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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So little and so much was going on in this story it had me confused and annoyed. I wouldn’t say it’s a romance between the two main characters we’re first introduced to since they are months apart and literally don’t communicate. It had a promising start as I really like are main character in the beginning but it felt like another character was written in her place later on and by the end of the story she was my least favorite character 😕
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
I hated the writing and the characters are flat as bread. Life is too short for mediocre books.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really enjoyed this horror vampire novel. Horror of the human and supernatural varieties are experienced after Ardeth, a Ph.D student, is kidnapped. Her encounters with her kidnappers and a fellow prisoner, Rozokov, cause her to go into survival mode. Vampirism in this book is not over romanticized, especially considering the terror experienced by Ardeth. Rozokov, a lone vampire, transitions from only being concerned with his own survival to developing feelings for Ardeth. In turn, Ardeth’s transition from human to vampire makes her character quite sympathetic. Both of them must work together to escape and survive. Their imprisonment is caused by each of their connections to Havendale and the Dale family. The experiences after their escape force them to discover the exact reasons behind each of their imprisonment and get revenge. Ardeth’s life before transitioning to vampire collides with her former life with possibly disastrous consequences. Overall, I truly enjoyed this vampire novel. It was a quick read that flowed well.
Baker is one of the few authors I have seen that actually examines the change that being a vampire would cause in a person. This is a wonderful book. Ardeth is wonderfully drawn character, and Baker makes the transition real. Ardeth changes after she dies. No, she doesn't just get powers, but the death does something to her. Baker does examine this issue, and that look makes the book stand out.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really enjoyed this one. I think the vampire character was fairly unique which was refreshing to me. I liked that the book immediately got into it as well without too much setup. I wish it explored the vampires characters bloodlust more and that some of the aspects of that in the book had more time to linger on. Overall the characters were pretty good, the story was alright, and it kept me engaged. I’m hoping the sequel is at least as good as this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Murder
The novel's original title used to be "The Night Inside" which is a far better fit than the simplistic "Kiss of the Vampire".
I first read this book in the nineties and now took it out for a reread that also felt like a journey back in time: There are video tapes, no mobile phones and when people talk about "mail" they mean "snail mail" not "email".
I enjoyed the scope of the book: The protagonist Ardeth Alexander is introduced as an academic, calm and responsible. She is kidnapped and forced to make a hard choice. She reinvents herself and when doing so plays with the known vampire trope of dark seductress. I love that the story does not end there, that it explores issues of insecurity and morality.
"I thought we didn't have consciences."
"Things would be much simpler that way, I admit. But all that died [...] was your body. Anything else that seems missing now, you yourself have buried."
Besides being an intriguing vampire story, this novel is also a fast-paced thriller with all pieces fitting together logically.
What I did not like:
At times, the combination of morbidity and eroticism was too much for me. We get the phrase "kiss of cold steel" twice. Coming from the PoV of our heroine, this term just felt wrong. When someone put a knife to my throat and threatens me with death, "kiss" is not the metaphor that would pop up in my mind.
There are also several dead women, unlucky victims all of them.
In one case, these women are killed in a larger battle but the protagonist does not give them a second thought later. I wish there would have been a moment of regret.
As for further corpses, I also wish they would have been given a resolution, e.g. someone informing the police so at least the bodies could have been found and identified. (At least, at one point Ardeth talks about that grave in the woods, so there might be a resolution outside the novel's pages.)
Still, the novel is a fast-paced and captivating read that ponders the weightier issues of identity and moral choices, and it's a pity that Nancy Baker's novels seem to be hard to obtain.
I first read this book in the nineties and now took it out for a reread that also felt like a journey back in time: There are video tapes, no mobile phones and when people talk about "mail" they mean "snail mail" not "email".
I enjoyed the scope of the book: The protagonist Ardeth Alexander is introduced as an academic, calm and responsible. She is kidnapped and forced to make a hard choice. She reinvents herself and when doing so plays with the known vampire trope of dark seductress. I love that the story does not end there, that it explores issues of insecurity and morality.
"I thought we didn't have consciences."
"Things would be much simpler that way, I admit. But all that died [...] was your body. Anything else that seems missing now, you yourself have buried."
Besides being an intriguing vampire story, this novel is also a fast-paced thriller with all pieces fitting together logically.
What I did not like:
At times, the combination of morbidity and eroticism was too much for me. We get the phrase "kiss of cold steel" twice. Coming from the PoV of our heroine, this term just felt wrong. When someone put a knife to my throat and threatens me with death, "kiss" is not the metaphor that would pop up in my mind.
There are also several dead women, unlucky victims all of them.
In one case, these women are killed in a larger battle but the protagonist does not give them a second thought later. I wish there would have been a moment of regret.
As for further corpses, I also wish they would have been given a resolution, e.g. someone informing the police so at least the bodies could have been found and identified. (At least, at one point Ardeth talks about that grave in the woods, so there might be a resolution outside the novel's pages.)
Still, the novel is a fast-paced and captivating read that ponders the weightier issues of identity and moral choices, and it's a pity that Nancy Baker's novels seem to be hard to obtain.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced