I’ve heard it gets better from here.
Just a few other nitpicks I have for the story: I like how beautiful Anne Rice’s writing style is, but even for me it got a bit dull at parts... The beginning of the book and a few points through the middle were difficult for me to get through, though I stuck with it. Also the whole jumping from the story back to the interviewer didn’t seem to work well, and the ending with the interviewer getting fed on by Louis was very ehhhhhhhh...
Anyways I’ll be checking out the second book at least. I really wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone. If you like vampires, just make sure you like lengthy prose as well, and you and this book will get along fine.
I give this book 4 stars but it’s kinda stuck between 3 and 4. I feel like this book would have been more mind blowing and interesting had I not been exposed to so many conflicted supernatural creature/broody vampire stories in the past years. Reading this book now is kinda lackluster because of it- everything seemed very predictable. I can appreciate it for what it did to vampire fiction, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to enjoy the story to its full extent.
I did enjoy the characters though. Again not as much as I could have (had this been my only time exposed to characters like these I’d have enjoyed them way more) but they were still clearly well thought out and their motivations and thoughts seemed very natural. Not necessarily sympathetic characters though- seriously Louis, grow some balls.
I enjoyed Claudia’s character, but the two characters I really liked were Lestat and Armand. I wasn’t expecting that Armand had killed Claudia and Madeline, but looking back I feel like it was obvious. Lestat was annoying and great, and since this next book is about him (I think?) I’ll probably continue with the series, because I’ve heard it gets better from here.
Just a few other nitpicks I have for the story: I like how beautiful Anne Rice’s writing style is, but even for me it got a bit dull at parts... The beginning of the book and a few points through the middle were difficult for me to get through, though I stuck with it. Also the whole jumping from the story back to the interviewer didn’t seem to work well, and the ending with the interviewer getting fed on by Louis was very ehhhhhhhh...
Anyways I’ll be checking out the second book at least. I really wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone. If you like vampires, just make sure you like lengthy prose as well, and you and this book will get along fine.
Cyn Armistead (14 KP) rated The Nightmare Stacks: A Laundry Files Novel in Books
Feb 23, 2018
Another fun entry in the Laundry Files series, this one is narrated by Dr. Schwartz, from the previous novel. Poor Alex is trying to come to grips with his sudden career change and living life as a PHANG (vampire, to the rest of us). He has also fallen into social interactions with an actual female person, which is vastly unusual in his life. In fact, having a social life is rather foreign.
There are a fair number of cringe-worthy scenes, if you (like me) are embarrassed when anyone else is. Of course, this is a comedy/horror/science fiction/fantasy series, so there are the requisite horrid things in the plot. If you've gotten this far in the series, I shouldn't need to warn you about that. I really wouldn't choose this volume as an entry point if I were you.
There are a fair number of cringe-worthy scenes, if you (like me) are embarrassed when anyone else is. Of course, this is a comedy/horror/science fiction/fantasy series, so there are the requisite horrid things in the plot. If you've gotten this far in the series, I shouldn't need to warn you about that. I really wouldn't choose this volume as an entry point if I were you.
Chained Hearts (Sentries #3)
8.0
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Todd and Nick Ruger are on the run after narrowly escaping the war in New Colorado, where they were...
MM Science Fiction Romance
Black Swan Collected Tales, Books 1-6
10.0
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Included are: Book 1, My Familiar Stranger: The Vampire Hunters. (Nominated for best paranormal...
Paranormal Romance Series
Cyn Armistead (14 KP) rated Blood Oath (Nathaniel Cade #1) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
Blood Oath is an interesting and fairly refreshing variation on the vampire riff. Most of the current tales give us a suave, sexy predator who mesmerizes his or her prey, leaving humans pining for their presence. They might even fall in love with a human. Nathaniel Cade, however, refers to humans as food, saying, "Would you have sex with a cow?" That makes much more sense to me. It's a good thing he isn't interested, either, as the typical reaction people have to encountering him is utter panic, often involving the loss of bladder control.
Cade is definitely a predator, though - an extremely effective one. Farnsworth attempts to explain his abilities scientifically, rather than mystically (I'd classify this book as science fiction if I had to choose a genre, whereas most books featuring vampires and similar creatures are fantasy or horror). The same is true of the enenies he faces.
While I'm not generally interested in socio-political thrillers (which is what this book was, other than a story about a vampire who works for the president), I did enjoy the fresh take on an old trope. While I normally groan when I see the first book from a new author billed as the beginning of a series (do publishers even buy single books any more?), I'm somewhat pleased this time. I do wish they'd been a little more careful with the name of the series (The President's Vampire), as there's another book with the same name: [b:The President's Vampire: Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America|690096|The President's Vampire Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America|Robert Damon Schneck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177264074s/690096.jpg|676444] by [a:Robert Damon Schneck|368998|Robert Damon Schneck|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]. Then again, if Farnsworth's book or series takes off, I suppose there's a chance that sales of Schneck's will as well. I'm sure he wouldn't complain about that at all. I've put it on my to-read list, after all.
