Winter Duty: A Novel of The Vampire Earth (Vampire Earth Series) [Audiobook, CD, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

E. E. Knight (Author), Christian Rummel (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2009 | Series: Vampire Earth Series (Book 8)

The cause of freedom in Kentucky balances on a knife-edge. Major David Valentine and his fugitive battalion are all that is left of an expeditionary force shattered in its long retreat from disaster in the Appalachians. Between a raging blizzard, the remnants of the brutal and fanatic Moondaggers—bands of headhunters kidnapping entire towns to sell to the Kurians—and the need to recover wounded soldiers lost during the retreat, Valentine is in for the toughest winter of his life. And Valentine is losing allies fast. Some of the clans in the region have declared themselves in favor of the Kurians, throwing Kentucky into civil war. But the Kurian overlords have determined that the region isn’t worth the effort of another conquest. Their order: extermination. By whatever means necessary...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The tense eighth installment of Knight's Vampire Earth series (a welcome improvement over 2008's Fall with Honor) continues David Valentine's adventures in 2076 as the invading Kurian Order decides to exterminate rebellious Earthlings. The Southern Command authorizes Valentine to wage a guerrilla war with the goal of creating a Kentucky freehold. His ragtag battalion (including some controversial Quisling and alien Grog recruits) must deal first with a power plant outage that blacks out Evansville and Owensboro and then a blizzard and the Kurians' plot to unleash a ravies epidemic on the human herd. Knight keeps the conflict interesting but says too little about the inscrutable Kurians, who are like magicians, always diverting attention from the operating hand. Even readers familiar with the series would welcome a glossary and more background on the various alien races. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Gritty realism, Lovecraftian villains, and boffo action scenes."
-S. M. Stirling, national bestselling author of The Scourge of God --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio on CD Unabridged; Unabridged edition (November 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1441808493
• ISBN-13: 978-1441808493
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,906,902 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a science fiction/dark fantasy writer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get to the point., September 13, 2009

By 

Christopher Weiss (Okemos, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Winter Duty: A Novel of the Vampire Earth (Hardcover)

Like many science fiction series with more than 5 books, this one is beginning to wander a bit. We know the ultimate goal - drive out the Kurians. However, the battles back and forth without dramatic victories in the last few books make the outcome less clear. It would seem that the story needs some milestone goals to make the plot more interesting. Every step forward seems to come with several steps back. For example, the election of what looks like a bad government seems to counteract the progress David has made in Kentucky. Fortunately, the big strikes by the Kurians such as the new strain of Ravies seem equally ineffective.

It would appear the Life weavers have started a new trend in human evolution, but even this is fuzzy. Valentine has chronic injuries that plague him even now in the series, but he also appears to be getting tougher in spite of his age.

I would hope the next book would take the story sharply in one direction or the other.

This is not a bad book, and I have not given up on the series, but I am beginning to feel like the series is fizzling.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unpleasantly Surprised..., July 8, 2010

By 

Kelsey Coleman-Stark - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Winter Duty: A Novel of the Vampire Earth (Mass Market Paperback)

While still a reasonably good book this is nothing I would bother to recommend.

It reads like filler co-written by E.E. Knight and a female ghostwriter with an over-fondness for descriptors.

Frankly, it reads more like fanfiction written about Vampire Earth than it does Vampire Earth. You'll find two voices or styles within this book. The first is the E.E. Knight fans of this series have come to know and love, the second is...something new. The second style is the more prevalent of the two and the transitions are anything but seamless! It's obvious and distracting. You'll also find the series' second continuity error and most (if not all) of the typos within the areas of the book written in the second style. It reads like the voice of a female writer instead of the more masculine style of the previous novels. And while the descriptors are sometimes very elegant or evocative they take up far, far too much space. Furthermore, you'll find the word choice a step removed from the old style. Whether the author is trying out a new style and hasn't made the transition yet or has hired a ghost writer (as seems more likely as it seems to have somebody else's fingerprints all over it) I can't say I'm happy with the results. What's more, the book doesn't go anywhere. You'll find action scenes and plenty of hustle-bustle but no development and no movement towards anything. There are none of the turning points or board setting indicative of a transitional book. It's just filler. As strange as it may seem to fans of David Valentine the book even closes with him in the same physical location as the book opened - the whole thing just makes one great, big, seemingly pointless loop. And some of it I'd rather hadn't even ended up in the book at all. For instance, the music's effect on the Woolies? Where did the writer even get that? Some B- zombie movie? And the quotes and the military bits seem rather more "stuck-on" than usual.

When you see work like this it's usually an indication that a series has died and it's time to start purchasing new reading material - whether or not they continue publishing the novels.

Nevertheless, hope springs eternal and I will go ahead and buy the next book.

(Fortunately, the series as a whole is still worthwhile.) And maybe if the series' run really is over somebody will give it a decent burial instead of letting it decay like this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vampire Earth Series is Losing Its Way, February 1, 2011

By 

Maharajah (Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Winter Duty: A Novel of the Vampire Earth (Hardcover)

This series got off to a great start; I really enjoyed the first 3-4 books. Valentine is a compelling character and the post-apocalyptic world building was well-done and creative. However, like many successful SF/Fantasy authors such as Jordan, Martin, Jones and even Erikson (yes I said it!), after several books Knight seems to be losing his way.

This book and the last one did little to advance the overall storyline and Valentine seems to be just slogging his way through major and minor skirmishes without achieving much. In fact, the new books are shorter and are taking on the appearance of a TV serial - a few adventures and on to the next episode.

Why anyone would pay a hardcover price for this is beyond me. I just get them from the library. I suppose I will keep going, simply because I like Valentine, but my hopes for a return to the quality of the initial books are fading fast. I get that this is E.E. Knight's living, but this is a good argument for wrapping up a series in four books (max) and starting something new. Alas, no other successful authors seem to understand this either.