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By: Sher A. Hart

This is the first book I’ve read by Julie Kagawa, and it’s very thick. Since I got bored reading another famous vampire novel, I thought this one would bore me too. Not so. That’s not to say the whole book was too exciting to put down. Kagawa paced her story well. Besides all the action, she gave readers stopping places by making small books within her big book. Smart strategy for a story this length. All the thrills of a horrific roller coaster ride where the operator will let you off if you need a break. I guarantee you’ll get back on as soon as you take care of life’s little necessities.

The main character, Allison, starts as a human hardened from living as an unregistered member of a street gang to avoid having to give blood to her city’s vampire Lord. The author does a good job creating a bleak picture of the city where Allison and her gang are starving in the fringe. The search for food outside the city in rabid territory is what sets the plot in motion. If you didn’t know Allison ends up as a vampire early on, check the blurb. Let’s just say there’s a lot of grief and death before Allison chooses to live as the undead. Read more…

I hear aspiring authors such as myself say it all the time. They say they are going to write a vampire novel because vampires are hot. They say they are going to write chick lot because that’s where the money is. They say they are going to write a novel about this teenage wizard because Harry Potter was a smashing success. They say they are going to write a post apocalyptic adventure with teens fighting each other and struggling to survive because, well, because look how many copy’s The Hunger Games has sold.

What these people are doing is writing for other people and trying to hop on a trend. They are not writing for themselves. And, if you ask me, it shows in their final products. I’ve read more than my share of these concoctions.

It seems that every time one of my friends opts to put up a novel on Amazon written in such a manner they ask my opinion on it. Ok, ignore the fact that vampire (the blood sucking type) novels are not really my thing. But I do like a good story. Note I said “good”. It doesn’t even have to be great! Read more…