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Throughout the shadowy world of ghosts and demons there is no figure so terrible, no figure so dreaded and abhorred, yet dight with such fearful fascination, as the vampire, who is himself neither ghost nor demon, but yet who partakes the dark natures and and possesses the mysterious and terrible qualities of both.
Montague Summers -
Hemovore – Jordan Castillo Price
Mark Hansen thought working as artist’s assistant would be glamorous, especially if that artist was a vampire. Black tie events, witty repartee, gracing the pages of the local style section…. Didn’t happen. Not even once.
Jonathan Varga is an enigma. True, he’s quiet, generous, and scrupulously polite. But he has zero social life, refuses to be interviewed or photographed, and insists he can only consume feline blood.
Why supermarket blood won’t suffice, Mark hasn’t asked. He’s rarely at a loss for words—he can dish an insult and follow it with a snap as quick as you can say “Miss Thang.” But one look at Jonathan’s black-as-sin gypsy eyes, and Mark’s objections drain away.
So he endures the perpetual grind of their routine: Jonathan hiding in his studio, swiping black paint onto black canvases. Mark hurling insults while he buffs the office to a shine with antiviral wipes. Each of them avoiding the other in a careful choreography…until a blurb in Art in America unleashes a chain of harrowing events.
As secrets from Jonathan’s past are brought to light, it becomes clear that all his precautions weren’t nearly enough.
When I finished listening to Hemovore, I didn’t know what to make of it. But after thinking about it for a couple of days, I realized there were a lot of things I liked and the ending (Sweet, the novellete at the end the audiobook) was what really made it. It was perfect. My favorite part was that cake tasting scene with Mona. Expect tears.
I’m really digging JCP’s take on vampires. While vampirism as a virus is not new, rather than making it as an convenient excuse for people to turn into bloodsucking monsters, here, it was treated like the deadly virus it is. Every precaution was taken to avoid contamination. Stringent sterilization measures, safety gloves, disinfectant wipes, everything. The world building is also outstanding. The alternate contemporary universe vividly portrayed the dichotomy of the V+ and V- cases.
I also liked Jonathan’s black on black paintings. Some artist should do that in real life and have the images be visible under black light or UV light. That sort of thing would be really cool or then again, it would be really pretentious.
Stories that involved journeys, traveling, quests or running away tend to be a drag for me because it always feels like I would never see the end of it but here, the pacing was just right. I liked how JCP kept the suspense tight.
It helps that there were a lot going on from meeting the V+ help group to the pathetic but creepy rat man and finally that showdown with Lazlo.
I’m a bit on the fence about the romance at the beginning. It seemed to start out as one-sided but gradually won me over especially at the end though it never reached squee-inducing levels. Most times I enjoyed Mark’s sass and oh so gay references but sometimes, just sometimes he could be such a drama queen. Jonathan’s Bela Lugosi accent is, at times, hard to take seriously not because the narrator, Joel Leslie, was bad at it (his delivery was spot on as usual) but because I have heard it used as a bad joke too many times. Nonetheless Mark and Jonathan turned out to be a cute power couple. These two fought so hard to be together they deserve all the happiness they can get
So while it didn’t really blow me away, I’m glad to say my first Jordan Castillo Price novel was a win.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: The Blood is Love
Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Album:Lullabies to Paralyze(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33978361-hemovore)
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Cronin’s Key: Cronin’s Key II – N.R. Walker
History isn’t always what it seems.
With the battle of Egypt behind them, Alec and Cronin are enjoying the thrill of new love. Though fate doesn’t wait long before throwing them back into the world of weird.
They know Alec’s blood is special, though its true purpose still eludes them. And given Alec’s inability to be changed into a vampire, Cronin is free to drink from him at will. But the ramifications of drinking such powerful blood starts a ripple effect.
With the help of Jorge, a disturbing vampire-child with the gift of foresight, Alec and Cronin face a new kind of war. This time their investigations lead them to the borders of China and Mongolia—but it’s not what lies in the pits beneath that worries Alec.
It’s the creator behind it all.
In the underground depths of China, amidst a war with the Terracotta Army, they will find out just what the Key is, and what Alec means to the vampire world.
Well, it went downhill, didn’t it. Book 1 charmed me with major USTs, Gaelic endearments, multitude of accents and Egyptology. Book 2, unfortunately, turned into a boring fuckfest between Cronin and Alec. It didn’t help that the other vampires were listening in all the time and Eiji kept laughing at them. If book 1 was well-paced if info-dumpy, here I could feel the drag. So much so that I no longer care about the big mystery of Alec’s blood. All the Gaelic endearments in the world couldn’t save this one for me. DNF.
Rating
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Every Weekday
Artist: Camera Obscura
Album: Desire Lines(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25429279-cronin-s-key-ii)
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Cronin’s Key – N.R. Walker
NYPD Detective Alec MacAidan has always been good with weird. After all, his life has been a string of the unexplainable. But when an injured man gives him cryptic clues, then turns to dust in front of him, Alec’s view on weird is changed forever.
