Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

You know, I kinda liked that movie too but we're certainly in the minority on that.  It had good bones, even if as a whole, it didn't live up to the potential.

As for books, I don't usually go for vampire fiction but I recently read The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith and quite enjoyed it.  It's a steam punk novel and the combination of dirgibles and vampires piqued my interest.  The world building was quite clever and really appealed to me.  In 1870 the vampires organized, came out of hiding, where they had been secretly building their numbers for years, and waged war on the human population.  They took over northern Europe and America with massive brutality and bloodshed costing millions of lives and forced mankind to retreat southward.  The Griffith's vampires can't tolerate the heat, it makes them lethargic, and otherwise strips them of their natural strength advantage.  Below the equator man rebuilds and plans to re-take the north using their advanced technology.  The vampires can't be bothered with technology.  They're too busy tending their flocks of people, described in gruesom detail, and fighting each other clan to clan, also gruesome.

The book is fast paced and packed with some cool set pieces and some interesting characters and the vampires are old-school evil killers as they should be.  No sparkle at all.  The authors really paint a grim picture of life under and amongst the vamps that feels right to me.  There are times the story falls victim to cliche but I gave those moments a pass because I liked the story overall.  You'll have to forgive the inevitable romance between the human princess and the noble vampire of letters and the thinly drawn man of action (think "American" Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast) determined to save her if you want to get through it but it's handled well enough.  There are many roll your eyes moments but there is plenty of vampire ass kicking to compensate.  Nothing deep here but the world is well realized and the story zips along at a fine clip so you don't have to invest too much time to enjoy what is a rhomping good read.

We've got an excerpt that you can read and a book trailer too that will give you a feel for the book.  The excerpt starts out with a bang and hooked me right away.  It's what I would call a guilty pleasure read and will certainly entertain if you're in the right frame of mind.

I look forward to hearing what you think!  I'm wavering on book 2 now.  Not sure I'll be going back into that world but if the mood strikes me again, maybe....