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A review by jscarpa14
Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter
4.0
RECEIVED FROM: NetGalley for Review
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Nicolai is a vampire, a crown prince who during an attack on his castle, which killed his parents, has somehow become a sex slave in another kingdom with no real memory of who he is or where he came from. Jane is a modern day scientist, or she was until a car wreck killed her family, and temporarily took from her the ability to walk. When Jane wakes up in Nicolai’s world she doesn’t know how she got there or who she can trust. All she knows is she’s drawn to the pleasure slave and will do anything to help him. But will helping him get her killed?
This was an excellent beginning to a new series that I’m very excited to read more of. There were only a couple things I didn’t really like. One of which was there were a couple of sex scenes that didn’t really further the plot. Not all of them of course and that plot definitely wasn’t driven by sex, but I think it was used a little more than necessary. However in the defense of those scenes I will say they were well written and extremely pulse-pounding racy. Also while it became clear later in the novel that they’d really fallen in love before the book began, but through magic had lost those memories I would have like to have seen more of that, the time when they actually fell in love so that their extreme feelings for each other didn’t seem so abrupt. I understood why they felt what they did, but it was a bit of a stretch of the imagination for me to believe with so little of their past shown to me in the story.
I would also have liked a little more revenge shown but I don’t think that detracted from the story, more that it’s a personal preference. To be honest with my personal preferences I’d have like to have seen and to know more about a lot of things, Jane’s former career, her accident, how they came to meet in the first place. The book left me curious about a lot of things that I’ll probably never get answers to since the series it to be written by multiple authors. It’s one of those stories that if there were a companion novel produced just giving me all that back story I’m so curious about I’d gladly read it. However I still left the story with a sense of fulfillment at having read a full story arc with engaging characters and plot, so I guess it’s saying something about Showalter’s talent as a writer that I do want to know more about her characters and the lives they had before the story begins.
This is actually the first Showalter titles I’ve read. I’ve started one before, but had the poor luck of purchasing a misprint from Doubleday book club that I waited too long to read. So by the time I read it and realized the middle of a different book had been bound into the center of that book and it was missing the middle of the book, it was too late to get the book replaced. Even though it had nothing to do with the author, it left me a little frustrated so I just never went back to her work because imagine reading until the middle of a Showalter title and suddenly you’re in the middle of a regency romance with no idea what happened. Logically I knew the chance of picking up another book by her so fatally flawed in the publishing house was rare, but it didn’t stop the emotional response of not wanting to face that frustration again and therefore avoiding her titles. After having read this novel I’m cursing myself for what I was letting myself miss by avoiding her work.
Like in most romance novels Showalter didn’t spend a lot of time building up secondary characters; however I appreciated the allusions to Alice in Wonderland in the form of the Queen of Hearts. The story also had other similarities to well known fairy tales without fully pulling those story lines into her own story. What I mean is many of the secondary characters would remind you a fairy tale character but the story was in no way a rewritten fairy tale. Almost as if the characters existed as a salute to the fairy tales of old without giving up the originality of well a new and original story. I know that sounds a little redundant, but I’m having difficultly expressing exactly what I mean. It’s got all the benefit of a brand new story completely belonging to the author unrestrained by need to adhere to old myths, however it includes character that remind you of other, older, well known stories. The Queen of Hearts made me think of Alice in Wonderland but she also reminded me of Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother with Laila and her real sister Odette as the Wicked stepsisters and Jane who’s posing as Odette as Cinderella, destined to marry Prince Charming. There are the ideals of Beauty and the Beast with how Nicolai behaves when he’s lost his temper, so much like an untamable Beast that Jane falls in love with anyway. So many different scenarios and characters reminded me of the fairy tales of old, but at the same time the story managed to remain completely Showalter’s own.
Nicolai and Jane however were very well constructed characters; they had believable faults and positive points. Also both were easy to relate to, cheer for and feel for.
The story was fast paced, well written and a joy to read. I’d highly recommend to it romance lovers who enjoy touches of fantasy and the paranormal. Because it is the first in a series though you get a full story arc within this title there’s a secondary story that has yet to reach its conclusion. I only hope the other writers in this series are able to convey the same talent for writing and storytelling as Showalter has managed to convey in the series opener.
