angielisle's review
4.0
I was asked to read this book for free in exchange for a review and was torn about accepting it until I saw a review that said no vampires fall in love. Promise fulfilled!
I like gory vampires who don't care about their victims, but I'm not a huge fan of military/spy-genres. This book is both of those things - unromantic vampires take on a communist USSR in 1938-1939. I had no idea who I was supposed to root for - the murderous fiendish vamps or the bloodsucking commies!
Mr. Ribot draws on traditional Eastern European vampire myths, throwing in the USSR for setting and mood, even using a depiction of the region's long-standing attitude toward the LGBTQ to illustrate the USSR's treatment of civil rights, while the narration verges toward splatter-punk and not the highly symbolic romantic goth that we're accustomed to reading with modern vampire stories. This merging of traditions allows Mr. Ribot to take a lot of information and throw it at the reader in his own way, which kept me on my toes about guessing the ending. I didn't know what to expect next.
I like gory vampires who don't care about their victims, but I'm not a huge fan of military/spy-genres. This book is both of those things - unromantic vampires take on a communist USSR in 1938-1939. I had no idea who I was supposed to root for - the murderous fiendish vamps or the bloodsucking commies!
Mr. Ribot draws on traditional Eastern European vampire myths, throwing in the USSR for setting and mood, even using a depiction of the region's long-standing attitude toward the LGBTQ to illustrate the USSR's treatment of civil rights, while the narration verges toward splatter-punk and not the highly symbolic romantic goth that we're accustomed to reading with modern vampire stories. This merging of traditions allows Mr. Ribot to take a lot of information and throw it at the reader in his own way, which kept me on my toes about guessing the ending. I didn't know what to expect next.
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