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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.

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