Books tagged with: vampires

A Taste of Blood Wine is romantic. It’s chock full of smoldering description, intrigue and mystery, dark love, and all sorts of gossip and twists and turns. The novel follows Charlotte, the daughter and lab partner of a scientist, as she rapidly falls for the vampire Karl. But then the plot thickens...

Angel Souls and Devil Hearts is the second volume in the fantasy horror series "The Shadow Saga" by Christopher Golden. An Epic tale of Vampires, Sorcery and War... The Shadows have been living among us unknown for thousands of years and now revealed the ancient Vampire race must confront the most p...

I remember reading the short story "Red Reign" about 20 years ago, written by Newman and published in the Mammoth Book of Vampires. This short story formed the basis for the novel and it's been on my list of books to read for some time. The imminent re-release of the sequel "The Bloody Red Baron" ha...

Asa, the century old, vindictive and cruel vampire invades the home of single mother and physician Annalice forcing her to strike a bargain for her daughters life as the monster takes control of her own life and home. Caught in a race against a genetic timeline she must rely on her skills as a physi...

Blood Rites is the sixth book in the series featuring Chicago's wizard private detective, Harry Dresden. Six books in and the series just gets stronger and stronger. This time we've not only got the usually high standard of writing and wonderfully crafted plot but some inspired character development...

Raylene Pendle (also known as Cheshire Red) is a renowned thief who steals everything from priceless art and rare jewels to people's dirty secrets. She also happens to be a vampire but apart from an aversion to the sun and not ageing, that doesn't stop her in the slightest. A bit of a loner, not pla...

Bloodsworn follows on from the events in the previous volumes Bloodborn and Bloodforged as Ulrika the Vampire returns to Nuln, finding her former Lahmian sisters preparing for war. Their arch rivals, the deleterious Von Carsteins meanwhile have begun to attack their strongholds and lead the despised...

Translating the title take a bit better knowledge of Latin than I have (which is close to non). I can understand the Carpe part, but Jugulum? It turns out to mean something like "Go for the Throat" (that's Nanny Ogg's translation, not mine), which could be quite a hint towards the topic of this book...

After the tremendous Turn Coat , I was expecting big things from Changes and boy does this book live up to the promises. It's impossible to write about Changes without giving away a few spoilers - however I'm not going to mention anything you can't read on the back of the book itself. So the big new...

Cold Light of Day is a contemporary horror novel by Paul Cave. Student Josh Sawyer's passionate encounter with Anna, a beautiful and mysterious young woman, was one that would change his life forever. He must come to terms with Anna's deep, dark and terrifying secrets - that thrust him into a nightm...

Day Shift is the second novel in Charlaine Harris's Midnight Texas series, following on from the quite excellent novel Midnight Crossroad we reviewed in May last year. It's a welcome return to the inhabitants of the strange small cross-road town that is Midnight. There doesn't seem to be more than a...

There have been thousands of years of conflict between humans and parahumans, a war that's been happening in secret has finally reached an uneasy truce. But now this peace is threatened by the awakening of an unspeakable evil, a sadistic serial killer who is slaughtering teenage shapeshifters and ri...

Dracula Cha Cha Cha is the third novel in the Anno Dracula series, set in the alternative history of 1959 where Vampires are just another part of the population. This time we are in Rome as Vampires, intellectuals and other important people are gathering to witness the marriage of the count Dracul....

Dragonfly Falling is the second book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt sequence, published in 2009 and following directly on from Empire in Black and Gold. The premise of the whole series, just to get this out of the way early, is insect people. Tchaikovsky has built a secondary world in wh...

Empire of the Saviours is a very, very clever novel than manages to offer something different over the traditional fantasy fare, using tried and tested fantasy tropes - young boy from humble beginnings find he has incredible power - but then creating something quite different, fresh and unique that...

Set in an alternative world where the supernatural have the same rights as we do, Hard Spell is an urban fantasy novel by Justin Gustainis and follows the adventures of Stan Markowski, a detective of the Scranton PD’s Occult Crimes Unit. The "Supe" unit handles any crimes that have a supernatural el...

Hellbent sees the return of the sassy super thief Raylene - also known as Cheshire Red - who is back to her usual tricks, hired to retrieve a valuable magical artifact. This time however she is up against a very powerful Witch and must team up with x-Navy SEAL and fabulous drag queen Adrian deJesus;...

Kells Legend is the first volume in the Clockwork Vampires Chronicles and has been written by Andy Remic. Without warning came the vast albino army, the army of iron, invading Falanor from the north. To have any hope of survival a small band set off to warn the King. The band leaves quickly and with...

Krysta the Dark Queen is a dark fantasy novel by the author Pat Castaldo. Justice or revenge? was Krysta a saintly spirit dealing out divine justice or was she an evil ghoul, a vampire who carved a bloodthirsty path for her own revengeful malevolence? The first part of the book is taken up with the...

Back in May last year I reviewed a novel by Peter Koevari, a promising new Indie author who has been creating an epic fantasy series known as Legends of Marithia. This is the second novel in that series and follows straight on from the events of the previous book - Legends of Marithia: Prophecies Aw...

Legends of Marithia is a fantasy novel by Peter Koevari. After her sorceress mother and vampire father are horrifically murdered right in front of her, Kassina makes a pact with the Lord of Darkness Shindar and swears revenge over the lands responsible for her parents demise. With Sindar's help she...

Nekropolis is the first volume in a new series of fantasy horror, written by Tim Waggoner and is based on his novella Necropolis. Matt Richter is a former cop now a private eye with a big difference, he is a zombie (could happen to anyone really). A zombie private detective does have it's advantages...

