Customer Reviews

Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder (Vampire Apocalypse Book 1)

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

 

 

First off, on a post apocalyptic kick, I came across this book and quickly ate it up. Vampires and apocalypse? Sign me up! Regarding the story, I was not disappointed. It had the right amount of action and dialogue, the characters are enjoyable, and the plot made sense and the story moved along well. I will be buying the second book, if that's any indication of how much I enjoyed it.

What I did not enjoy however, was the Kindle adaptation...or at least I assume it was just the Kindle adaptation, because I can't believe a book would go to print with the issues I saw. Minor spelling issues I can live with, use of " instead of ' I can get over....but the inter-chapter change between story lines without any indication at all with a space between paragraphs is at time hard to follow. I've never come across this in a Kindle book, and I've bought a couple hundred so far, so I can only assume it was either by choice (bad choice), or poor conversion/editing. I would assume it can be fixed fairly easily with one quick run through (heck, I'll do it for you if you need a hand).

Anyway, if the story wasn't so enjoyable, I wouldn't have been able to get past the editing issues, but I complement the author for a compelling story and I look forward to the next book.

This story is about a world that is struck by an energy crisis. This causes less communication and travel between towns. Vampires have been around for centuries and have decided to take over. This story is about a city two years after a serum has been introduced that turns humans into cattle. They are unable to fight back when abused by thralls or vampires. This serum is one of the reasons the humans have lost the war to the vampires. A small group of people have been awakened from the serum and have started a rebellion against the vampires. They have been doing small raids in preparation for this rebellion. Now they are killing vampires and ready to take back their lives. The setting of the cave underneath a house was cool. The overall feel of the book is dark. This book was original. The story was well written. There were a few mistakes on the kindle. Minor mispellings and such. Overall a good story for the kindle.

In a time not to far from now the world as we know it is gone. Civilized society is collapsing because The worlds oil resources have dried up. War breaks out all over the globe for what little oil remains and once mighty nations fall. Cities and rural towns have become insular and have lost contact with each other. The world has no idea that Vampires exist and that they have been waiting hundreds of years for this day. They soon rise from the shadows and before anyone can react the war is over. The Vampires are now the new rulers of the world. They keep humanity enslaved behind walled cities. Humans are breed like cattle for their blood and are keep under the control by a serum that's makes them like zombies. The Vampires cant exist during the day so they use Thralls - humans who have been bitten but have not yet crossed over to keep the humans from rebelling.

Not all humans are enslaved though. A small band of rebels fight on hoping one day to take the world back from the Vampire masters. They make daring raids on cities rescuing people and getting much needed supplies. They soon discover a new method of killing the vampires that might turn the tide of the war. They think that victory is within their grasp, but a botched raid has let the vampires know the location of their hideout. They will have to take a stand and fight against overwhelming odds in order for humanity to have a chance. If they fail the world is doomed.

Vampire stories have always been hit and miss with me so when I started Vampire Apocalypse I really didn't know what to expect. Three hours and two numb legs later I could say that this story was definitely a HIT. Mr. Gunn has written a action packed, blood soaked thriller that will keep you hooked until the last page. Vampire Apocalypse is like From Dusk till Dawn meets Red Dawn. Action from beginning to end. I am shocked by how much I enjoyed this story. Mr. Gunn has made vampire stories fun again. The genre has been stale for a long time and its about time someone gets it right. This story also begs for a sequel and I can only hope that Mr. Gunn has one in store for us sometime soon.

Vampire Apocalypse is a must read for anyone who likes a great apocalyptic story. It is a fast fun read that never disappoints. Mr. Gunn has made a big splash with this book and I cant wait to see what he gives us next.

Five Stars

Cliche writing, flat characters and terrible editing.

The premise had promise; the problem was it was cribbed from other books -- there was nothing original enough to have it shake the label of cliche.

Two-thirds of the way through the book I had a hard time remembering--much less caring--about who specific characters were. The bad guys either are incompetent, haven't read the Evil Overlord list, or universally have the character flaw of gloating too long until a deus ex arrives for the Good Guys.

Last, and most inexcusable, was the fact that every instance of the word "lose" was spelled--you guessed it--"loose." If a quote-professional-unquote editor approved this, she/he should be immediately fired.

"We're loosing the battle," said Jack.

Argh.

It has a good plot line but did not put much into character developement. Story felt like it was rushed. Editing was lacking.
Over all it was an ok read if you have the time.

This is a well written fast moving story. It is worth the read if you are looking for sheer entertainment. One of the better free books I have read. Am even seriously considering paying the $2.99 price for each of the follow up in the series. Unique world with a few twists that I found interesting such as the reason wooden stakes kill vampires explained. Put a scientific spin on alot of stuff that was previously unexplained about vampires. Read it. Enjoy.

Apocalypse meet vampires, I'm sure you two will get along great. In this story humanity has really messed things up and is in a world of trouble that's all our own fault. As if the end of the world wasn't enough though, now the vampires have decided that humanity is no longer organized enough to be any kind of a threat and come out in the open to conquer and enslave. Humans are now cattle, drugged into submission, and constantly on tap to feed the vamps. There is a glimmer of hope however, in the form of a small group of resistance fighters that have found ways to avoid the drugs and are now fighting back for real.

I have to say this combination worked great for me. It just makes sense that if vampires did exist and we all but wiped out technology and began isolating ourselves in ever smaller communities with little to no communication to the outside, then those vampires would see this as a great chance to take over with little to no risk. And as happens here it would be simple for them. The serum used afterward just makes sense, the vampires aren't stupid, they would come up with ways to control their food. No aspect of the story seems unlikely at all, and the author does a great job of telling it. If you like vampires, or end of the world scenario stories then I couldn't recommend this one highly enough, you will definitely enjoy it.

