A review by innae
V Wars: A Chronicle of the Vampire Wars by

3.0

I am not a fan of the split up stories - I just get confused as I listen, perhaps in a physical book I could skip around and read them in one shot.

Introduction by "Dacre Stoker"
not really an introduction in the way of setting the stage, just basically tells you that vampires aren't exactly what you think, and that each story in this anthology is written by a different person so they have different perspectives.

Junk by Jonathan Maberry
In 6 parts (ending after Heartsick)
I was a bit confused, as the first part sort of just ends, I had to go search to find a list of the stories to see that it is in several parts, which makes more sense, but leads me to initially question how this anthology is put together.

Roadkill by Nancy Holder
In 2 parts (ending after Junk part 6)
Because of how the vampires are manifesting, there are reasons that each culture's vampire myths exist, and why some vampires hop, and some fear the cross, but they don't ALL hop, and not all fear the cross. I like the premise.

Love Less by John Everson
In 2 parts (ending after Junk part 4)
This follows the story of a vampire that can only feed on loved ones. An interesting myth, as eventually, the food would run out - unless you fed on other vampires, and I would think eventually that wouldn't work either. The main character manages to skirt the rules, by making new "loved ones" as she goes.

Epiphany by Yvonne Navarro
in 2 parts (ending after Vulpes part 2)
The Ballad of Big Charlie by Keith R.A. DeCandido
in 3 parts (ending? after Stalking Anna Lei part 2)
I like Big Charlie a lot, this may be my favorite story thus far. It involves a werewolf rather than a vampire, and a DA.

Heartsick by Scott Nicholson
Honestly, I don't even recall listening to this one.

Vulpes by Gregory Frost
in 2 parts (ending after Embedded)
Again I am distracted by the only part of the story - what I have heard in Part 1 is good, but just about the time I am getting invested, we go to a new story. This one was interesting, as we find out in part 2, because our heroine has morphed into a were, which folklore tells us was the protector FROM the vampires. this story tends to say that the junk DNA is affecting EVERYONE once you are exposed to the virus - we all go back to ancestral DNA, and everyone was a vampire or something - which seems to go against what the rest of the stories are going for.

Escalation by Jonathan Maberry
Although I felt like I was paying attention to this story, I don't really recall exactly what was going on. Seems it was a crime being investigated, and discussion on vampires, werewolves and zombies and whether they truly exist.

Stalking Anna Lei by James A. Moore (read by Wil Wheaton) (ok..it is true that a good reader can make something stand out. Wil is a good reader, probably even a great reader - he makes you pay attention. Love Him -- now I want to listen to Ready Player One :-)
in 2 parts (ending after Species Genocide)
Interesting that a vampire has to stretch..a lot...to keep rigor mortis away, this amuses me.

Species Genocide by Jonathan Maberry
Embedded by Jonathan Maberry
Last Bites by Jonathan Maberry
obviously this is left open for more sequels, more stories told in this world. I will likely listen/read some of them, as at least one of the anthologies has a story from Scott Sigler.