kblincoln's review
4.0
How do you describe a book that makes you cringe with the coarseness of the language and constant sexxoring of the main character, but that makes you keep reading just to find out what happens anyway? Oh yeah, that would be Staked.
Eric is a really, really powerful vampire who runs a strip club and keeps getting pretty much totally wasted by various factions of werewolves.
He just made his human girlfriend into a vampire, and her supposedly-dead little sister is out to seduce him. And he's being framed for the death of the local alpha werewolf's son (thus the constant wasting by aforementioned werewolves.)
If you like the gritty, male-centric urban fantasy of Jim Butcher or nightside by Simon Green, then you'll probably enjoy Eric and friends.
It was a pleasure to read this book just because of the different take on Urban Fantasy vampires. However, his girlfriend, Tabitha, while fascinating as a vehicle for "discovering" vampire qualities, got annoying with her "but he loves me" line. Still, I kept reading to the end, and some of the other ex-girlfriends and daughter cracked me up.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Doritos and Mountain Dew for the utter maleness of Eric's POV and yet how strangely compelling the story was.
Eric is a really, really powerful vampire who runs a strip club and keeps getting pretty much totally wasted by various factions of werewolves.
He just made his human girlfriend into a vampire, and her supposedly-dead little sister is out to seduce him. And he's being framed for the death of the local alpha werewolf's son (thus the constant wasting by aforementioned werewolves.)
If you like the gritty, male-centric urban fantasy of Jim Butcher or nightside by Simon Green, then you'll probably enjoy Eric and friends.
It was a pleasure to read this book just because of the different take on Urban Fantasy vampires. However, his girlfriend, Tabitha, while fascinating as a vehicle for "discovering" vampire qualities, got annoying with her "but he loves me" line. Still, I kept reading to the end, and some of the other ex-girlfriends and daughter cracked me up.
This Book's Food Designation Rating: Doritos and Mountain Dew for the utter maleness of Eric's POV and yet how strangely compelling the story was.
xeyra's review against another edition
4.0
It seems sometimes the urban fantasy genre has pretty much the same basic premise: badass girl who is special in some way fights bad guys while falling in love/having torrid affairs/engaging in love triangles with other special people. While I enjoy the genre, and haven't yet read enough of it to become completely and utterly tired of it, it is nice to find a book in the genre with a different sort of feel to it.
For one, Staked's protagonist is a guy. With all that comes with being a guy, including being an asshole who doesn't understand women and is absolutely stupid. And can't keep it in his pants. He's also kind of endearing in his cluelessness, even when you want to slap him. Eric has a good heart, which helps the likeability factor. He's also a totally Gary Stu power-wise but you can kind of let that pass because of his other character traits and flaws, including being completely dumb.
The female protagonist is a little different. It was not difficult to sympathise with Tabitha but it was easier to get frustrated at her because of her own blindness. She's strong and self-possessed, and I'm really glad she's turning out to be a pretty unique vampire in her own right, but she's also whiny and a little dumb and completely obsessed with making Eric love her and share with her a long immortal love life, even when he tries to dissuage her of such thoughts. As a woman reading it, it kind of makes you want to go 'gurrrl, snap out of it!'.
The tone of the book was an aspect I really liked. The comic timing was great, making for some really hilarious moments. Eric's dry sense of humor and his cluelessness made for an interesting rollercoaster of a ride. I liked the dual points of view. It provided a good insight into each character and allowed us to peak into different events happening in parallel. I finished the book wanting to know what the hell would happen to all these characters. What will the next books reveal about Eric? What will Tabitha do? What is Talbot? Will Eric find out about the wolf in sheep's clothing trying to manipulate him through sex?
Overall, I enjoyed this more than what I thought I would after the first chapters of idiotic maleness. And I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. At least it makes for something a little different.
For one, Staked's protagonist is a guy. With all that comes with being a guy, including being an asshole who doesn't understand women and is absolutely stupid. And can't keep it in his pants. He's also kind of endearing in his cluelessness, even when you want to slap him. Eric has a good heart, which helps the likeability factor. He's also a totally Gary Stu power-wise but you can kind of let that pass because of his other character traits and flaws, including being completely dumb.