Night Shift continues the story of the rich and rewarding urban fantasy series Midnight Texas by Charlaine Harris. Harris writes fiction that is comforting, warm and relaxing with a feeling of the familiar. Her characters are people you want to meet and (mostly) befriend. Those who frequent the litt...

Picus is one of those people who act as a magnet for trouble, disowned by his parents (or at least his quite scary mother) for not being blood-thirsty enough, hunted by the violent vampire Raben for the theft of an item that wasn't really his and wanted by the leader of the faie Queen Mab (the tooth...

Return to Canifis is the sequel to Betrayal at Falador, set within the Runescape Universe and written by T S Church. Varrock is considered to be one of the greatest cities in the known world, but even here danger lurks - people have been dissapearing, or their bodies discovered ripped apart. Some ar...

Soul Stealers is the sequel to the Andy Remic Epic novel - Kell's Legend, and the second volume in the Clockwork Vampire Chronicles. The indomniable Kell is still being hunted by the evil clockwork vampires and to make matters worse, he is now being tracked by two beautiful but deadly female vampire...

The Dresden Files are fast becoming a comfort read of mine. Jim Butcher writes in such a disarmingly warm, friendly manner that is quite compelling, relaxing and addictive. Summer Knight is the fourth book in the series and poor Dresden really seems to have hit rock bottom. With no cases, no money,...

Those good fellows over at Titan books have released a brand new edition of the best-selling sequel to Anno Dracula, complete with an additional novella. Continuing the alternative history tale where the vampire hunter Van Helsing was defeated by Dracula, bringing Vampirism into the open and for a t...

The world is a terrible place to live after the zombie apocalypse, but probably for none more so than a vampire.  Without humans, the blood supply is all dried up, unless you find a random animal.  The buildings are decayed and in ruin, with gaping holes the sunlight streams through and providing ea...

The Good, The Mad and the Undead follows on from the authors previous book A Heist Too Far which we were lucky enough to review last year. Here we are re-united with the dangerous, blue-skinned assassin Mallik who has split up with his comrades Dick and Jules in order to let the heat die down follow...

The Incorruptibles is a tightly paced novel that feels fresh, leaving behind characters to be pondered long after the story ends. Synopsis: On the edge of the Empire, a motley group of mercenaries protect a gluttonous governor and his family from the twisted evil that exists beyond the safety of the...

A one hundred and forty year old Vampire who is sworn to protect the President of the United States, now THAT is an interesting concept. It's the idea of the author Christopher Farnsworth who presents us with an rich urban fantasy that manages to honour some well known and much loved series while st...

The 25th. Discworld Novel the cover proudly states. And that makes it a fitting moment to take a closer look at Pratchetts Discworld and ask if there's something to be proud of. In my opinion (and I seem to be the only one writing this piece): Yes! I've read most of the Discworld novels, and while t...

Former Vampire turned powerful Mage Peter Octavian returns to investigate the small coastal town of Hawthorne in Massachusetts when the forces of darkness target the otherwise ordinary community. Since the Vatican's sorcerers are no more the magical barriers they spent hundreds of years building to...

White Knight marks the ninth book in Jim Butchers urban fantasy series featuring Chicago's first and only Wizard P.I. Regular visitors to SFBook may be aware that we are (slowly) reviewing the series. Those who haven't read any of the Dresden Files would be better starting at the beginning with Stor...

Dreams of Chaos, the first in a trilogy by Allen Stroud, is a companion piece to the computer game Chaos Reborn from Snapshot Games. Set in the 14 th Century, it explores an alternative history of our world mainly set between Europe and the Far East with copious amounts of wizardry and religious ord...

Blade Bound is the final instalment of Chloe Neill’s urban fantasy Chicagoland Vampire series.  It can be read as a standalone novel, but I recommend you start earlier in the series to get full enjoyment, reading them in reverse order will result in significant plot spoilers.  The protagonist, Merit...

A short warning before the review: Peace Talks is the first half of a single story that concludes in Battle Ground, and certain late-book events spill across both volumes. I have kept the major plot resolutions and the ending out, but if you want to come to the book entirely cold, bookmark this and...

I have always wondered how people can believe in some things but not others. If you have a world that has vampires roaming at night, what makes bloodsuckers so great that they get to be the only things that bump in the night? Ry Herman already introduced us to the idea of vampires, witches and a gli...

As you grow older you start to realise that people are not black and white, but shades of grey. The nicest people can do terrible things and even bad people can sometimes be good. This argument is hard to use with the likes of Demonologists, Necromancers, Mad Scientists and Vampires. What type of ev...

There are many reasons that I am a reviewer and not a writer and one of them is that I do not have that thing in my brain to produce simple, but great ideas. Speculating about the future or past and giving it a twist has made for some great science fiction and fantasy. What about a French Revolution...

When it comes to vampires, I understand that there is a rich tapestry of versions you can now read about, but I like mine to have that old fashioned appeal. The type of vampire that does not want to talk about their feelings or act like the average tween, but instead wants to wear lace frills and su...

I've been meaning to read this book for quite some time. It's been staring accusingly across the room. But I'm still trying to find time to read right now and it's not the most sveltely of shapes, coming in at a weighty 730+ pages. I finally gave in, and I'm glad I did. This does invariably mean how...

I have not read the synopsis of a book I am about to read for over twenty years, ever since I read a spoiler on the back of the novel that revealed the massive twist that occurred two thirds of the way through. I will have to add Series Titles to the list of things not to read as The Vengeance by Em...

Before we get started, given that this book is number 18 in the series, the review inevitably has spoilers for what's happened previously. This is unavoidable, but if you haven't read Battle Ground or indeed the 16 books before that, then this review isn't for you. Still here? Good. If you have been...