Customer Reviews

A Drop of Red (Vampire Babylon)

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4 star:		(4)
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Chris Marie Green's Vampire Babylon Series is gutsy! Dilemmas faced by the characters are an interesting mix of the supernatural and reality, keeping the story line grounded despite some very odd situations and/or encounters. Readers will be able to relate to seeing a friend struggling with addiction, or a family coping with the emotions and fallout resulting from a failed marriage. Chris Marie Green does a phenomenal job at incorporating such real world issues into the context of a world where vampires and other supernatural phenomenon can and do exist.

A Drop of Red is the first installment of a new story arc within the Vampire Babylon series. While a new reader to the series will miss out on a portion of the character developments, evolutions, and the history behind various relationships, the overall story line is new and it is not necessary to read the first arc to understand the second. Those who have read the first arc will find a radically different direction in this new story line as the power is shifting and changing among characters. New readers beware, as the first installment in the second arc of the series, there will be questions left unanswered at the conclusion of A Drop of Red.

A Drop of Red is the fourth book in the Vampire Babylon series but the first in the start of a new trilogy so if you haven't been on board previously, this makes a good jumping on point. The first trilogy, referred to as "The Hollywood Trilogy" introduced us to Dawn Madison, stuntwoman-turned-vampire hunter and her team. This next trilogy is called "The London Trilogy" and while it might be ideal to read the first trilogy to understand Dawn's back story and the other characters, Green does a good job of providing an overview so you don't feel like you're coming in completely blind.

Madison and her team have moved to London to hunt down a new Vampire underground. This includes Costin adding a new member to the team, largely against Dawn's intuition. Natalia Petri is a gifted psychic but Dawn, and Kiko (the team's resident psychic), feel she may pose a great threat to the team. Petri's senses lead the team to the decapitated corpse and the discovery that someone is watching them, leading to an even stranger body with its heart on the wrong side of the body. They'll soon discover this new underground being trained by a vampire master. With all this going on, Dawn also has to deal with her father now becoming a vampire, and the dual existence of Costin inhabiting the body of Jonah, and their battle for control of the body.

While it gets labeled with the Paranormal Romance tag, the Vampire Babylon series doesn't overly emphasize the romance part. There's enough suspense and grisly scenes to satisfy horror fans of all types. The characters are full fleshed out and you embrace them more with each book. There's also a lot of rousing action that keeps the story on a brisk pace throughout.

This is a great book. You have to read these books in order. It was fanastic read. That are trilogies...and worth reading...Start out with Night Rising...

You will not be sorry...I was not. I really like to way Chris Marie Green writes.

Chris Marie Green has written a great set of stories, thouroughy bringing you into their world. This is a set you don't want to put down until you find out what happens next. Great Read.

I bought the book for an X-mas present for a friend and it came before the intended date so I decided to read it even though it's not what I would normally read I was very please with it and will continue to read the series. I'll probably buy a copy for myself-lol

Vampires are stalking their prey in the London area and it's up to Dawn Madison and her associates to stop them. Dawn and Costin are adjusting to their new roles after the recent turn of events (see BREAK OF DAWN for more details) while Jonah is also exploring his boundaries. To fight the new vampire threat, Costin is adding a new team member, Natalia Petri. Will she be a threat to Kiko or an asset to the whole team? What new trials will the team face as they take on the London vampire underground?

A DROP OF RED starts a new story arc within the Vampire Babylon series. While a newcomer will miss nuances and the past history of the characters and their various relationships, the overall plot stands alone. In fact, the story seems to be veering in a radically different direction in this new story arc as the power is shifting and changing among the characters. Please note, however, that A DROP OF RED is part of a story arc and thus there are threads that are not resolved at the conclusion of the book.

Chris Marie Green's series is gutsy! The dilemmas the characters face are both supernatural and reality based, keeping the series grounded despite the very odd situations encountered in the books. Readers will be able to relate to seeing a friend struggling with addiction or a family coping with the dysfunctions resulting from the demise of a marriage. Chris Marie Green does a phenomenal job at incorporating such real world issues into the context of a world where vampires and other supernatural phenomenon can and do exist. Easily recommended!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

A Drop of Red (Vampire Babylon)as a fan of Chris Marie Green this is just a spellbinding as the others. You get caught up with the continuing saga of Dawn and Costin/Jonah connection and you get more information about another duo of masters from when Costin was originally a vampire with a little twist to the connection between these two masters. Dawn's dad Frank is still in the picture being a better father as a vampire than he was as a human figure that. The burning question for this trio of Vampire Babylon is how long does the team stay together before either dying or for the females become one of the Friends? Dawn feels that she is destined to become the next Friend but how can she if her power is just developing. As usual we have to wait for the next book to get the answers

This fantasy about a Hollywood stunts woman turned vampire hunter is a fine pick for any library where vampire fantasy novels are popular. It tells of Dawn, who has nearly single-handedly led the revolution against vampires in Los Angeles - uncovering her own dark family influences in the process. Dawn is exhausted - and facing a new vampire threat in England in this fast-paced novel of intrigue, investigation and danger.

This series has everything, fun, danger, fighting, lust!!! This series is one of the few series that I never know what is going to happen next...

Chris Marie Green keeps her readers guessing and I for one can't wait to turn the pages.

Dawn is always struggling for her feelings for Costin and Costin is always fighting for control with Jonas. Costin is like a ghost who used to be a vampire and then was given the chance to save his soul so he goes out and finds host that he could use their body to take down all the other blood brothers and their undergrounds. But on the last adventure Jonas was about to die and Dawn turned him and into a vampire once again. So this book picks up with Dawn/Costin fighting their feelings for each other and Costin in a struggle for control with Jonas. Jonas wanting to see more action. The rest of the team is all there even Eva, Dawn's ex-vampire mother and her now dead vampire father! This book they find an underground in Loundon and they are persuing the vamps and find this underground is totally different then the one in the US!

So if you have not gotten this series go out buy all 4 books and enjoy the ride...I can't wait for book 4!!!!


Others you may like: J.R Ward, Patricia Briggs, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jeanine Frost, Rachel Vincent, Jennifer Armintrout etc....

Limpet and Associates have traveled to England to wipe out another vampire underground. Many centuries ago, Costin exchanged blood with a man who made a deal with the devil; like a bloody Ponzi scheme, he turned his closest advisors into master vampires who go out and create armies. So when he wakes up from a centuries-long sleep, he has soldiers around the world waiting to do his bidding. Cortin hated what he has become and merged his consciousness with the body o f Jonah Limpet to destroy these underground pockets; praying his soul will be returned to him.

Muscular Hollywood stuntwoman Dawn Madison is believed to be the "key" to Costin regaining paradise lost by destroying the underground vampire units as he did in Los Angeles (see the first Vampire Babylon trilogy). The Romanian psychic Natalia who hears the dead joins the Limpet group and, Dawn finally accepts her. The group learns about young teens attending the Queenshill School in St. Alban's. They were turned by a master who is training them to take their places in the underground's main hive. The new vamps love night stalking searching for bodies to drink from and mutilate. They are confident that no one can defeat them, but Dawn and her crew are going to test that premise.

This is the start of the second Vampire Babylon trilogy saga and it is radically different from its excellent predecessor though as superb. The key is the California and England undergrounds are dramatically dissimilar from one another as are the creatures of the night. Dawn remains somewhat uncomfortable in her role, but has adapted mentally; she was already strong before her new task so physically her adjustment was easier. A DROP OF RED is urban fantasy at its best; filled with interesting characters and a fast-paced story line in which death has several outcomes but is always a bite away.

Harriet Klausner