leelah's review against another edition
2.0
2,5 stars
Ambitious take on most romanticized monster in fiction by debut author. :)
Well, to call it a story about vampires wouldn't be exactly accurate, since story is more focused on sick obsession one twin has with his brother- in fact, every thing that happened in this book can be tracked to this.
Triggers: Ok, I think this is a good place to write one thing I was wondering when I was musing should I buy this book: does this book feature twincest or not? When I read the blurb for the first time, it gave off that vibe and I am not fan, so I went reading reviews to get a straight answer. The book does not feature twincest. Olivier is crazy-obssesed with his brother but it's not only sexual..he wants to have all of him for himself. It has some sexual overtones due to his all-consuming obsession.
As for other triggers, there is one noncon sex scene.
Some things I liked about this book, some not so much.
Stuff I liked:
1) Well, this story spans over centuries. It's divided into 3 parts: with first happening in France during XIV century; second part is XVIII century Germany and third part is present time Australia. I think, that when you write immortal creature it gives you a great opportunity to play with timeline and write different setting. I love when authors use that. :)
2)I liked that vampires written here were written to be truly dangerous. They are monsters with thirst for blood and they don't hesitate to kill. I don't like when vampires are written like human with fangs and different diet- I always love to see when bite change something fundamental in a person that makes him/her less human. And that was achieved here... even a good twin (and I use good here in a very broad sense) was a monster.
3)Plot driven story - Author tells an interesting story, and this was one full of twists and surprises.
4)Premise of sick obsession- This can be really great plot device. It's extremely passionate motivation that can give birth to some really intense scenes; scenes tied to high stakes. The fact it's an obsession Olivier has with his twin brother? Well, you have one sick puppy right there and you just know he will wreck havoc.
Stuff I didn't like:
1)What I loved about vampires was unfortunately deluded with vague , confusing and somewhat messily explanation of entire process and rules of their functioning. So, these vampires need blood to survive, but apparently can eat some food, it's just tasteless to them.They have no issues with sunlight, the way to kill them is also not explained completely. They can go without blood for some time, but it makes them... sick? That seems kind of organic process to me, but then it was also mentioned that Olivier is feeding on attention, that it makes him stronger...which alludes to magical process...?
And why only one of them? I honestly don't know. Like I said, I have no idea what kind of vampires they are, because it seems that author added these little details later or he wrote it like he presumed we already know how it works. Same thing can be applied to their sister and her power.
2)Characterization - I never really grew on Thierry. He was supposed to be the guy I should root for and yet I found Olivier and his manic, cartoonish evilness immensely more fun. Thierry was just so bland and apathetic for majority of novel... He simply wasn't interested.. Also his actions seem at times in direct conflict with his thoughts.. I never really grasped his feelings for his brother: I understood he always hated him, yet he did many things for Olivier voluntarily.
3)Telling, not showing. Ok, this is an issue that can be overlooked because this is author's first novel, but I still think it's good to be mentioned. For example:
Now, this is incredibly important thing about Olivier's character, but we didn't even get a chance to conclude it ourselves. We were just told it is. And this happened often in novel... Sometimes I have a feeling that debut authors are afraid readers are not going to understand what they are trying to achieve with their characters, so they overwrite it. It happened here as well.
4)Time gaps - this is partially tied to previous problem, but I feel like we missed some important things in character development with skipping centuries between parts. Some scenes, some events were briefly mentioned and I felt like they were extremely important for relationship Thierry and Olivier have.
5)Cliffhanger ending.
I saw that author is working on a sequel, so I guess we'll get conclusion.
In terms of story, this has a lot of potential. It's an easy read you can read in one setting; it's fast-paced and there is no dull moment. The thing is that with the way this story is delivered and simplistic narration, it actually lacks suspense and I think that would make this book much better read. :)
Ambitious take on most romanticized monster in fiction by debut author. :)
Well, to call it a story about vampires wouldn't be exactly accurate, since story is more focused on sick obsession one twin has with his brother- in fact, every thing that happened in this book can be tracked to this.
Triggers: Ok, I think this is a good place to write one thing I was wondering when I was musing should I buy this book: does this book feature twincest or not? When I read the blurb for the first time, it gave off that vibe and I am not fan, so I went reading reviews to get a straight answer. The book does not feature twincest. Olivier is crazy-obssesed with his brother but it's not only sexual..he wants to have all of him for himself. It has some sexual overtones due to his all-consuming obsession.
As for other triggers, there is one noncon sex scene.
Spoiler
But not between twins, just to be clear.Some things I liked about this book, some not so much.
Stuff I liked:
1) Well, this story spans over centuries. It's divided into 3 parts: with first happening in France during XIV century; second part is XVIII century Germany and third part is present time Australia. I think, that when you write immortal creature it gives you a great opportunity to play with timeline and write different setting. I love when authors use that. :)
2)I liked that vampires written here were written to be truly dangerous. They are monsters with thirst for blood and they don't hesitate to kill. I don't like when vampires are written like human with fangs and different diet- I always love to see when bite change something fundamental in a person that makes him/her less human. And that was achieved here... even a good twin (and I use good here in a very broad sense) was a monster.
3)Plot driven story - Author tells an interesting story, and this was one full of twists and surprises.
4)Premise of sick obsession- This can be really great plot device. It's extremely passionate motivation that can give birth to some really intense scenes; scenes tied to high stakes. The fact it's an obsession Olivier has with his twin brother? Well, you have one sick puppy right there and you just know he will wreck havoc.
Stuff I didn't like:
1)What I loved about vampires was unfortunately deluded with vague , confusing and somewhat messily explanation of entire process and rules of their functioning. So, these vampires need blood to survive, but apparently can eat some food, it's just tasteless to them.They have no issues with sunlight, the way to kill them is also not explained completely. They can go without blood for some time, but it makes them... sick? That seems kind of organic process to me, but then it was also mentioned that Olivier is feeding on attention, that it makes him stronger...which alludes to magical process...?
And why only one of them? I honestly don't know. Like I said, I have no idea what kind of vampires they are, because it seems that author added these little details later or he wrote it like he presumed we already know how it works. Same thing can be applied to their sister and her power. 2)Characterization - I never really grew on Thierry. He was supposed to be the guy I should root for and yet I found Olivier and his manic, cartoonish evilness immensely more fun. Thierry was just so bland and apathetic for majority of novel... He simply wasn't interested.
Spoiler
600 y he suffered because of his bond with his twin brother and he only came around to asking his sister to remove it at the end?! I am simply not buying it.3)Telling, not showing. Ok, this is an issue that can be overlooked because this is author's first novel, but I still think it's good to be mentioned. For example:
"He rode his violent tendencies with a firm hand, each act of cruelty carefully meted out."
Now, this is incredibly important thing about Olivier's character, but we didn't even get a chance to conclude it ourselves. We were just told it is. And this happened often in novel... Sometimes I have a feeling that debut authors are afraid readers are not going to understand what they are trying to achieve with their characters, so they overwrite it. It happened here as well.
4)Time gaps - this is partially tied to previous problem, but I feel like we missed some important things in character development with skipping centuries between parts. Some scenes, some events were briefly mentioned and I felt like they were extremely important for relationship Thierry and Olivier have.
5)Cliffhanger ending.
I saw that author is working on a sequel, so I guess we'll get conclusion. In terms of story, this has a lot of potential. It's an easy read you can read in one setting; it's fast-paced and there is no dull moment. The thing is that with the way this story is delivered and simplistic narration, it actually lacks suspense and I think that would make this book much better read. :)
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