The female protagonist is a little different. It was not difficult to sympathise with Tabitha but it was easier to get frustrated at her because of her own blindness. She's strong and self-possessed, and I'm really glad she's turning out to be a pretty unique vampire in her own right, but she's also whiny and a little dumb and completely obsessed with making Eric love her and share with her a long immortal love life, even when he tries to dissuage her of such thoughts. As a woman reading it, it kind of makes you want to go 'gurrrl, snap out of it!'.
The tone of the book was an aspect I really liked. The comic timing was great, making for some really hilarious moments. Eric's dry sense of humor and his cluelessness made for an interesting rollercoaster of a ride. I liked the dual points of view. It provided a good insight into each character and allowed us to peak into different events happening in parallel. I finished the book wanting to know what the hell would happen to all these characters. What will the next books reveal about Eric? What will Tabitha do? What is Talbot? Will Eric find out about the wolf in sheep's clothing trying to manipulate him through sex?
Overall, I enjoyed this more than what I thought I would after the first chapters of idiotic maleness. And I'm looking forward to reading more in the series. At least it makes for something a little different.
rclz's review
3.0
Staked is the first book in J.F. Lewis's Void City series. I read a third of it, almost 150 pages and it just isn't my kind of book. Not saying it's badly written just not my cup of tea.
gems_31's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, I've read mixed reviews about this book and I have to say I really rather enjoyed it.
The author drops you right in the story and your are as puzzled as the hero is as to what is happening. You are really along for the ride on trying to figure out if Eric has killed the Alph werewolves son?
The story moves at a good pace and the chapters with Tabitha, Erics recently turned vampire girlfriend are a good rest, though she has her own problems to deal with.
I rather liked Tabitha and I felt for her perdiciment. It seems that Eric dumps (or stakes) his girlfriends soon after he changes them.
I'm looking forward to reading the second book especially with the way the first book ended.
The author drops you right in the story and your are as puzzled as the hero is as to what is happening. You are really along for the ride on trying to figure out if Eric has killed the Alph werewolves son?
The story moves at a good pace and the chapters with Tabitha, Erics recently turned vampire girlfriend are a good rest, though she has her own problems to deal with.
I rather liked Tabitha and I felt for her perdiciment. It seems that Eric dumps (or stakes) his girlfriends soon after he changes them.
I'm looking forward to reading the second book especially with the way the first book ended.
nyxshadow's review against another edition
3.0
http://nyx-shadow.blogspot.com/2011/11/void-city-t1-un-pieu-dans-le-coeur-jf.html
wassereg11's review against another edition
2.0
I have always been a fan of Vampire books. I've also always been a fan of funny books. So when I went to the books store and they didn't have the next book in the series I was reading I had to choose a different series to pick up. It was between this book and another and ultimatly the reason I chose this book was because the reviews on the back said it was "Funny". False advertising people. It was not funny. I think I laughed once and even then it was a pity laugh. Although I can't give it an entirely poor review. The story for the most part was dull but it definatly picked up within the last hundred and fifty pages. Tabitha's story was a lot more interesting than Eric's story. I felt as though she had a lot more character. Eric had some character near the end when his daughter showed up. On the one hand I really like that but on the other the daughter reminded me too much of a grown-up-Claudia. Overall this book was ok. It kept me interested enough to not put it down completely but by the end I just wanted to finish it and get it over with. I will add this and it's following books to the "filler" bookshelf. They are not good enough for me to read just because I want to but if I am in between books or waiting for another to come up I'll read it.
bookstuff's review
3.0
Minus 1 star for the gross-out first 2 chapters. All the characters start out as completely stupid and unlikable. If you decide to stick it out past that it does get better.
