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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A clever take on vampires, April 3, 2010
This review is from: Blood Oath (Hardcover)
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Let's see.... Strong silent hero- check Grizzled older agent- check Young hotshot new agent- check Muslim bad guy- check mad Nazi doctor- check hint of romance- check sex scene- check foul language- check car chase- check explosion- check.... Blood Oath is an enjoyable book about the vampire Nathaniel Cade, who is sworn by a voodoo curse to serve the president of the US and his appointed agents. It is a mystery with no complex plot twists to confuse us and has plenty of action. Cade has pretty much lost all his humanity, which unfortunately gives us a rather cold protagonist. Thankfully, there are a few moments when Cade comes alive, so to speak, and we see glimpses of his complexity. Hopefully, the author will bring more to light in the sequels. The new liaison between Cade and the president is Zach, a political whiz-kid who got caught between the sheets with the First Daughter. He is taking over from ailing Griff, who's seen just about everything. Despite being stereotypical characters, they work well in the story and each are well-developed. The author does a great job of showing Zach's development and how he changes. Tania, Cade's sort-of romance interest, has great promise for upcoming sequels. She is a minor character, but one of the best. There's bad guys too, of course. But, if you are tired of Muslims as antagonists, as well as crazy Nazis, you'll find no relief here in Blood Oath- disappointingly, both are present. Farnworth's style is rather spare. By that I mean he doesn't go in for much description of the scenery or the surrounding situation, but focuses mainly on the action. For me, this style gave it somewhat of a late draft flavor- the story is there but not yet completely fleshed out. Perhaps this is because Farnsworth is a scriptwriter- and this would make a great action movie. At any rate, and other readers might not mind his style at all, the premise is a novel one and easily held my attention. I look forward to a sequel, but hope the author comes up with something more original next time. The book is nearly 400 pages long, has 69 chapters plus epilogue, and plenty of white space so it is a fast read. As noted, for those who prefer to avoid such, there's foul language and sex. Not worth $25, in my opinion, but with a big discount it would be a fun book to take to the beach.
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36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wanna Sink Your Teeth Into A Good Book?, April 2, 2010
This review is from: Blood Oath (Hardcover)
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"Blood Oath" is a nearly perfect suspense novel that neatly combines two different genres. The first (as is probably obvious by the title) is the vampire-as-superhero genre that you've probably seen in movies like "Underworld" or "Blade." The second is the historical political thriller, the likes of which we've seen quite often from John Clancy among others. The combination of the two is quite clever, and author Christopher Farnsworth writes well enough to make this a literal page-turner. "Blood Oath" is billed as the first in a potential series and if this is so, I'm looking forward to future adventures in the world that Farnsworth has created. At the center of the novel is the vampire Nathaniel Cale, pardoned for vampirism by President Andrew Johnson, and subsequently required to loyally serve each subsequent president of the United States. Cale is an interesting character. Most vampires in recent fiction seem to me to be either decadent aristocrats (thanks to Anne Rice), or misunderstood romantics ala Barnabas Collins of "Dark Shadows." Cale seems closer to James Bond than any vampire prototype I'm familiar with. He's a character whose found an acceptable outlet for his ruthless tendencies and takes pride in his unique set of skills and professionalism. Cale makes the novel work, although virtually every lead character is well-fleshed out. We have Konrad, a sinister German scientist who is described as the model for Dr. Frankenstein, Tania, a female vampire enthralled with Cale, and Zach Barrows, an arrogant young Washington insider assigned to work with Cale. (Zach, among all the characters, is allowed a tremendous degree of character growth for a suspense novel.) But make no mistake, these characters exist primarily in relation to Cale. The plot concerns an attempt to assassinate the President of the United States (written here as a thinly disguised Obama) through occult means. I would write more about this, but I'm afraid I would spoil the plot and I don't want to do that. Suffice to say, despite what seems at first to be an exceptionally derivative idea ends up being a truly thrilling suspense novel. Farnsworth also ends up making such supernatural creatures such as zombies, werewolves, vampires, and Frankenstein monsters seem original again. This is no mean feat as we've been innundated with these monsters for the better part of a century! (However, as this is a suspense novel, chills come in second. This isn't as scary as a Stephen King novel, and isn't supposed to be). I strongly recommend this novel for anyone who loves both horror and thriller genres.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More secrets from the Oval Office, April 8, 2010
This review is from: Blood Oath (Hardcover)
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All most people remember about President Andrew Johnson was that he became President only because Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated and he missed being impeached by one vote. Apparently he also gave a secret Presidential pardon to a young vampire and got a Voodoo priestess to bind the vampire to whoever was currently President. It seems that there is a whole legion of other worldly threats to humanity, other vampires, zombies and of course mad scientists that the public is kept blissfully unaware of. As the novel (the first of a proposed series) begins an ambitious young aide has been sent to begin his newest assignment. one that he is certain will not be a promotion since he had been caught in bed with the First Daughter. Little did Zach realize that he had been selected to replace Special Agent Griffin to work with the President's Vampire. The good news is that it is a lifetime assignment, the bad news is that it just might not be as long term as it sounds. The action is quite fast paced, the outrageous plot elements are presented in such a way as to sound plausible and the characters are written well enough to come to life. As with most first novels of a series lots of time is spent establishing the premise and back stories which does slow down the first half to a certain extent. Once the groundwork is laid the action takes off leading to an exciting, if foreseeable ending. What distinguishes BLOOD OATH from large pack of thrillers-with-supernatural-aspects is the author's dry sense of humor. There are numerous little jokes sprinkled throughout, particularly in the excerpts of briefing book that open many chapters. This is a fun read. It is unusual and complex enough to keep the reader's interest but not so demanding that it requires prolonged focus, which makes this a great book to take along while traveling or waiting for the kid's soccer practice to end. This reader is looking forward to more adventures of Cade and Zach.
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