Vampire State - Alexander Charalambides

Description

Rowena’s country is gone, squashed under a tide of tanks, bombs and Pale, immortal soldiers. But when her father returns from war as a hero, she discovers a new meaning of fear. Join and Die. >Become one of them, take on the gray skin and yellow eyes of the Pale, and live forever in Sanguinia. With the the clock ticking on her family’s decision, Rowena’s forced into close quarters with Vincenzo, the handsome son of a powerful man and trendy social revolutionary, and then ambushed by Luka, a handsome, heavily armed criminal. Both want to recruit her for their causes, and Rowena, attracted to both, fears being discarded on serving her purpose. Can Rowena hold on to her family, her individuality, and even her life in Sanguinia, the city without a sun, or will the darkness of the world’s oldest empire, and the immortal Emperor Dominus, swallow her whole?

Review

I know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but this one really hooked me and I'm glad it did. Having read a few of Alexander's other books I felt confident if anyone could pull this off it would be him.

At first I felt a little at sea. A new strange world, strange names, what was happening? But hey, that's just how the heroine of the book Rowena was feeling too. I stuck with it and I was rewarded pretty quickly with a great story, set in a whole new world. Written with great imagination, I could see this being a TV series.

As with Alex's other books, this is a fast paced read and his action dialogue is really good. I felt like I was really there, and I got a little nervous a few times at what was going to happen next. I could see similarities in some of what happened with the rise and fall of organisations in our own past and also with the abolition of slavery. That facet of the book was very thought provoking for me.

If all this wasn't enough there is also a romance aspect to the book, with Rowena having to choose between two very different suitors.

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. My thanks to the author for a copy of the book for review.

Comments

The C Word - An anthology of murder, mystery, death & destruction

Great to be on the book tour today for this book today especially as 100% of all royalties from The C Word will be donated to NHS Together Charities. Description So, what do writers do during Lockdown? They create murder, mystery, death and destruction of course! The C Word is a collection of short stories collated during the COVID-19 pandemic to raise money for NHS Charities Together. A plethora of wonderful stories created by a wide variety of writers, each with their own unique style. Some you will know already and some we’ve yet to introduce you to. However, we’re sure you’ll want to hear from each and every one of them again as we leave 2020 behind us. With contributions from Steve Mosby, Sophie Hannah, Elly Griffiths, Sarah Hilary, Rob Scragg, Trevor Wood and many more. Review A great collection of short stories and certainly written for our times. Some of these stories were a little too dark for my usual reading tastes, but as they were short I stuck with them. There could...

The Ghost Cat - Alex Howard

Description Early morning, 1902. In a gloomy Edinburgh tenement, Eilidh the charlady tips coal into a fire grate and sets it alight. Overhearing, a cat ambles over to curl up against the welcome heat. This is to be the cat's last day on earth. But he is going to return... as The Ghost Cat, a spirit-feline destined to live out his ghostly existence according to the medieval proverb of "The Cat with Nine Lives" - For Three He Plays, For Three He Strays, For Three He Stays. Follow The Ghost Cat as he witnesses the changes of the next two centuries as he purrs, shuffles and sniffs his way through the fashion, politics and technological advances of the modern era alongside the ever-changing inhabitants of an Edinburgh tenement. As we follow our new spirit-feline friend, this unique story unearths some startling revelations about the mystery of existence and the human condition and provides a feel-good read full of charm for any fan of history, humour and fur-ridden fun. Revi...

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

Description THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER. YOU DON'T KNOW HER. BUT SHE KNOWS YOU. Rear Window meets Gone Girl , in this exceptional and startling psychological thriller Review I must be one of the last people to read this book. I did apply for a review copy but unfortunately wasn't successful. I then waited for the book to come down in price which it didn't - so I decided I would buy it and read it straight away! I'm sure it will be a film and before anyone gives away what happens I felt I really needed to get it read, so it jumped the TBR queue. There is not much plot outline from the publisher as you can see in the description above, so there wasn't a lot to go on when I began to read the book. First of all the book jumps around date wise - past and present and also between the main characters. I did have a little trouble remembering who was who and which time frame we were in - but that soon settled down. I also had to re-read the beginning because I th...

BOOKSIMO

Search This Blog