***NOTE MY REVIEWS OFTEN CONTAIN SPOILERS***
Nicolai is a vampire, a crown prince who during an attack on his castle, which killed his parents, has somehow become a sex slave in another kingdom with no real memory of who he is or where he came from. Jane is a modern day scientist, or she was until a car wreck killed her family, and temporarily took from her the ability to walk. When Jane wakes up in Nicolai’s world she doesn’t know how she got there or who she can trust. All she knows is she’s drawn to the pleasure slave and will do anything to help him. But will helping him get her killed?
This was an excellent beginning to a new series that I’m very excited to read more of. There were only a couple things I didn’t really like. One of which was there were a couple of sex scenes that didn’t really further the plot. Not all of them of course and that plot definitely wasn’t driven by sex, but I think it was used a little more than necessary. However in the defense of those scenes I will say they were well written and extremely pulse-pounding racy. Also while it became clear later in the novel that they’d really fallen in love before the book began, but through magic had lost those memories I would have like to have seen more of that, the time when they actually fell in love so that their extreme feelings for each other didn’t seem so abrupt. I understood why they felt what they did, but it was a bit of a stretch of the imagination for me to believe with so little of their past shown to me in the story.
I would also have liked a little more revenge shown but I don’t think that detracted from the story, more that it’s a personal preference. To be honest with my personal preferences I’d have like to have seen and to know more about a lot of things, Jane’s former career, her accident, how they came to meet in the first place. The book left me curious about a lot of things that I’ll probably never get answers to since the series it to be written by multiple authors. It’s one of those stories that if there were a companion novel produced just giving me all that back story I’m so curious about I’d gladly read it. However I still left the story with a sense of fulfillment at having read a full story arc with engaging characters and plot, so I guess it’s saying something about Showalter’s talent as a writer that I do want to know more about her characters and the lives they had before the story begins.
This is actually the first Showalter titles I’ve read. I’ve started one before, but had the poor luck of purchasing a misprint from Doubleday book club that I waited too long to read. So by the time I read it and realized the middle of a different book had been bound into the center of that book and it was missing the middle of the book, it was too late to get the book replaced. Even though it had nothing to do with the author, it left me a little frustrated so I just never went back to her work because imagine reading until the middle of a Showalter title and suddenly you’re in the middle of a regency romance with no idea what happened. Logically I knew the chance of picking up another book by her so fatally flawed in the publishing house was rare, but it didn’t stop the emotional response of not wanting to face that frustration again and therefore avoiding her titles. After having read this novel I’m cursing myself for what I was letting myself miss by avoiding her work.
Like in most romance novels Showalter didn’t spend a lot of time building up secondary characters; however I appreciated the allusions to Alice in Wonderland in the form of the Queen of Hearts. The story also had other similarities to well known fairy tales without fully pulling those story lines into her own story. What I mean is many of the secondary characters would remind you a fairy tale character but the story was in no way a rewritten fairy tale. Almost as if the characters existed as a salute to the fairy tales of old without giving up the originality of well a new and original story. I know that sounds a little redundant, but I’m having difficultly expressing exactly what I mean. It’s got all the benefit of a brand new story completely belonging to the author unrestrained by need to adhere to old myths, however it includes character that remind you of other, older, well known stories. The Queen of Hearts made me think of Alice in Wonderland but she also reminded me of Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother with Laila and her real sister Odette as the Wicked stepsisters and Jane who’s posing as Odette as Cinderella, destined to marry Prince Charming. There are the ideals of Beauty and the Beast with how Nicolai behaves when he’s lost his temper, so much like an untamable Beast that Jane falls in love with anyway. So many different scenarios and characters reminded me of the fairy tales of old, but at the same time the story managed to remain completely Showalter’s own.
Nicolai and Jane however were very well constructed characters; they had believable faults and positive points. Also both were easy to relate to, cheer for and feel for.
The story was fast paced, well written and a joy to read. I’d highly recommend to it romance lovers who enjoy touches of fantasy and the paranormal. Because it is the first in a series though you get a full story arc within this title there’s a secondary story that has yet to reach its conclusion. I only hope the other writers in this series are able to convey the same talent for writing and storytelling as Showalter has managed to convey in the series opener.