Rating: 
Summary: A great tale set in a dark world!
Review: After a disastrous battle (not his fault...), David Valentine, leaves the caste of Wolves, joins the Cats, finds allies among the Kurian's slave soldiers, the Grogs, discovers the terrible secret behind the Twisted Cross and, finally, vanquishes this menace. The beauty is in the details. It is similar to the previous novel, Way of the Wolf, in the hero goes haring off on his own, but he has his reasons and the novel well written. In the previous novel, Mr. Knight did a great job forshadowing the Twisted Cross adversary that Valentine defeats in this novel, but, unless I missed something, he failed to hint at the direction the next novel will take. Even the same chapter from the next novel didn't seem to hint at it. Something about Thunderbolts: maybe we finally get to see some Bears in action? I read this in one night - I couldn't stop even though it was 3 AM. It really is that compelling.
Rating: 
Summary: Better than the first... but still bad
Review: After plodding through the torturous Way of the Wolf, I decided to yet again subject myself to the pain of reading this writer's work.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The first half of the book actually had a storyline, albiet another ridiculous and improbable one, but it was interesting nonetheless. The hero ends up under investigation for his actions... and I won't give away how that turns out.
However, once that part of the book is over, the tension in the book disappears. I felt the author should be subject to court-marshal. Valentine goes on vacation to train as a... ninja with catlike mutant powers? I couldn't continue reading after this. I finally gave up. There is absolutely NO reason for ninja to be showing up in this book.
The author suddenly starts giving people names like "Ryu" (meaning "dragon" in Japanese) thinking that this will give the book some nice Asian flavour. The hero trains in samurai swordsmanship even though he's supposed to be a spy. Note to author: Samurai and Ninja are not the same thing. Your creative license doesn't extend to enhancing stereotypes.
I'm firmly against western authors (and filmmakers... I'm talking about YOU, Mr. Tarantino!) trying this trick... because it just adds to the stereotypes about East Asia and reduces East Asians to mere caricatures: the venerable old karate master who substitutes cryptic phrases for actual wisdom, the eager young student who masters kung-fu in only a few days, honour, honour, honour... oh, what? There really is a difference between China and Japan? Who knew?
Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if the author had improved his technique, but unfortunately, this book is just more of the same. More overly long descriptions, more pointless verbosity and similes when simple words would be fine, more "neat-o" stunts and outfits that would be a lot cooler if this was a movie... but it's not, it's a book.
The author would do well to remember the difference between books and movies; and between ninja and samurai, too. While he's at it, get started on the differences between good and bad writing.
Avoid this book if you value your reading time. Read it if you're a 13 year old sci-fi fanatic with too much time on your hands.
Rating:
Summary: Vampire Earth developing into a good series
Review: Choice of the Cat, the second book by EE Knight in the Vampire Earth series continues the development of David Valentine as he continues his crusade against the ruling Kurians and the Twisted Cross. I enjoyed the book as the writing and dialogue moved well and the battle scenes are descriptive and flowing. Certain plot points resolve too quickly and neat, but on the whole the story does well in keeping the reader involved and interested. I was really intrigued by the change and gain of almost superhero powers that Valentine undergoes to become a "Cat". Knight does not pull any punches and his world is grim and savage where strength and brutality rule the day. Characters bleed, die, and are beset by doubts. It's been an interesting series so far and I would recommend this book. The best compliment I can give is that I wish it had been 100 pages longer. It's going to be interesting how and when Knight makes Valentine into a Bear. I hope not soon as I can see more books in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner
Review: Damn! New writers within the last 5 years have been blowing the old war horses away with there originality and talent.
E.E. Knight continues his Vampire Earth series that he started in Way of the Wolf, about a Army officer named David Valentine, in a near future earth that has been conqured by the vampiric Kurians.
Knight does it again with Choice of the Cat, this time he goes beyond the military/horror fiction he has created and done one better. He goes action/adventure.
After making a command decision that saves the lives of his men, Valentine is court martialed. However Valentine is offered a position in the Cats. Like the Wolves, the Cats are enhanced or "awakened" humans. Valentine retains the gifts he recieved as a Wolf, but he gains other skills needed to being a scout, spy and assasin.
Working with a partner, and working deep within enemy territory Valentine explores more of the Vampire Earth.
I love this book, and I am loving this series. Kudos and keep up the good work!
Rating:
Summary: Still Good
Review: Drummed out of the Wolves on trummped up charges of cowardace David Valentine undertakes another difficult assinment...become a cat. I will not spoil the book for you but rest easy Knight has lost none of his talent here. If anything the story seems more centralized than the first installment of the serise(thats a good thing). I am just waiting for the next book in this serise they are truely a breath of freash air.
