A conspiracy maven’s dream, packed with gory alien-vampire action.
SF and dystopian horror merge in Alleva’s series starter.
World War III has just ended, and a peace treaty has been signed. In the United States, Sandy Cox,who’s pregnant and separated from her husband, finds herself on the run with a mysterious man named Phil. He’s trying to bring her to Atlanta, where she’ll be safe from the American, Chinese, and Russian soldiers who appear to be indiscriminately eliminating American men and boys, despite the peace. The pair’s plans are interrupted when they’re attacked by strange beings who kidnap Sandy; now, Phil must try to break her out of an underground compound staffed by gray, humanoid aliens and alien vampires called Dracs. The Dracs have been experimenting on human subjects in a quest to create a drug that enhances the taste of human blood, making for better feeding. However, Sanos, the leader of the Dracs in this compound, is driven mad by a new drug, and his rage drives him to imprison Telas, his second-in-command. Telas has been overseeing an attempt to make Sandy’s baby into an alien/human hybrid. Meanwhile, both Phil and the Dracs make use of a meditative ability they refer to as “the rose,” which gives them mysterious powers: “It is protection, a shield where anything that enters your sacred space is yours to bend and manipulate.” This ambitious novel plays unashamedly in the pulp-SF sandbox; as an American soldier puts it at one point: “For God’s sake, friggin alien vampires exist!” Alleva offers detailed descriptions of violence and of the Dracs’ physical appearance, and his writing is fast-paced and generally engaging throughout. However, it also offers halting, staccato moments that sometimes interrupt the narrative flow. Although he sets up the Dracs as clear villains, he provides plenty of insight into their culture and motivations, allowing readers to better understand the complexities of this dystopian world. Readers who can appreciate the conspiracy-minded plot will have a great deal of fun, as will fans of nonstop, high-stakes thrills.
A conspiracy maven’s dream, packed with gory alien-vampire action.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill and Birch Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh, arresting entry in the vampire genre that revels in violent, bloody delights.
An orphaned teenager tries to connect her sister’s disappearance to their family’s decadeslong relationship with vampires.
Nineteen-year-old Kidan Adane wants nothing to do with her family’s horrifying rules and traditions, which stipulate that Kidan and her sister, June, who are Black girls of Ethiopian heritage, must honor soul-binding contracts with dranaics, or vampires. After their parents died, the sisters were placed in foster care with Mama Anoet. For years, Kidan had thought they were safe from evil—until Silia, their maternal aunt, unexpectedly died, and June and Kidan became the last two living members of House Adane. When June is abducted in the middle of the night by an unknown assailant, Kidan traces the clues to Uxlay University, where worthy leaders are taught how to protect a hierarchical society in which humans and vampires harmoniously coexist. Kidan believes that June was taken by Susenyos Sagad, the formidable vampire who’s bound to her family’s bloodline. As she dives deeper into this cruel new world, the line between her hatred of Susenyos and her growing fascination with him begins to blur. Debut author Girma’s trilogy opener offers a richly detailed, sweepingly imaginative narrative that artfully explores the dark heart of desire, rage, and loss through expansive worldbuilding. Kidan’s powerful characterization is layered, and her journey toward the truth has been crafted with a cinematic eye.
A fresh, arresting entry in the vampire genre that revels in violent, bloody delights. (map, content warning) (Fantasy. 15-adult)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780316581448
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.
In this long-awaited fifth installment of Shannon’s Bone Season series, the threat to the clairvoyant community spreads like a plague across Europe.
After extending her fight against the Republic of Scion to Paris, Paige Mahoney, leader of London’s clairvoyant underworld and a spy for the resistance movement, finds herself further outside her comfort zone when she wakes up in a foreign place with no recollection of getting there. More disturbing than her last definitive memory, in which her ally-turned-lover Arcturus seems to betray her, is that her dreamscape—the very soul of her clairvoyance—has been altered, as if there’s a veil shrouding both her memories and abilities. Paige manages to escape and learns she’s been missing and presumed dead for six months. Even more shocking is that she’s somehow outside of Scion’s borders, in the free world where clairvoyants are accepted citizens. She gets in touch with other resistance fighters and journeys to Italy to reconnect with the Domino Programme intelligence network. In stark contrast to the potential of life in the free world is the reality that Scion continues to stretch its influence, with Norway recently falling and Italy a likely next target. Paige is enlisted to discover how Scion is bending free-world political leaders to its will, but before Paige can commit to her mission, she has her own mystery to solve: Where in the world is Arcturus? Paige’s loyalty to Arcturus is tested as she decides how much to trust in their connection and how much information to reveal to the Domino Programme about the Rephaite—the race of immortals from the Netherworld, Arcturus’ people—and their connection to the founding of Scion, as well as the presence of clairvoyant abilities on Earth. While the book is impressively multilayered, the matter-of-fact way in which details from the past are sprinkled throughout will have readers constantly flipping to the glossary. As the series’ scope and the implications of the war against Scion expand, Shannon’s narrative style reads more action-thriller than fantasy. Paige’s powers as a dreamwalker are rarely used here, but when clairvoyance is at play, the story shines.
Though it falters a bit under its own weight, this series still has plenty of fight left.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781639733965
Page Count: 576
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
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