Rating: 3 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Thomas Carter was raised by his grandparents and has led a very sheltered life. It isn’t until his grandfather passes, and Thomas finds the man’s journals, that he learns there are supernatural creatures in the world. Deciding he’s going to rid the world of the monsters, Thomas finds and tracks a vampire. But when he goes to stake the vampire, it turns out everything Thomas thought was wrong. Julian is not a bad guy, and in fact, only the demons are. It’s Julian who tells Thomas of his heritage: Thomas comes from a long line of Demon Hunters. It’s in his blood and what he was born to do. At Thomas’s pleading, Julian agrees to train Thomas.
But as their training progresses, it becomes clear that something sinister is going on. Glyphs have been burned into the fields of Thomas’s farm. Julian doesn’t recognize them, and their quest for answers leaves them with just more questions. It isn’t until the horror is upon them that they get the answers they need. And even then, it just may be too late.
This one is a tough one for me to review because so much of it just didn’t work for me. The premise was good, but it was lacking in execution. I constantly found myself scratching my head as the plot unfolded, wondering exactly what the authors were going for.
Let me begin with our very innocent and naïve Thomas. His grandparents did their best to shelter him from life as a whole. He was home schooled, he never left the farm except to go to the library, and he just doesn’t understand the world at large. He’s never heard the term gay and doesn’t even know that being homosexual is an option. If I’m honest, I found this way too extreme. It just wasn’t believable in the least. He’s self-admittedly well read, but he seems completely unaware of some of the most mundane things. And yet Thomas accepts everything he’s told by Julian about the supernatural world without question. He was a paradox that I just couldn’t reconcile and there was very little in the way of explanation to help me understand.
Julian was, unfortunately, very two dimensional and predictable. A good vampire, who does what he can to save the world, and falls in love with his demon hunter student along the way. He has no depth and I found him a little boring. He did everything he was supposed to, everything that I expected, and it actually made me frustrated because he was a walking cliché.
The plot had a lot of promise, and there were parts that were done well. Scenes that could have been just a big info dump of information were instead well written and informative within the confines of the story. There were moments in time that I found myself actually liking the twist that was presented. But these were few and far between. Ultimately, I knew exactly what was going to happen. And while that’s not always a bad thing, here it took away from the heart stopping action that this book could have had. There’s a super big bad brewing, and the ending could have had me gasping. But instead I expected it and I didn’t feel any of the passion that I should have.
So, if you’re looking for something light and predictable but well written, I’d suggest giving this one a try. But if you want something with heart pounding action and filled with supernatural surprises, give it a pass.