Cronin, a vampire Elder, has spent the last thousand years waiting for Alec. He’d been told his fated one would be a man wielding a shield, but he didn’t expect him to be human, and he certainly didn’t expect that shield to be a police badge.
Both men, strong-willed and stubborn, are still learning how to cope with the push and pull of being fated, when fate throws them another curveball.
Rumors have spread quickly of turmoil in Egypt. Covens are fleeing with news of a vampire who has a talent like no other, hell-bent on unleashing the wrath of Death.
Alec and Cronin are thrown into a world of weird Alec cannot imagine. What he learned in school of ancient pharaohs and Egyptian gods was far from the truth. Instead, he finds out firsthand that history isn’t always what it seems.
This is what Twilight should have been like had it not been so focused on that love triangle and tackled serious vampire business instead.
N.R. Walker rewrites what we know of the entire human civilization, interweaving vampire lore into human history. The majority of the book sets about world building which, although info dumpy, was highly appreciated because the questions Alec asked were what I would have asked myself. Even with the info dump, the pacing was just right, with events taking place mostly in Cronin’s posh apartment, plus sojourns to Scotland and Egypt in a span of few days. The vampire Elders, Cronin and fated pair Eiji and Jodis (he’s Japanese and can read DNA, she’s Nordic and can freeze liquids), Alec and other coven members were researching and preparing for a confrontation with Queen Keket who wants Alec. Keket was a new vampire who can resurrect the dead and in the grand tradition of villains everywhere, was hellbent on taking over the world. The battle was exciting, however, I do find the Egypt part slightly anti-climactic because the vampire queen, was defeated a little too easily. There were heart-stopping moments when a couple of the major characters had close calls but overall, this part felt rushed.
Cronin’s Key talks about the fated one, the ionndrainn cridhe in Gaelic, which explains the insta-attraction part. The experience was new to both Alec and Cronin and what I liked about it was that the two did the sensible thing, taking it slow and taking time to get to know each other instead of jumping into the nearest convenient bed despite the magnetic attraction between them. It was pretty cute how coven Elder and ancient vampire Cronin (ginger, Scottish, purrs like a cat) gets all shy and tender then possessive and growly around Alec. Alec (brilliant NYPD detective, sarcastic as hell) tried to resist but couldn’t deny what’s going on between them. Some might not be into slow burn this slow but I enjoyed the dance of want and self-denial between the fated pair. When it comes to OTPs, I’m all for delayed gratification.
History buffs, especially those into Egyptology, would enjoy Walker’s take on Egyptian mythology. MM readers would love the combination of insta-love and slow build romance. I enjoyed all of the above in addition to the humor, sarcasm, bad ass secondary characters and of course, outstanding voice acting by Joel Leslie, also narrator of Broken. Cronin’s Key was a veritable united nations of vampires but he pulled off each character really well.
And oh, Gaelic for extra kicks! To my untrained ear, it sounds like a language with a lot of rrr’s, like a lion’s rumble. Here’s my favorite part, when Alec was attacked by the Russian vampires:
Alec was pressed up against the living room wall, his heart beating so damn hard it felt as though it would stop. He was safe, he knew he was, because it was Cronin who pressed against him. His scent was like a balm, soothing and warm. Cronin’s hands pressed to Alec’s face. “Rug mi ort, rug mi ort,” he whispered over and over. It was Gaelic, though Alec had no clue what it meant. Cronin pressed his cheek to Alec’s. His eyes were closed. “Sàbhailtcachd, m’cridhe.”
Which translates to: ‘It’s okay, I have you, I have you.’ ‘You are safe, my heart.’Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Rilkean Heart
Artist: Cocteau Twins
Album: Milk & Kisses(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24830211-cronin-s-key)
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Bureau: Clay White – Kim Fielding
Someone—or something—is murdering young men in San Francisco. Clay White has been fired from the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, but he’s determined to track down the killer. When he comes across a vampire named Marek, Clay assumes he’s caught the perp. But the encounter with Marek turns out to be more complicated than Clay expected, and it forces him to deal with his own troubled past and murky psyche. As Clay discovers, sometimes the truth doesn’t come easy—and the monsters are not who we expect.
I’m happy that Tenrael and Charles made appearances and it was great how everybody was working together.
For this installment, we get vampires. I haven’t read a vampire story in quite a while and Clay White, the story did just fine. It’s a hunt for a serial killer who left desiccated corpses so bloodsuckers were the obvious suspects. Clay White, the titular character was approached by a vampire, Marek, who offered to help him find the killer. They did find the killer or rather the killer found Clay. The rescue scene kind of just happened really fast (was all a blur to Clay) so I think the focus is really on Clay, what he is about and his transformation. The attraction between Clay and Marek was a given and there was nothing really new but Kim Fielding still managed to hold my interest. So far, this series is looking really good. Can’t wait for book three.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Funtime
Artist: Iggy Pop
Album: The Idiot(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36316189-clay-white)
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Lestat: No one could resist me, not even you, Louis.
Louis: I tried.
Lestat: [smiling] And the more you tried, the more I wanted you.Interview with the Vampire
