I repeat:
I.Do.Not.Like.Vampire.Books!
And you see that rating up there?
It should say 6 stars, but I don’t know where in the Fringe the last one might be. I should report it missing because in fact.. I.LOVED ADORED.THIS.BOOK!
After reading this story I might have left only one neuron (the others have gone looking for Eden again) and it’s a bit fuzzy around the edges, intoxicated by all these mind-blowing turnarounds. I barely got my head around one piece of information when another bomb was thrown my way… I tell you, I’ve been at war with this book and it won! By far!
The damn thing blew my mind and left me not only rooting for various characters (loving them, then hating them only to love them again; laughing out loud at their outbursts only to cry later; wanting to read faster and see what will happen with them, then slower, then faster, but then wishing to never stop reading.. and so on..) but dying to know the outcome of this bloody mess. No pun intended, I swear!
“I’ll remember my promise, vampire girl,” he whispered back, forcing the words out […] “If you remember yours.”
Seriously, you cannot believe how much I love(d) the characters in this story. Even Jackal made my day too many times to count, really this guy had me cracking up half the book and I loved him even when I wanted to put a wooden stake through his unbeating heart, and (while we are at it) give him the beating of his life. He cannot play with my heart like that, no matter what for.
I loved the brotherly relationship he had with Allie though, I loved the teasing between them, I loved how they hated but also care for each-other. There would be a lot to talk about them but I cannot spoil anything for you. I will only tell you that Jackal is a very complex character: he is not quite good, nor that bad.. but a real vampire that knows how to survive and what decisions to make in order to keep his head on his shoulders. Of course, I might have hated him for it sometimes, but deep down I truly understand him too.
Anyways I might keep that fantasy for myself and not kicking Jackal’s cold ass if you promise to give me Stick, the dumb bastard, to tear him apart limb by limb!
I tell you, these vampire books are turning me into this creature I can barely recognize.. Where did this violence come from?
Oh wait.. I know.. From the bloody ending, that’s where!
There should be a rule about endings. It should be illegal to break people’s hearts like that and then leave them to wait God-knows-how-long for the next book… Illegal!
“There are no good choices, Allison,” Kanin offered in a quiet voice. “There are only those you can live with, and those you can work to change.”
Now.. I heard people say that the book was too slow (it didn’t seem to me, the slow parts had Jackal in them and I deeply enjoyed his company), that the book was too long (please give me more to read, just 500 more pages, pretty please?), or that they didn’t quite enjoy as much as in the first book the relationship between Allie and Zeke (I tell you, they were cute! Ok, they were barely alone and there was not much loveliness between them, but things were complicated, after all she still wanted to drink him senseless and he still wanted to be a human for as long as he lived.. still I really liked how their relationship evolved).
Do I need to tell you that I don’t agree with those statements?
“Oh, don’t mind me,” came an extremely sarcastic voice near the wall. “You two go ahead and make out – I’ll just sit here and bleed quietly.”
But I will tell you what I liked:
Allie – she is one of those female characters that doesn’t get on my nerves even when she becomes just a bit whinny. She is strong, she knows what kind of monster she wants to be and she tries hard to stay on that path.
Jackal – he is a jerk sometimes, but a funny one and I loved how honest his conversations with Allie were. They were enemies and they had to fight on the same side, but it was difficult for them to trust each-other because this was an one-time-deal: I help you and you’ll help me, then back to the beginning.
“I know you’re still awake.”
“Good for you. Shut up and go to sleep”
Another snicker. “What you have to ask yourself,” he continued, “is whether I’m the type who would stay awake long enough to kill you after you fall asleep, or if I’m an early riser who would kill you before you woke up.”
“If you want your head to stay on your neck, you’d better be neither.”
Zeke – he was so human in his imperfections and so young in his love for Allie, but also he had changed from the last time we saw him. He has now a little past that might or might not want to share with us, and there are a few surprises on the way that might or might not break our hearts a bit.
Kanin – I always liked him, I was always interested in his back story, and we find a bit more about him, about why he turned Allie, about his past with his other ‘son’, about the virus and his part in it, about his remorses and about how he is a different kind of monster as well.
There were many other things I loved about this book, because every time I thought that the storyline became a bit predictable, everything changed completely and I was left in awe wondering “what in the world did that just happen?”. It was crazy like that and I must confess that I love craziness every now and then.
There is one more thing I want to tell you about this story, and hear me well:
If something seems too good to be true, remember: It is not good at all! Run like Hell and don’t look back!
Happy midnight reading!
Early review: ARC kindly provided by the publisher for review. Thank you so very much!
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