blood_rose_books's review
3.0
J. F. Lewis: Staked In the first of a series, J. F. Lewis shows the reader just how wrong the vampire making process can go: Eric wakes up covered in blood, which normally would not be that bad of a thing being a vampire, but it is never a good thing when you don't remember whose blood is all over you, who you have killed and most of all being outside this close to sunrise (unless you have a death wish). These are just a few of Eric's overall issues. Add in that his girlfriend desperately wants him to turn her into a vampire and a religious based lycanthrope group wants to kill him, it's no wonder that Eric is "slightly" insane. Now he just has to survive long enough to figure all these aspects out. They never said being a vampire would be easy and it sure beats the alternative of being dead. The cover of the book does not do this book justice, and does not portray this book accurately as I think the book is way better than the cover dictates. However, this book was published in 2008 so that probably had something to do with it as it was covers like this one that sold back then. Really other than the main character owning a stripper joint (good place to get money and blood) the cover has nothing to do with the darker, funny and action orientated story that is on the inside. I'm not kidding this book seemed like such a contradiction to the cover that I was surprised with the book inside (but in my opinion it was a good surprise). Also the main character in this book is male, so I find it weird that it is possible Tabitha is the main focus the cover. Have you ever wondered what would happen to someone who was going through becoming a vampire only to be thought dead and embalmed part way through? I know I never ever thought of it, but Lewis did and lets just say what comes out isn't entirely whole and pretty quirky too. This is Eric's creation story, and i think this is one of my main reason why I liked him and this book as he is very different. You can really see that the embalming has had an affect on him, not so much physically but mentally for sure; in fact he is kind of insane at times (most times really), lacks any type of for thought and judgement and his memory is horrible though I guess his blackout moments do not help. Eric is loyal to a fault (well except when it comes to the women he is dating, but to his friends, children and those he has made into vampires, he is very loyal to them even when he shouldn't be). There were times when I liked Tabitha but I found more often than not she acted like a spoiled brat. Maybe this was Lewis' intention to really show the age difference between Eric and Tabitha as well as Marilyn and Tabitha but she was just whiny to me. I personally would have chose to have Greta more as the feature female in this story over Tabitha but you can tell that Lewis has big plans for her and really Greta seems a little bit crazy in her own right so I can understand Lewis not wanting two insane people for the leads. This book did have some flaws in the mystery aspect falls flat and the conclusion that takes Eric and his team/friends, forever to come to is really obvious (I mean really really obvious). So this was a bit of a let down for me in this book. Mystery was for sure not the high point of this book, where Lewis excelled though was in his creation of Eric. For me there was too much sex in the book, but that is just personal preference, as the scenes were not that long, just a few too many of them for my taste. Additionally, i did become annoyed with all the times that both Eric and Tabitha thought about sex or how hot some guy or girl was, but once again this is just personal preference. Although the mystery was lacking in this book, I was really intrigued with Eric as a character and the overall plot layout of the book that I ended up enjoying this book. I am looking forward to reading the next book and learning more about Eric. Enjoy!!!
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cassiecruel's review against another edition
4.0
Ok so this took longer that it should have, to be honest.
At the start I totally love Eric, and then I hate him, and then I like him and then I hate him again. So I guess I hate a love/hate relationship with him!
Now Tabitha I really love all the way through, though I think she should grow some balls and get over Eric and be with Tablot instead.
Through out the plot I would say some of it is predictable, like your best friend screwing you over? Yeah, saw that one coming! Though I couldn't figure the whole Rachel thing!
I love Talbot though, not sure what to make of Philip and does Greta have some sort of tic?
OMG what a cliff hanger! Where does this leave Eric and Tab? Now I totally need the next one!!!
Though I am guessing that Lewis will be killing someone off in the next one? If not, well I didn't see that coming, eh?
At the start I totally love Eric, and then I hate him, and then I like him and then I hate him again. So I guess I hate a love/hate relationship with him!
Now Tabitha I really love all the way through, though I think she should grow some balls and get over Eric and be with Tablot instead.
Through out the plot I would say some of it is predictable, like your best friend screwing you over? Yeah, saw that one coming! Though I couldn't figure the whole Rachel thing!
I love Talbot though, not sure what to make of Philip and does Greta have some sort of tic?
OMG what a cliff hanger! Where does this leave Eric and Tab? Now I totally need the next one!!!
Though I am guessing that Lewis will be killing someone off in the next one? If not, well I didn't see that coming, eh?