I swear I didn’t know that Freddy Carter was in four episodes of this before I started it; it just so happens I’m a huge fan of him as Kaz Brekker. Lol. I heard his voice and I was like um??? Also Caroline Ford - Freddy and her are married - did a phenomenal job as Penelope. Anyway, I actually heard about this somewhere on Instagram and it sounded super creepy and right up my alley. It’s an audible original with a whole cast ensemble of pretty famous people, actually, and I think it started out as a podcast? Anyway, it takes place years after a giant comet has hit earth, causing the sun to be blotted out the world to spiral into a cold, dark wasteland. (Apparently an “impact winter” is an actual term for something like this happening, according to Google.) And then the vampires came out of hiding. Our main character is Darcy, who at this point is a pretty seasoned vampire hunter. She explains to us that there are three types of vampires: ones that roam the streets, one that are more insidious and try to trick you into their path, or they’re something called an overlord, which are very powerful and humans are advised to steer clear of them at all costs. Darcy lives in this sort of castle compound with other humans, including her sister, whom she is fiercely protective of. But her sister wants something more from life than to just hide away, and one day runs away. Darcy goes after her and she gets cornered by an overlord, who changes her into an overlord. It’s the worst case scenario for Darcy; to become the thing she’s been hunting. Hope ends up getting in danger but surviving and making it back to the castle, where she feels guilty and worry over Darcy missing. Darcy is getting used to her new body and tries to run away at first but realizes she can’t escape it. She returns to the person who changed her, who actually appears to care for her. As she learns more we find out that people who make other vampires are very protective of them; if one kills another then their family hunts them down to kill them. That’s when we find out that a vampire, Penelope, that the compound of humans has taken in (this happens at the beginning of the story) is seeking asylum for exactly that reason: she’s being hunted down by the family member of another vampire she (Penelope) killed. Penelope killed that vampire because they in turn killed her human sister. It’s all circular, really. This vampire finds Darcy and the vamp who turned her, asking if they’ve heard of a vampire named Penelope passing through. Darcy came from the compound so she knows. And this other vampire basically forces her to say where the compound is, because she is very old and can compel the minds of vampires. But Darcy is able to get Whisper to help her escape the room (Whisper is like her maid, she’s very sweet actually) and then tells her to go warn the compound while she goes to kill this other vamp. But this other vamp catches her and then she stakes Darcy and buries her and goes off to kill presumably everyone in the castle. Whisper is caught by Jep before she makes it to the castle, because he just found out that Darcy was turned and he’s intent that she would have wanted to be killed. At the castle, Hope enlists Penelope’s help to get the survivors safely out of the castle. But Hope decides to stay behind to buy them more time to get out. Penelope goes back to help her. This was such a sweet moment; them fighting side by side. Vampire and human. Back to Darcy - she wakes up suddenly to Rook, the vampire who turned her, removing the stake from her. Then the bad vampire appears and because of her abilities she almost wipes them both out. But then Darcy transforms - a power that overlords have, for example Rook can turn into a dog - into a lioness I believe? And she basically rips out the bad vamp’s throat. Well, I’m actually not sure where she was bitten because it was an audiobook with sound effects so it just sounded like a very bloody place. But that one bite kills this really old, powerful vampire. It’s clear that Darcy is a very important Vampire. She learns from Rook that things aren’t so black and white when it comes to vampires. There are actually vamps who miss the old world where the sun was out and people were happy even though they had to hide who they were. And there are a group of vampires that Rook is a part of who believe there is a vampire coming who can restore that world - he thinks it’s Darcy. Darcy isn’t sure what to think about this. But back to Whisper and Jep - Felix and the others who escaped the castle find them. Jep, knowing that Darcy is very fond of Felix (I haven’t mentioned him yet but he’s been a close friend and Alamo lover of Darcy’s throughout the story) decides to keep him hostage instead and tells Whisper to get Darcy to meet him or else he’ll kill Felix. I honestly did not expect Jep to be the bad guy here. It was probably the father figure side of him that blinded me. Darcy shows up and tries to get him to release Felix but he refuses and then ends up shooting Felix and then almost kills Darcy because she doesn’t want to fight him but then Hope shows up and shoots Jep. Darcy and Hope finally have a sweet reunion but it’s sad because Felix is dying. Hope stays with her until he goes and then helps to bury him. Then she knows she has to leave and when she does Felix suddenly bursts up out of the ground!! I was like what!! This was a great twist that I should have seen coming because I really really didn’t want him to die. I’m not entirely sure how Darcy pulled it off in the chaos of everything but she must have at some point. Now he’s a vampire with her. And that’s it! I know there is going to be a second season and I’m super excited to see where the story goes. This was fast-paced and had a lot of action without sacrificing good, interesting characters. Looking forward to the next installment.