Rating: 
Summary: A promising new series
Review: I must say that there were some elements taken from other sources into creating a good storyline for this book. I say it somehow worked. A particular friend of mind thought this book was a rip-off of Blade with a fantasy twist. I beg to differ. To be honest, I particularly really cared the bad guys (Rashed and his gang) more than the main characters. To me, I felt that they had a passion of who they were and proud of it. I was totally mesmerized by them and thier past. Parts of me wished that they were the main charaters of the book. This is the first time I was rooting for the bad guys. Magiere & Leesil's character development were a bit lacking. There were times when I could of cared less about them but they have potential to become better characters hopefully in the next book. I was very entertained. Barb & J.C. Hendee did a good job in writing they're first novel and I'll be happy to read the next one.
Rating: 
Summary: Barely Sharp enough to Draw Blood...
Review: I picked this book up because I am a fan of the vampire mythos and the many ways in which it has been handled within the literary world. While this book is fun and campy in its own right, it is too tedious to actually enjoy.
I found myself not really caring whether or not I actually finished it. But, pride won out over my better judgement and I stuck it out until the end. I really can't say that I am glad I did. The book has a generic and somewhat trite feel to it. It is a rushed effort by the authors and the plot is watery at best. Girl hunts vampires, girl wants to retire, vampires find girl, girl fights vampires, girl wants to retire again. That pretty much sums up the whole experience. This book could have been so much better had the authors and editors taken some time to read it. It could have been handled in half the number of pages and been submitted in a fantasy magazine as a serial story.
The book does get points for being a fresh and original take on the subject matter, but I really feel it could have used a bit more polish and revision. Fresh idea, too bad it spoils quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of Fun
Review: I really enjoyed this book (and so did my wife). The authors didn't try and get overly clever with it. It's a straightforward fantasy/adventure story with elements of gothic horror. The two protagonists, Magiere and her elf friend (along with a "special hound") are strong, independant spirits, who find themselves caught in a cat and mouse game involving a powerful vampire cult. There is also an element of romantic tension. One thing I was really pleased about, was the restraint the authors showed in regards to magic. I've read fantasy books which go way over the top, with flying wizards, water creatures the size of Nebraska, etc. Here, the mystical elements are kept to a minimum. Plot replaces fireworks. I can't wait for the next installment -although I may have to wait until my wife finishes it before I get my hands on it.
Rating: 
Summary: A good beginning
Review: I think I'm the only reader that felt more for the vampires. I disliked the ratty faced one that survived but the other two I enjoyed them much more than the heroine. I was really annoyed at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Better than I expected
Review: I usually don't go for this sort of novel, I picked it up in a hurry when desperate for something to read. Based on the cover art and back cover blurb, I didn't expect it to be very good at all, only better than total boredom. That said, I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were reasonably interesting and the plot was absorbing enough to keep me entertained for a few hours. Someone who is into the vampire genre might enjoy it considerably more.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly enjoyable
Review: I was actually surprised at how I enjoyed this---a true mark of my enjoyment, actually going out and buying the next book in this series. I had just read the latest in the sex drenched, plot light, psycho-analytical Laurell K. Hamilton fare and this book was actually stronger because of one main point----it was in the third person. WHile some writers falsely believe that the first person allows the readers to be drawn into all stories, I think that certain kinds of tales need the third person for management purposes. It was actually refreshing to get into the vampires heads and see their motivations beyond being just a cookie cutter villain of the moment. And the fact that the whole vampire thing a was myth played on by con artists was a nice way to introduce internal conflict into characters cast into the role of "heroes".
As heroes, all three do well, a rousing sort of comraderie, affection and at the same time learning curve/bumbling going on. These are perfect professional killers for hire---these are actors hired to kill and that makes the adventure even more interesting because they have to learn on the curve which is a nice introduction and double bind teh characters find themselves in. The desire to be something new and trapped in the lie of their pasts. Most books make their heroes perfect or merely filled with some age old aghast or some moral code that makes the whole world around them incredibly difficult to navigate but Mags, Leesil and Chap are rogues to begin with. Not hardened rogues but skirting the edge of villain all the same. It's also nice that the sexual tension isn't the focus, there's a vague hint and some questions through everyone in the book and an ambiguity of sexuality for Mags and Leesil that begisn to explain their bond and friendship. What made this even more interesting was the placement of it in it's own world, in a sort of mythic time. Magic to an extent exists but it's starting to fade from belief and things like vampires are becoming superstition. It was really interesting to actually see the crux point of the generation where a society changes.
I give it five stars---4 for a good story, nice characters and even handed struggle and one additional star for being well written and engaging enough to draw me back for a second book, thief Lives---isn't that what a good book does, make you want and pay for more?
Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly enjoyable
Review: I was actually surprised at how I enjoyed this---a true mark of my enjoyment, actually going out and buying the next book in this series. I had just read the latest in the sex drenched, plot light, psycho-analytical Laurell K. Hamilton fare and this book was actually stronger because of one main point----it was in the third person. WHile some writers falsely believe that the first person allows the readers to be drawn into all stories, I think that certain kinds of tales need the third person for management purposes. It was actually refreshing to get into the vampires heads and see their motivations beyond being just a cookie cutter villain of the moment. And the fact that the whole vampire thing a was myth played on by con artists was a nice way to introduce internal conflict into characters cast into the role of "heroes".
As heroes, all three do well, a rousing sort of comraderie, affection and at the same time learning curve/bumbling going on. These are perfect professional killers for hire---these are actors hired to kill and that makes the adventure even more interesting because they have to learn on the curve which is a nice introduction and double bind teh characters find themselves in. The desire to be something new and trapped in the lie of their pasts. Most books make their heroes perfect or merely filled with some age old aghast or some moral code that makes the whole world around them incredibly difficult to navigate but Mags, Leesil and Chap are rogues to begin with. Not hardened rogues but skirting the edge of villain all the same. It's also nice that the sexual tension isn't the focus, there's a vague hint and some questions through everyone in the book and an ambiguity of sexuality for Mags and Leesil that begisn to explain their bond and friendship. What made this even more interesting was the placement of it in it's own world, in a sort of mythic time. Magic to an extent exists but it's starting to fade from belief and things like vampires are becoming superstition. It was really interesting to actually see the crux point of the generation where a society changes.
I give it five stars---4 for a good story, nice characters and even handed struggle and one additional star for being well written and engaging enough to draw me back for a second book, thief Lives---isn't that what a good book does, make you want and pay for more?
Rating:
Summary: Lacks Bite
Review: I was expecting a lot more from this book. The premise is very good, but the characters are stiff, and not very engaging. It sort of seemed like the authors couldn't quite decide which way they were going so didn't make strong choices. (I think they missed a good opportunity with the heroine and the main vampire)
Perhaps the second book will be stronger. (There's definitely potential there)If I have the time I'll read their second book.
Rating:
Summary: Not the Best Thing for Vampires Since the Blood Bank
Review: I'm probably going to upset a lot of people. I'm not disrecommending(what a dreadful word) this book. It's better than a lot of fiction out there, but I didn't think this book was the best thing for vampires since the invention of the blood bank. It's not bad, which is why I put my rating in the middle, but the plotting is definitely lackluster and the protagonists are too predictable. What I liked-- the villains. Rashad is far more interesting than the male protagonist. A creature of wit, style and sentiment. You wouldn't catch Rashad drinking himself into a stupor. The villains are more complex than the protagonists, more three dimensional, and have the added fillip of doing bad things for a reason, not just being evil because the author needed some evil villains. The concept of the Noble Dead. I don't know if this is original with the authors or they picked it up somewhere, but it's a nice term that resonates with some of the other terms used to describe dangerous creatures that we don't want to offend. The part I wasn't particularly interested in: First, the reader who doesn't know where the series is going is very new to vampire fiction. The title gives that away. Second the protagonists are ok but don't particularly compel interest: Young female with a mysterious background who ran away from home at an early age with mystic items left for her by her missing father of significantly higher social status-- Young half elf who drinks to forget his tormented past (but we are told all about it 3/4 of the way through the book). The dream of the female half of this odd partnership is to settle down in a real home. So they try to settle down and that's when things get really dangerous. The quest is a mainstay of adventure stories but it has to shine hard and bright not soft and soggy as a stale cookie. I'm going to buy the second in this series just to see if the authors manage to pull things together in their next book.
Rating:
Summary: In a world of formula vampire books, this one is promising
Review: I've read a good number of vampire novels over the years and I found this one to be one of the better ones out there. Of course it comes down to personal taste, but the setting really resonated with me, kind of a cross between a medieval and a pure fantasy world where it could be somewhere in the thirteen to fifteen hundreds, but you have elves and the like as an accepted part of the world.
The vampires aren't one-dimensional, none of the characters are. Magiere isn't your oh-so clichéd virtuous and noble heroine, she's a con-artist and so is her partner Leesil. They swindle money out of some of the poorest people in their world and don't look back as they get out of town. Magiere may not be completely comfortable with what they do, especially now when she's thinking about getting out of the business, but it doesn't stop her from doing it. A real survival of the fittest attitude and even if it's morally repugnant, there's just something about her that makes you like her anyway, her and Leesil.
Both of them obviously have problems and secrets in their past, but the authors don't spoil it by dumping all the information on you at once. It trickles in slowly as events develop and you have to read the next book to get more of the answers. Good plot development overall in that aspect, and in others.
The villains, the vampires and a ghost, are all very different individuals, no one-dimensional evil here. They all have distinct personalities and motivations and eventually, particularly towards the end, you begin to sympathize with them, what they've gone through in their "lives." Pity one of them even and wish things could've been different for her.
There really aren't any easy answers for anyone in this book or in the next. It's very realistic that way. Everyone is just trying to survive in their own way and maybe we consider some of those ways "evil," but in the end, you have to wonder if maybe one of the "evil" characters didn't have a point in that he has a right to survive too.
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