Let me start by stating this should not be marketed as a romance novel. It is definitely UF. The book is raw (in a good way). If you like your vamps to be sparkly, or just to have some sort of moral compass, this is not the book for you. The vamps in this book are primal. Feral, even. They live to feed, and their whole world is designed around their food supply, and making sure they have one. The thing is, they don't only feed off of blood. Some of the vamps in Ms. Palmer's world also require the pain and terror of others to live.
The world building is absolutely superb. Ms. Palmer starts with very well-known D.C landmarks before dragging us over to the alternate world, V.C., so everything is easy to picture in your mind. The utter, unrelenting brutalitity of V.C. is never in question. It is survival of the fittest, the food chain is well evident, and humans are at the bottom.
Very Brief Synopsis - Quinn has talents of the magical variety that are manifesting themselves more and more frequently. As people are disappearing from D.C. at a rapid rate, Lily, a friend of Quinn's brother, goes missing. Quinn and Zack, her brother, go to search for Lily shortly after she disappears. They find Lily's pen, Zack reaches for it, and Quinn grabs his arm. They find themselves pulled through a sunbeam into the alternate world of Vamp City, which is layered upon Washington, D.C. Quinn and Zack become separated, and Quinn is desperate to locate her brother. She is being held by Arturo, a vamp who is completely out for himself and his own interests.
Quinn - So torn about Quinn. She is fearlessly brave when it comes to rescuing her brother, but also puts herself in harm's way an awful, awful lot. I'm kind of inclined to forgive her multiple TSTL moments, though, because she was trying to rescue her brother. The one thing that kind of sticks is her trusting Arturo again and again, after he completely betrays her. Then one more time for stupidity's sake. And then again. Argh! Arturo even tells her not to trust him, that he will do whatever he has to in order to survive, and she still. Keeps. Trusting. Him! Even though she has all of this internal dialogue telling her not to. Frustrating. But necessary to the plot. Anyway, she is a sorceress who has bottled up all of her power, and the vamps need her to remake V.C. as the magic used to design it is now failing.
Arturo - Well, this is a hard one. Our "hero" is a slime bucket. Oh, you could paint a pretty picture and say he is doing what he has to, he can't betray his master, Cristoff, or he would be hunted and killed. Who can blame a guy for looking out for his best interests, right? And he certainly doesn't try to hide his true nature. He sounds like freakin' Popeye with all the "I am what I am" he spews. He is a bad, bad, bad man... vamp ... whatever. So why do I like him? Why does Quinn trust him repeatedly? Because every once in a while, you get the hint that he is going to do the heroic thing, the right thing. There are hints that Quinn is changing him, giving him something to aim for, a reason to be a better person...parasite...whatever. And this romance reader eats that up with a spoon. Then along comes the last chapter of the book, and no, I won't spoil it except to say the book hit the wall, and there were curse words. And a smile.
What worked for me - Quinn. Such a loyal, foolish, brave, selfless heroine. She managed to escape V.C. yet throws herself back into it in order to rescue her brother. She doesn't quake, she never loses the moral high ground, even though she showed some incredibly bad judgement with Arturo.
Arturo - an unrepentant scoundrel who is only looking out for Arturo. Most of the time. Yet he is gentle to his "staff", and usually with Quinn. He cares about her, even though he doesn't want to and knows it will only lead to bad things for him. A very bad boy who shows some glimmer of good. Can't wait to see what happens with his character.
Bram and Kassius - Two vampire friends of Arturo's, who also serve Cristoff.
Again, the world building. So clear, without taking pages and pages of set up.
The GNR nod on the back cover.
The pace of the story was relentless.
What didn't work for me - Within the context of the story and as this is way more UF than romance, not much. If I was reading this as a romance, a whole lot wouldn't have worked for me. No HEA, a "hero" that is more fool's gold than solid gold, TSTLisms from the heroine, lots of violence...None of that works for me in a romance, but in the context of UF, it's different. *shrug*
I have to say kudos to Pamela Palmer for not backing off of the evil. And for keeping steady with the lack of character that Arturo displays. She brings it in a big way. Good for her for staying true to the story, and for not making Arturo have a miraculous turnaround at the 11th hour. A Blood Seduction is so very well done, vibrant and strongly written. The story kept me turning the pages. I was completely engrossed, and I am not a huge UF fan by any stretch of the imagination. This is just good story telling, and I am so in for the next Vamp City novel.
