Rise of the Revenants:
Vampyres are on the loose in Detroit, and novice hunter Taz Cohen is on the job. The mission seems simple: stop the vamps. But Taz knows nothing about the mythical creatures, so he’s in for the fight of his life. Then he meets insanely attractive construction worker Darren Foster, who jumps into the battle with both feet. Sparks and bullets fly as they struggle against the vampyre horde and their attraction to each other. Avoiding gruesome death from the undead might be easier than shielding their hearts from each other.
Legacy of Blood and Death:
For Javi Navarro, Detroit will become another blood-splattered city in his rearview mirror after he puts its dead back into the ground. Expecting an easy hunting job, Javi instead finds a kiss of ancient vampyres on the hunt for a descendant of their long-dead creator. Reclusive Ciarnan Mac Gerailt abandoned his family legacy of blood and death magic after it nearly destroyed him. Unfortunately for Ciarnan, the Motor City can only be saved if he resumes his dark arts and joins forces with Javi Navarro, the hunter who brought the vampyre apocalypse—and hope for the future—straight to Ciarnan’s front door.
Prologue: The prologue is a smidge confusing at first and I really don’t think it’s just me. Although, it could totally be me, but I kind of doubt it. There are a couple of pages that set up the scene in the basement of the speakeasy, but you really don’t have any facts you can relate to just yet, so it was a bit of a mystery as to what was actually going down. In the next bit we meet the MC’s of the two upcoming stories, Taz and Javi and learn their roles in Creature Feature 2. After you read their setup, go back and read the first couple of pages again and you’ll be good. Basically, Taz and Javi are looking for two dudes, the descendants of a couple of mages who they believe the revenants will flock to now that they’ve escaped out into the world.
Rise of the Revenants by Poppy Dennison
Wow, what a ride. A horrifyingly bloody and really super fun ride. I’m not a fan of sparkly-Dom-hero-type vampires and there is NOTHING like that in Rise of the Revenants. These are the kind of vampirical creatures I like. Single minded and zombie like, these guys are a nightmare. They aren’t vampires, they’re vampyres. The “y” is evil. Taz Cohen is a werewolf hunter, but he’s called in to help with the epic infestation of Detroit. The whole city is in danger and no one really knows what flavor apocalypse is coming, just that it’s gonna be a doozy if Taz and Javi can’t stop it yesterday.
The sites where vampire activity is the strongest have one thing in common and that commonality leads Taz to meet Darren. Darren is an electrician’s apprentice recovering from a broken heart and is just a really nice guy. Darren and Taz have some serious sparks between them, but a vampyre apocalypse isn’t optimal to begin a new relationship. Doesn’t mean they can’t release a little tension in the meantime though. We all enjoyed that.
All kinds of action and mayhem ensue and it was a tense and engaging read. I had a lot of fun reading how Taz, Darren and the crew battled the baddies. It did get a little confusing at times and I think for me it was just because there were a lot of characters introduced in a short period of time and given the length of the story I didn’t get a chance to get them all settled in my head before we were under attack again. The wrap up was quick and I would have liked more resolution for Taz and Darren. I was told they were going to be happy, I just didn’t get a chance to see it. I liked both characters a lot and I wanted that for them.
Legacy of Blood and Death by Rhys Ford
You know who writes some great fucking horror stories? Rhys Ford, that’s who. I love the demented shit that flows from her keyboard and Legacy of Blood and Death was no exception. The vampyre<-----heed the horror of the “y”, hunt continues and now we’re getting Javi’s half of the tale. Javi’s story runs concurrently with Taz’s, so a lot of bad is going down at one time in Rock City and if these two can’t figure out how to stop it with the help of the mage’s descendants then apocalyptic type hell will be raining down on the city in the form of bloodthirsty vampyres.
Ciarnan is a “reformed” blood mage who quit magic when some bad shit went down and he lost everyone near to him, everyone except for Shaddock, his dark fae sidekick. She was wounded badly and Ciarnan sacrificed his own healing to save her. After that he gave up the addictive and destructive nature of the magic and lived a quiet life with Shaddock and Elric, his ever patient wolf/dog protector. There isn’t a lot of detail about what happened to make Ciarnan quit. There was enough information inferred so I knew enough to understand why. I would have liked to read about it though. Rhys Ford writes epic horror battles (Hellsinger anyone?) so I know it would be a goodie.
Javi tracks down Ciarnan and he’s nothing like Javi expected. He’s not evil, he’s slightly broken and he’s hot like the noon day sun. As expected and much like Taz and Darren, sparks fly, but these two also have their hands full trying to stop the onslaught of vampyres. Remember that this is going on at the same time as Taz’s story, so they have no idea how many vampyres are still loose so there is always an air of tension and doom even after a vampyre goes down. They manage to find some comfort while they gear up for the showdown, and I was a big fan yet again. Said showdown was bloody and gory and scary and I LOVED it.
Epilogue: I’m really glad there was an epilogue to bring the four men together at the end. Our MC’s live to fight and love another day and plans are made for the future.
This was an excellent pair of horror stories and you definitely need to know that they are horror stories before you dive in. There is romance, but when doom and a possible apocalypse are hanging over your head it’s hard to start a romance in the traditional sense. So, keeping that in mind I want you to be able to appreciate what great stuff is in here without looking for what isn’t. I completely enjoyed the whole package and would highly recommend it for a unique take on all things horrific and sexy.
***a copy of this story was provided for an honest review***
Hmmmm, now read two of Rhys books, this hasn't grabbed me with the "drop everything, you gotta read this first" feeling that I normally get when reading your reviews, so I'll put in on my "maybe" list and think about it?
ReplyDelete