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A review by accidentalra
A Vile Season by David Ferraro
4.0
I love it when an author takes well-worn tropes and twists them just enough that the resulting novel simultaneously feels comfortingly familiar and unexpected. Make no mistake—this is exactly what David Ferraro achieves with A Vile Season.
Told in the first person from the perspective of Lucian, a vampire-made-mortal who's tasked with gaining information and winning the hand of a rising duke to regain his immortality, A Vile Season is perfectly balanced between plot- and character-driven. There are enough scenes of pursuit and attack to satisfy a vampiric bloodlust without ever overshadowing Lucian's character development as he wrestles with how the return of his humanity affects him. The novel is also really well-paced, never dragging or seeming needlessly bloated. Every scene moves the plot forward, and every character adds nuance.
My one complaint is that some of the third-act developments felt rushed. Not bad, per se, but much too abrupt and tidy for the overall feel of the novel.
Still, I wholeheartedly recommend A Vile Season for anybody seeking a fresh take on vampire fiction, for gothic fiction lovers, and for those who appreciate clean romance.
[I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.]
Told in the first person from the perspective of Lucian, a vampire-made-mortal who's tasked with gaining information and winning the hand of a rising duke to regain his immortality, A Vile Season is perfectly balanced between plot- and character-driven. There are enough scenes of pursuit and attack to satisfy a vampiric bloodlust without ever overshadowing Lucian's character development as he wrestles with how the return of his humanity affects him. The novel is also really well-paced, never dragging or seeming needlessly bloated. Every scene moves the plot forward, and every character adds nuance.
My one complaint is that some of the third-act developments felt rushed. Not bad, per se, but much too abrupt and tidy for the overall feel of the novel.
Still, I wholeheartedly recommend A Vile Season for anybody seeking a fresh take on vampire fiction, for gothic fiction lovers, and for those who appreciate clean romance.
[I received an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.]