Customer Reviews

Winter Duty: A Novel of The Vampire Earth (Vampire Earth Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I like almost all of the books of this series. This one however waxes poetic for the first 100 pages out of 300. Sets up some potential intrique and then ends hastily. I haven't given up on this series yet but one more like this and I will. What I like most about this series is when Valentine goes undercover infiltrating the KZ. He discovers alien technology, out smarts evil henchmen, and lays the smack down on the Kurians with some cool fight scenes. I also like when he discovers and unravels the Kurians' sinister plots. This book was none of that.

I really like this series. I've read all eight of the books, just finishing this one. I would have given it either a 3 or a 4, but there is no ending. Valentine takes a very uncharacteristic action and the book just stops. If this is the payoff for reading yet another Knight book about failure, I'll have to read some very positive reviews to pay for #9, which is a shame because the first, third, and fourth books of the series were excellent (4 stars) and 5, 6, and 7 were good (3 stars). But, if you read the second one, take heart, because even this one is better than "Valentine Hornblower"!

The first Vampire Earth books were fantastic, but like many authors, the longer the series goes on, the more outdated the stories become. Now it seems the main character is less involved in any real action, and is more involved in managing his underlings. Why not just buy a book on management techniques? You might actually learn something then.

I hate to say it, but I won't read anymore of these books.

I'm a huge fan of the series, and have every book to date. However, Winter Duty left me wanting. Every other book in the series has been well conceived, plotted, and executed. Winter Duty was 300+ pages of nothing. The plot development through the entire book was lethargic only to be rushed in the end. For example, more time was spent discussing the burning sensation in David's arms as he climbed a steel cable than was spent on his battle against the Kurian lord that was waiting at the end of the climb. The last few chapters seemed to stablize, but again was rushed with a "revelation" of a traitor with no foreshadowing of there being one. Not only was it unnecessary, but it was a poor attempt to explain the last few events of the book. The only redeeming quality of Winter Duty is the promise of the return of the mighty Ahn Kha for the next installment. I say read it if you're a hardcore fan and want to see what happened to Kentucky after the fight with the Moondaggers. Otherwise, this one really isn't worth your time.

An interesting series, set in 2076 where Earth has been taken over by the alien and vampire like race of the Kurians. The series hero, Valentine is part of the various defending forces (his role varies depending on where in the series you are) and here is helping run a guerrilla war in Kentucky.

Winter Duty feels like a book too far, and the author fails to take the obvious opportunities to develop characters or give us more insight into the world he has created. I was not engaged at all and got very little entertainment out of this one at all.

This is the eighth book in Knight's Vampire/Sci-fi series. The series is set in the year 2076. The invading alien Kurian Empire has conquered most of the planet and have either enslaved or nearly destroyed mankind. Their main weapon is the genetically created Reapers who live on the blood of humans. The continued story follows Major David Valentine and the resistance fighters who battle against the Reapers.

This book opens in Kentucky as Valentine as the people of that state battle their oppressors for freedom although there are those in their ranks who would prefer to be absorbed into the Kurian Empire. The rebellion does not go over well with the Kurian Overlords who seek to put down the insurgency by having the Reapers obliterate the entire population. Valentine and his men are left to battle back the tide of evil with slim resources and apparently no reinforcements from Southern Command.

While the book is filled with tons of action, some of it nightmarishly grisly, Knight also continues to make world-building a central goal of the series and the book is filled with strong political maneuverings on all sides. Knight makes uses of some supporting characters who have only been seen sparingly in some of the previous novels. After eight books Knight continues to make each novel fresh and exciting, particularly since the last novel, "Fall with Honor" was a bit lukewarm.

E. E. Knight's Vampire Earth series is one of the most interesting series to follow. Watching the maturation and evolution of the main character David Valentine has been very intriguing because Knight has done the right things. Val has been through the proverbial wringer in terms of losing friends, getting hurt and dealing with leaders who are more concerned with their own career than doing the right things for the Soldiers they lead. In many ways, Knight's tongue in cheek commentary on bureaucrats and indictment of self-serving Officers has been his most powerful theme. Winter Duty does even more.

Once again Val is taking great personal risk to a mission that he feels is important, but that is not being supported by Southern Command. He lacks resources, qualified Soldiers and still he's willing to roll the dice on trying to save an area that was devastated by a previous offensive. It's exciting, compelling stuff.

E.E. Knight continues to develop the post-apocalyptic conditions of Earth and doesn't stint on giving us solid examples of how society could have evolved. He really takes the reader into the world and gives you a chance to see how rough things could be. Training Soldiers while trying to fight an uphill battle with limited resources is very difficult and Knight doesn't try to sweep that under the carpet.

In Winter Duty Knight pulls back several supporting characters who have been under used in recent books. This is just a treat. Knight's characterization of the relationship between Val and Ali, his long-time covert operations partner, remains one of the most tender yet brittle depictions of broken people finding trust in each other. Knight's pallet of emotional connections between characters is as well developed as you could hope for and that makes his series worth coming back to again and again.

Winter Duty is a violent, emotional roller-coaster that resets the standard of this series back at a high level. Knight's latest effort really gives you something to savor while taking you for a ride through the harsh landscape of a war-torn world and man's fight for survival.