With A World Torn Asunder, the first installment in Derek Gunn's Vampire Apocalypse series, we enter a world where fuel crisis and economic collapse led to the fracturing of government and society. What better time for the vampires to step out of the shadows and claim the world for themselves? With a submissive population and some all too willing thralls, the vampires quickly took over. That hasn't stopped a small band of resistance fighters, whose guerilla raids on vampire strongholds have provoked a confrontation that may be the start of an all-out war for survival.

Aside from the whole vampire thing, the scenario Gunn lays out isn't all that far-fetched, especially in light of recent developments in the economy and our dependence on fossil fuels. You can see how one or two catastrophes could lead to larger collapses. Honestly, I could have read a whole novel just focusing on that aspect, but I do love a good vampire story, and Gunn handles that part well. A World Torn Asunder has a fast pace, tons of well-choreographed action sequences and some very formidable bad guys. The book reads a lot like a movie, so it's easy to visualize the action.

Where the book falters a bit is with the main characters. They're not bad, but instead of taking the time to develop each character, Gunn more or less gives us the "back of the baseball card" rundown of back story, personality, physical appearance, etc. It felt forced, and made the characters seem less real. It was much the same with the main villains, who conformed to a predictable type. I felt the book could easily have been twice as long (and twice as effective) if the author had taken more time and developed the characters more naturally. The book could also use one more pass-through by a copy editor just to clean things up and fix some issues with the appearance of the Kindle version.

Despite those issues, I really enjoyed Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder and have already ordered Descent Into Chaos (Vampire Apocalypse Book 2). I'd absolutely recommend this series to fans of E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series and Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan's Strain trilogy. If nothing else, it's good to see vampires acting like the bloodsucking parasites they are, instead of sparkly love-struck teenagers.

If you like your horror action-packed and relentless then Gunn's debut novel delivers in spades.

This novel is an action horror story set in an apocalyptic world. The civilized world is decaying. War and conflict have exhausted a great deal of the world's energy sources. In America, states are pitted against each other, competing for precious resources. As oil and gas become scarce, rural communities become more isolated. This environment allows vampires and their once-human thralls, who have been hiding for centuries, to come forth and conquer the world.

The few surviving rebels have spent the last year hiding within the population, safe in their anonymity, but their survival is threatened by the Vampire's new scanning procedures. Forced into the open the survivors must take the fight to their vicious masters or loose everything.

The novel begins in the last stages of the decay with the vampires beginning to reveal themselves and the action never lets up from then until the exhaustive finale.

I hope the author writes a follow up as there are a number of interesting characters that deserve another storyline to develop.

I want to say that I just finished A World Torn Asunder and I *loved* it. I'm looking forward to reading the next books in the series and definitely am going to recommend this to my friends.

It was a nice introduction to the Post-Apocalyptic world of Derek Gunn's Vampire Apocalypse universe (a bit of a redundant description I know). It avoids a lot of the pitfalls I've always had with zombie and vampire apocalypses. Basically, 'how can people be so stupid to lose the entire planet to these guys?' George Romero has slow moving cannibal creatures destroy the world, despite the fact the military should be able to wipe them up very quickly. We buy it, of course, because that's the premise. Derek Gunn, nicely handles the issue by having the world decaying already before the vampires seize power. It reminds me a great deal of the Road Warrior's description of how humanity fell to chaos.

Really, without oil to power society, the world is going to collapse. It was especially topically relevant in 2006 and it's still true today. I even liked the nod that China and Russia, both major oil producing nations, managed to weather things significantly better than oil dependent USA. The depiction of small town life in the opening chapters really appealed to me and I privately wondered if it was deliberate that no real names were given (or if they were, I've forgotten them). It was all too easy to see my own hometown in the description, ironically well before the end of the world. I, unfortunately, live in a community decaying without industry and have witnessed the kind of slow decline depicted in the book first hand.

I won't post any spoilers but the shocking swerve at the end of the "takeover" process left me feeling a little sick. It was a nice way to introduce our villains and show us just how dangerous they are. The fact that they take over through simple force and no tricks is also a nice change. Emperor Palpatine using every magnificent bastard trick in the book is wonderful for Star Wars, but I think there's something to be said for brute force. When forced between dying and their children dying or serving as a slave, most people will choose to be a slave.

The rest of the book is a very enjoyable action novel that I have no regrets in purchasing. Oddly, I'm reminded of Dan Abnett's writing for the Warhammer 40K line. Particularly the Gaunt's Ghosts series. The books are fundamentally about a squadron of survivors who are doing their best to survive despite the slow decimation of their ranks. Despite that, their heroism never shines through and it neatly avoids the "one great man" theory of human leadership and change. There's a lot of people who serve in the Resistance and all of their contributions count.

Finally, I also enjoyed the treatment of vampires. Are they Always Chaotic Evil psychopaths who are irredeemably evil from their transformation? Yes. After so many years of poor misunderstood vampires, I'm more than happy to just watch them revert to their soulless evil bloodsucker roots. Nero is a purely evil scumbag with no redeeming qualities, there's nothing wrong with that. It makes the situation for the humans all the more desperate.

I'm not the kind of guy who gushes over books but I guess I really enjoyed this one. It was a nice remedy to be a overworked schedule and all manner of depressing things going on. It's a book about fighting vampires, survival, and nice but believable good guys. As fiction goes, you could do a lot worse.

9/10