Rating:
Summary: First Book Not a Fluke
Review: E. E. Knight's sophomore effort is another excellent entry in his post-alien invasion series of the Vampire Earth. Again combining elements of sf, fantasy and horror in intriguing and exciting ways, this novel has a more focused mission than its predecessor, as protagonist David Valentine becomes a Cat, another type of enhanced fighter in the human resistance. Knight's characters are fascinating and three-dimensional. There are no easy answers to the occupation by the Kurian Order, and Knight's characters and plot reflect this. Many new ideas are introduced, such as the cleverly described mobile ranching communities of the Midwest. A character of a race once thought of only as the enemy becomes Valentine's ally. There are scenes of stunning and explosive violence, mixed with scenes of quiet introspection and melancholy. The post-apocalyptic world-building is believable . . . and we come to care about what happens to these people. Knight's developing maturity as a writer is evident in his surprising and moving climax, which manages to define the true nature of heroism better than most speculative adventure fiction on the market. Give this superb series a try, and you will be eagerly awaiting, as am I, the third volume, Tale of the Thunderbolt.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner
Review: E.E.Knight has crafted another winner, and if anything Choice of the Cat surpasses its predecessor, Way of the Wolf. Choice of the Cat hurtles into action within the first pages and rarely lets up the pace. Even those moments designed to let the reader catch a breath are riddled with tension and fascinating information--Knight wastes no words. His futuristic dystopia is well thought out and richly envisioned, although information about it is never dumped--answers to its mysteries are doled out in enticing spoonfulls. Among Knight's many strengths is his descriptive power, and he conveys the dilemmas and obstacles his protagonist, David Valentine, faces, with depth. The lands through which Valentine travel come alive. Look to other reviews for plot summaries. Let me end simply with this. Search elsewhere if you seek for whining, blood-sucking souls trapped in an undead life they did not want. That ground was too well-tread for Knight, who fashioned something new. If you crave a great science fiction adventure novel, crammed with action and exciting situations, brimming with thrilling scenes and impossible-to-predict plot points, you will be in good hands with E.E. Knight. His series is a keeper, and I predict this writer will be with us for some time to come!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: I am utterly use to second novels not measuring up to the first. Knight has dispelled that worry completely in his second installment "Choice of the Cat." There is just as much intrigue, action, humor, and human flaws (if not more) than the first. I especially like the way he chooses to not repeat, or flashback, to the previous book, like so many other novelist do. These recalls for those who don't remember what happened before slow down the flow of the text. This can definitely be a stand alone novel, although, I would highly DEMAMD you read the first for the simple reason it is just that GOOD! For those of you who can't figure it out by the title, Valentine leaves the Wolves (not that he is given much of a choice) and is recruited (another nonchoice) as a Cat. He devils deeper to discover a new enemy. One that was only hinted at in the first novel. Remember the Zoo? and the weird human that killed and "drank" from captured girl in that slave/brothel like room?
Rating:
Summary: Memorable Characters, in a scary world...
Review: I did not review, Way of the Wolf, Book One of VAMPIRE EARTH... I don't know why, I loved it, but there was something about Choice of the Cat that pulled me in hard and fast. I think that thing was Smoke... A brash and talented Cat, who saves most of a Wolf Platoon, and later takes David Valentine... Ghost... to become a Cat. A cat is an elite assasin, and talented at Sabotage... David comes more out of his shell, and is more inclined to help the little person he randomly comes across... rather than just those he loves. "I am the one who comes for the authorites in the night..." A very powerful line from this novel.
Rating:
Summary: A samurai sword wielding vampire killer in a "Mad Max" world
Review: I love books and films that break or meld genres and that element is the strong point of this series. It's mix of horror, a post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" world, Old West frontier towns, and a touch of Japanese samurai & ninja elements that make for a captivating milieux that, despite a lack of psychological depth that I expect out of my favorite authors, somehow manages to hook you in with the heady combination of action and moments of great dialogue. E.E. Knight has a knack for Old West expressions and this dialogue gives the series a levity that counterbalances nicely with the gritty and sometimes gory action set in the apocalyptic dystopia of future America.
I enjoyed this second book more than the first. I found some of the characters in the first book, while entertaining, to be somewhat cliche. In this second book however, Alessa Duvalier, the Cat hunter that Valentine encounters, is a brave and sassy but maybe slightly crazy girl with a hidden past. Her unpredictability, combined with some genuinely funny dialogue with Valentine, make her one of my favorite characters in the series. I can't pigeon hole her in a standard archetype, like I could with many of Knight's other characterizations. This makes her intriguing and infuses the book with a sense of wild abandonment, that anything can truly happen both in the storyline and in her interactions with the main protagonist, Valentine, that I believe, gives an added element of suspense to the reader.
While I wouldn't rate this series up there with some of my favorite series of all-time, atleast not yet, I will still however gladly buy the next installments as they come out.
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