Customer Reviews

The Devil's Advocate (Trilogy of the Blood Curse, Book One)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I became interested in reading the Trilogy of the Blood Curse after reading the Clan Novel series. This first book, centering around the elder Ventrue, Owain, starts off a bit slow but ends with a flourish.

Everything takes place in Atlanta, where we get to see our old friends Benison, Hanna, Benjamin, Thelonius, and others before the Clan novel series. Owain, though not directly involved in the local politics, does carry some weight around with his experience. When the Blood Curse hits, Owain is torn between his duties to the local Prince, and his own personal feelings. In the end, the world begins to crumble around Owain as he discovers old emotions, long buried in his cold dead heart.

The novel jumps around quite a bit between other vampires and other cities, this to give the reader the impression of how far the Blood Curse is spread. A few of the other stories begin to weave into the main story towards the end. Overall, a good read.

Multi-dimensional, interesting characters with well-built motive, good sub-plots. Writing has nice sense of pace, lots of action. Very well written, hard to put down.

Minor flaws only...too much scene jumping & I wish there was better closure at the end...but I guess he's trying to sell the second book in the series.

First part of a trilogy, it's amazing how the life of a vampire is changed by elements around him and how he finds many answers to his cursed life. Owain now feels redemption, and it's only the beginning. A great book, recommend this to anyone!

In his suprisingly well-written work, Fleming takes the basic ingredients of White Wolf Gaming Studios Vampire: the Masquerade, some good historical research on the social and political organization of Wales between the Norman Conquest of England and the death of Llewellyn II, and the intriguing character of the protagonist, Ventrue elder Owain ap Iuean (a.k.a. Owain Evans) to create a work which pushes the boundaries of the "save the world in three easy steps" RPG based fiction. Though the shifts in character and scene occasionally distract from, rather than adding to the exploration of the character and past of Owain Evans, the writer shows some talent for sketching a character with something more than two dimensions. If the author can resist pressure to "commit trilogy" with his future works, he has the potential to be a writer whose books will be the sort to look for.

The author of this wonderfully written book, knows how to bring out the life in a story. The basic story line shows that this author has a great imagination. He throws things at the reader that you would never have seen coming. I highly recomend this book to anyone that loves to read horror.