Vampire Memoirs

Rating:
Summary: Layed Back, Low Key Vampire Novel
Review: I was somewhat disappointed in this book. Much of it seemed rather corny and there's no doubt that it's superficial. It's a story of a girl, Mara, born in the year 362 who is raised by her father asto be a brutal warrior, just as he was. She knew nothing of being a lady and has a hard time adjusting to other people,especially to a young man, Gaar, who tries to win her affection. Her early life is little more than adjusting from being a mercenary to a woman of the times. As her life appears to be changing, she is transformed into a Vampire against her will and her life after that is never the same. The centuries drag by and her isolated and lonely existence cover much of the rest of the book. Working as a bar wench or a waitress for scraps of money barely enough to get by.....living off of rats and other small animals.. this is the life of someone who's immortal, can change into a wolf or bat whenever she chooses? Surely the author could have been more creative than that.

The ending of the novel seems very out of place, almost as if different person wrote it, or as if the author didn't know where to go with the book and simply came up with a way to end it. The book just didn't have a point, nothing to make you remember it by. I would put this very low on the list of Vampire novels.

Rating:
Summary: not a complete waste of time, not a great one either
Review: I'd say this falls into the category of, summer reading, or when you have nothing better to do. If you are just getting interested in vampire books, there are LOTS better.

The story is disjointed, to some extent. We start out in the 4th century, but not a whole lot of historical details, and questionable accuracy on what's there. If you are used to the finely done historical periods laid out in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's books, this book is sadly lacking. We skip centuries with no particular explanation as to why our character's powers did not develop over the centuries, the way other vampires' seem to. And our villain pops up again in the 20th century, with absolutely no explanation for how our heroine managed to miss finding him, or how he didn't find her, in all that time. Nor is any plausible explanation offered for WHY he should choose the 20th century to pop up and bother her again.

Our vampire characters are superficial and shallow, no great depth of personality, none of them doing anything terribly interesting. They don't regard lifespans of centuries as being any opportunity to keep learning or to influence things. What is the point of being immortal if all you're going to do is be a waitress or aerobics instructer in the evenings, go to parties, and do NOTHING else? That's about what these characters do.

Some of BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification: - Do our vampires drink blood literally? Yes, usually human blood, doesn't seem to make much difference to them whether willing or not. - Is drinking blood intrinsically tied to sex? No, in fact there's not much sex in the book at all. - Does the vampire hold a job? Yes, but a pointless one; many of the other vampires in the book don't, and a few seem to be of the sort where being an evil creature of darkness is all they do. - Is the book serious, or is there a sense of humor? No noticeable sense of humor, either in the writing, or in the personalities of our characters.

In summary: if you're reading all vampire books, then this won't be the worst you've ever read, but it won't be anything worth re-reading; if you are trying to get a feel for the best the vampire genre has to offer, go elsewhere, such as Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod, or Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing read
Review: My friend recommended this book and told me that it was really good, but I disagree.

Mara is a gender-confused warrior princess when she meets a man who accepts her and marries her. This man, named Gaar, becomes the magistrate of Castrill, the city in which they live. Mara has 3 children and then she and Gaar are called to a fellow magistrate's home to talk over trade operations. Little do they know that this magistrate, Agyar, is a vampire. Agyar 'converts' Mara and makes her his wife, after killing Gaar. Mara lives with Agyar for a time until she moves onto London and becomes a prositute.

I found this book ridiculous. I felt that Mara's feelings were not portrayed as throughly or truely as they should or could have been.

We all know that the story of vampires is just a legend that has been kept alive by story tellers, all through the ages. But some of the things that happens to Mara, or that Mara does, is just stupid. A vampire getting drunk after a cup of spiked punch at a party? Mara becoming a prostitute, even though her job at the pub was paying her fine? An-all-too-modern 362 A.D.? Gaar coming back as a reincarnated heartthrob? Vampires not being able to "live without a cup of coffee at night"? PUH-LEEZ.

Disappointing and a waste of reading time. A good vampire book that I recommend would be "Interview With The Vampire" by Anne Rice.

~Atalanta

Rating:
Summary: Not bad, I'd say interesting...
Review: Over all this was a pretty good book. The start was good, and the ending was pretty good, but some parts were a bit slow.

Meet Mara McCuniff, she's tough, smart, sexy, and also a 1600 year old vampire. This is her story. The reader will learn about her loves, passoins and heart breakes.

I found the character of Mara intereseting. As the story opens, we find a young human named Mara. He father wanted a son, and treated her as such. From a early age, she leaned how to fight, and become a warrior. She could take a direct hit, and keep on going. As he became an adult, she was still tough as nails, until she meet Gaar, he soon to be husband. He taugh her how to love and to be a "woman". This is as far as as I can go without spoiling the rest of the book.

The char. of the men were interesting. When the story first opens the year is 362. The men were important and the women were second class citizens. It was very male centered with "you do this, woman. You do that Woman."I like how Traci Briery had the male charactere change over the years, and centuires.

Over all, I did like this book. However, that beign said, there was one part I didn't like...I can't say what it is b/c it deals with a major spoiler. If you have read the book,feel free to e-mail me and we can talk about it.

I loved the Epilouge of this book!! One of the funniest parts of the story was when mara called herself, "The best whore in London."

I would have like to see Mara remain a strong female character thought the book. Even though she was a "woman" and had to "remain in her place". Considering her childhood, and how she was brought up, Mara would be a believeable charachter is she was a strong female character in the entire book.

Over all I liked this book and highly suggest it to those of you who like vampire books.