Customer Reviews

Red Death: Being the First Book in the Adventures of Jonathan Barrett, Gentleman Vampire

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

 

 

This book kept me guled until I was done. Jonathan Barrett, the unsung "hero" experiences first hand the lure and lust of the vampire world. Reading through the pages it was if I were there on the hot summer days, and erie nights. I will say I found the ending a little weak, but it sure left things open for P.N. Elrods next book. Worth the time!

This book introduces Jonathan Barrett, who we meet briefly in Bloodcircle (Elrod's 3rd Vampire Files novel). Jonathan is much less cynical and polished than Jack, and also quite a bit younger (only seventeen as the story opens). We get exposed to his family (his mother, father, sister and cousin) and also see how he came to be a vampire, from the very beginning (falling in love with a strange girl, Nora) to waking up in his coffin and convincing his family and the townspeople he isn't dead. I loved this book not only because it presents the American Revolution from a decidedly anti-Washington view (very uncommon in historical fiction) but because unlike the Vampire Files, in this book we see Jonathan as human. He's young, he falls in love, doesn't get along with his mother, goes away to university, makes new friends, and 'learns the world.' The changes he makes while he is alive mirror the kinds of things he goes through after death-both are a type of change, of growing up. And unlike Jack Fleming, Jonathan has no idea what's happened to him when he wakes up in his coffin. He doesn't know where he is, what he is, why he survived his death, what he has to do to continue to survive, or how to judge and use his strength and gifts, and what his weaknesses are. The book ends not with him learning those things, but with him accepting that there is still a lot he doesn't know.

Having read the vampire files I had high expectations for this book
and was not disappointed. I have one suggestion for anyone planning on reading Red Death, and that is to buy the next one in line Death and the Maiden. This book gets you so involved in the main character that you may find it hard to sleep at night as you lay awake wondering what happens next.

Riveting, on the edge...rooting for gentleman vampire...Jonathan Barrett. Honor does pass the supernatural. A real class act. I had to finish the series!!! Live it

I am most times a huge fan of PN Elrod. I loved the vampire files, this however was not them. This book was so slow, it took me like a month to read and usually I can whip through a book in a day or so. I am gonna give this side series a second try in hopes that this book was slow cause it was the first one and setting up characters but honestly this a book I would borrow and read before deciding to buy, that is what I will be doing with the second one.
As for the story line, it lacks a great deal when compared to some of her other works. The main character is not very likable, for the most part he seems spineless. There is tons of period description but not alot for character, so this is really a book for those into revolutionary war era fiction. Just hoping the next is better, gonna give it a second chance as a series and borrow it from the library.

P.N. Elrod is a great story teller and I find myself so involved in the characters lives that I feel like I am there. I loved the Jack Fleming stories but it is nice to read about Jonathan, the forever romantic vampire.

Jonathan Barrett is having problems. He and his mother don't get along, he has been sent to England against his will and he falls in love with a woman who one of his friends also loves.
Then he is forced to return to America where he gets shot and finds out he has even more problems. First, he's a vampire. And as a vampire he has to deal with his family, the British army and the American rebels. If he's not careful he might end up dead and this time he won't come back!