emhamill's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed Serbu's last novel, The Vampire's Protege, so much that I jumped at the chance to read this one. While I have to admit I was not as enamored of this particular story, I was not disappointed.
Xavier and Thomas's love story is set against the background of the French Revolution. It's a lush backdrop with plenty of real history to sink your teeth (or fangs) into.
The romance between a true servant of God and a vampire has tons of potential that gets lost in lovers' agony. I really wanted to love it but there were just too many stretches where the plot wasn't being moved along and instead there was simply yet another way for Thomas or Xavier to mourn the fact that they could not be together, and I found myself skipping ahead to see what was going to happen.
There are some brilliant characters, though--Xavier's sister Catherine, is a formidable presence, and Anne, the voodoo priestess, is wonderful. She shines on the page. Serbu's writing is lovely and I had a clear vision in my imagination of what was happening on the page.
I think the story would have been better served by cutting some of the chaff. It's not a bad book at all, just takes far too long to develop for my personal tastes. For lovers of vampires, though, it's certainly an entertaining book with a slow burn romance.
Xavier and Thomas's love story is set against the background of the French Revolution. It's a lush backdrop with plenty of real history to sink your teeth (or fangs) into.
The romance between a true servant of God and a vampire has tons of potential that gets lost in lovers' agony. I really wanted to love it but there were just too many stretches where the plot wasn't being moved along and instead there was simply yet another way for Thomas or Xavier to mourn the fact that they could not be together, and I found myself skipping ahead to see what was going to happen.
There are some brilliant characters, though--Xavier's sister Catherine, is a formidable presence, and Anne, the voodoo priestess, is wonderful. She shines on the page. Serbu's writing is lovely and I had a clear vision in my imagination of what was happening on the page.
I think the story would have been better served by cutting some of the chaff. It's not a bad book at all, just takes far too long to develop for my personal tastes. For lovers of vampires, though, it's certainly an entertaining book with a slow burn romance.
alexamp4's review
2.5
i wanted this to be good so badly. i tried so hard. It took me a while to realize how bad it is because its so inoffensive. It’s not horrible writing its just boring. Its like if a robot wrote a book. So its like yeah theres a plot here and stuff but you’re literally just telling me what happens and in the most boring way possible. Also it should have been split up into at least 2 books. Catherine’s plot line was too much. So sad about this one smh.
pagesandprozac's review against another edition
3.0
this had a lot of potential for me, especially as it combined three of my favourite things: vampires, priests, and the french revolution. unfortunately, however, it failed to deliver.
it began promisingly, with the beginnings of romance and the darkness of thomas' vampirism, but as we reached around a third of the book it started to drag, and by halfway it was far too slow. i like a slow burn as much as the next person, but this was too slow, especially as there wasn't much else going on in the periphery.
there weren't any plot twists or big reveals, which also let the story down a lot. if everything with marcel had been revealed later then that would have been quite effective, but we learn about him a few pages after he is introduced which takes out A LOT of the suspense.
overall, like i said, it had a lot of potential but the execution (no pun intended) was poor.
it began promisingly, with the beginnings of romance and the darkness of thomas' vampirism, but as we reached around a third of the book it started to drag, and by halfway it was far too slow. i like a slow burn as much as the next person, but this was too slow, especially as there wasn't much else going on in the periphery.
there weren't any plot twists or big reveals, which also let the story down a lot. if everything with marcel had been revealed later then that would have been quite effective, but we learn about him a few pages after he is introduced which takes out A LOT of the suspense.
overall, like i said, it had a lot of potential but the execution (no pun intended) was poor.
More...