I hope to talk my partner, Sam, into reading <i>Blood Oath</i>. If I do, it'll be fairly miraculous, as I don't recall him anything with dragons or werewolves in it other than ([a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205261964p2/10746.jpg]'s Dresden Files) for most of the time that I've known him (12 years as of this writing). After his years at White Wolf, I think many books seem more than slightly derivative. He also did so much research before working on books he wrote for them (like [b:The Book of Nod|416122|The Book of Nod|Sam Chupp|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223664741s/416122.jpg|405290]) that he got a little burned out on certain subjects. Farnsworth's approach really is different enough that I think he might give it a chance. Will you?
Cade is definitely a predator, though - an extremely effective one. Farnsworth attempts to explain his abilities scientifically, rather than mystically (I'd classify this book as science fiction if I had to choose a genre, whereas most books featuring vampires and similar creatures are fantasy or horror). The same is true of the enenies he faces.
While I'm not generally interested in socio-political thrillers (which is what this book was, other than a story about a vampire who works for the president), I did enjoy the fresh take on an old trope. While I normally groan when I see the first book from a new author billed as the beginning of a series (do publishers even buy single books any more?), I'm somewhat pleased this time. I do wish they'd been a little more careful with the name of the series (The President's Vampire), as there's another book with the same name: [b:The President's Vampire: Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America|690096|The President's Vampire Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America|Robert Damon Schneck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177264074s/690096.jpg|676444] by [a:Robert Damon Schneck|368998|Robert Damon Schneck|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]. Then again, if Farnsworth's book or series takes off, I suppose there's a chance that sales of Schneck's will as well. I'm sure he wouldn't complain about that at all. I've put it on my to-read list, after all.
I hope to talk my partner, Sam, into reading <i>Blood Oath</i>. If I do, it'll be fairly miraculous, as I don't recall him anything with dragons or werewolves in it other than ([a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1205261964p2/10746.jpg]'s Dresden Files) for most of the time that I've known him (12 years as of this writing). After his years at White Wolf, I think many books seem more than slightly derivative. He also did so much research before working on books he wrote for them (like [b:The Book of Nod|416122|The Book of Nod|Sam Chupp|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223664741s/416122.jpg|405290]) that he got a little burned out on certain subjects. Farnsworth's approach really is different enough that I think he might give it a chance. Will you?
Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated Romanov in Books
Jun 6, 2019
^^ The Romanovs are an ancient family of vampires, to which Anna belongs, but after the death of her father, they are now in hiding for their own protection. When she meets a lad, Eric, college student and human, their bond is so strong they fall in love hard. Yes, it’s literally love at first sight. But unbeknown to Eric, danger is close, always watching and threatening to pounce from the shadows. Can Anna protect the ones she loves, when someone or something is out to eradicate the Romanov family and all those that stand in their way?
^^ This is written from different points of view, which allows us to see this intriguing story from several angles. At the end of every chapter there’s a sense of something lurking in the shadows, watching, following, and it could attack at any time. Whilst this added to the suspense and made for great foreshadowing, it was drawn out over a lot of pages, and felt a little repetitive at times.
^^ What I loved about this was the ‘new adult’ romance theme of which gave way to a large proportion of this book. With danger lurking around every corner, Anna soon discovers that she had to look out for not only her own family, but protect her beau, Eric, too. There is also an unusual shape-shifting, supernatural element to this tale, both of which I found added different levels to this modern vampire story. It’s not all as straightforward, as it might – at first – seem.
^^ This story feels like the beginning of a much larger tale, since we are introduced to a lot of characters and different families, all living their lives as they know how. It reminded me of a soap opera, where we watch the lives of many families unravel before our very eyes. An unknown danger is making every effort to thwart the Romanov’s survival, but is Anna strong enough to overcome this evil?
Overall: Samaire Provost has created an atmospheric vampire story with a difference, in that the creatures within are not your standard monsters and their world consists of different rules and ideals. That alone is quite refreshing in this vampire story. Saying that, this is not just a book about vampires, it’s about families, feuds, survival of the fittest and how far you’d go to protect the ones you love. I found it an enjoyable, clever read and it should appeal to readers of vampire fiction who like something a little different from the norm.
^^ This is written from different points of view, which allows us to see this intriguing story from several angles. At the end of every chapter there’s a sense of something lurking in the shadows, watching, following, and it could attack at any time. Whilst this added to the suspense and made for great foreshadowing, it was drawn out over a lot of pages, and felt a little repetitive at times.
^^ What I loved about this was the ‘new adult’ romance theme of which gave way to a large proportion of this book. With danger lurking around every corner, Anna soon discovers that she had to look out for not only her own family, but protect her beau, Eric, too. There is also an unusual shape-shifting, supernatural element to this tale, both of which I found added different levels to this modern vampire story. It’s not all as straightforward, as it might – at first – seem.
^^ This story feels like the beginning of a much larger tale, since we are introduced to a lot of characters and different families, all living their lives as they know how. It reminded me of a soap opera, where we watch the lives of many families unravel before our very eyes. An unknown danger is making every effort to thwart the Romanov’s survival, but is Anna strong enough to overcome this evil?
Overall: Samaire Provost has created an atmospheric vampire story with a difference, in that the creatures within are not your standard monsters and their world consists of different rules and ideals. That alone is quite refreshing in this vampire story. Saying that, this is not just a book about vampires, it’s about families, feuds, survival of the fittest and how far you’d go to protect the ones you love. I found it an enjoyable, clever read and it should appeal to readers of vampire fiction who like something a little different from the norm.