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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great sequel - can't wait for more!, December 8, 2008
This review is from: Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Paperback)
'Descent into Chaos' is the second installment in the 'Vampire Apocalypse' series, which started with 'A World Torn Asunder'. While I already loved the first novel, this sequel contains even more complexity and depth. In the first book the frontiers between friend and foe where clearly defined by the fight of humans against vampires. Now, however, new traitors and adverseries can be found within the own ranks of the human community. On the other side, the vampires have to face attacks by their own kind and even by their thralls, a situation which has never occured before. The previously inviolable power structure is threatened to be overthrown, creating new chances where hope for the continuation of mankind was almost lost. The author tells the story from different points of view, so you get to know each parties' motives for their quarrels individually and on a personal level. The previously clear scheme of good humans vs. bad vampires/thralls is no longer fitting, as good and evil are now present on both sides.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
exciting military horror thriller, October 23, 2008
This review is from: Vampire Apocalypse: Descent Into Chaos (Paperback)
Two years ago with earth's nonrenewable energy sources all but depleted and civilizations declining, the vampire horde surfaced and attacked humans. The vampires won the war. As the lower species on the food chain, humans have become cattle; a serum given by the vamps to their food supply turns them docile. Still there remain resistance groups including one warrior unit that killed Nero, the leader of the Cabal vampire territory. Peter Harris accomplished the impossible deed and pushes to go on the offensive since vampires are territorial creatures hiding inside their respective Cabal and the Master Vampires distrust one another. The Von Kruger Cabal in Indiana has great power but a low human population while the Wentworth Cabalp has no power but a large army. Using guerilla techniques and warfare, Peter manipulates the pride of each Master so that the Cabals go to war with one another. However a new danger surfaces as it is learned that the serum proves fatal to humans, thralls and vampires. Peter is determined to rescue the human cattle while the Von Kruger-Wentworth vampire civil war continues unabated. Part two of The Vampire Apocalypse (see A WORLD TORN ASUNDER) gives readers insight into the thralls, humans who periodically exchange fluids with their master vampire, which turns them into super soldiers. Many volunteered to survive, but like the purebred humans they have schemes inside of plots to obtain more power. Derek Gunn is a master vampire writer who provides his fans with a graphic frightening world that hooks the audience as few military horror sagas do. Harriet Klausner
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4.0 out of 5 stars
The series kicks into high gear with this book., January 5, 2012
The world may be overrun by vampires, but the humans are starting to fight back. After winning a decisive victory against Nero's cabal in Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (Vampire Apocalypse Book 1), Harris and his band of rebels are forced to escalate their resistance to acquire enough resources to sustain an increasing number of civilian refugees. This means pitting the two neighboring vampire cabals against each other in open war - with the humans caught in the middle. Author Derek Gunn lays out a very dark, very believable (OK, maybe not the whole vampire thing, but still) scenario in this series, and with this second volume the scope of the story is widened significantly. On the human side, we go from Harris and a few cohorts to a small town's worth of survivors and all the political maneuvering that brings. On the vampire side, we learn more about their hierarchies and factions, as well as some overarching rules the most powerful vampires maintain over their territories. As with the first book in the series, Gunn serves up a lot of action, and this time that includes some epic, bloody skirmishes between thralls and vampires as well as a railway scene that plays out like a blockbuster movie when you read it. The pace is fast, the stakes are high, and once you start you're going to want to barrel through to the very satisfying finish. Some of the issues I had with the first book are present here as well. The characters - especially the newer ones - tend to be thrown in with an immediate back story, and never have time to really develop. Personally, I would have loved to have seen the book expanded significantly to explore life in the survivors' compound and a more gradual development of the political turmoil that dominated the first part of the story. It would have been a good way to really get to know the characters. The book could also benefit from one more pass-through by a copy editor to clean up a few minor errors. It's not perfect, but Descent Into Chaos is an improvement over A World Torn Asunder, and a good addition to one of the better vampire-themed series out there. Fans of E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series and Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's Strain trilogy will definitely want to check out the Vampire Apocalypse.
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