This book came to my attention through recommendations, as I hadn’t previously heard of it. Jeannie Holmes is a newcomer to the world of urban fantasy, but I think she has made a really good start here and I hope she continues to carry on in the manner in which she has started.
This is the first in hopefully at least a series of six books staring our lead protagonist Alexandra Sabian, the second is Blood Secrets and will see print in the USA on the 28th of June 2011.
Now, onto the book itself, Blood Law is a dark urban fantasy, with vampires, if I had to pick a type of vampire, I would say that these are closer to your classic nosferatu then to say, any particular glitter infested vampires. However, they aren’t like any vampires I had encountered before, as these vampires are of another species, they are not human, nor have they ever been human, while it has not been stated in the book, I believe that a human cannot be transformed into a vampire, nor can they cross breed.Other points of note include the fact that the fangs are on display constantly, unless the vampire has had them filed down and capped.
As far as I know, this is a pretty unique twist on vampires, something I had not seen before and I’ve encountered a fair few vampires in the literary world.
The authors world building here is very well done, incredibly smooth, you slide in with out much of a hiccup at all, it’s a very familiar world, like most urban fantasy it’s based on this world, but with a dark twist in it, this case it being the existence of vampires. As readers we don’t yet know if there are any other supernatural goodies out there, I’m sure if there is, we will know about them eventually.
One are of this book that was incredibly strong was the characters, they were real, gritty and fairly intense. In fact I found myself remarking that one of the characters, a police officer called Harvey, was a real scumbag and found myself fascinated and at the same time intensely hating him. The lead protagonist is Alexandra Sabian, she works as an enforcer for the vampires, under federal authority, any case involving vampires in her area comes under her jurisdiction, as protagonists go, I quite like Alex, for a vampire, she is surprisingly human, she needs to eat, sleep and drink coffee, just like anyone else, there is more to her, but I won’t spoil that for you, you will have to read the book to find out more.
The story and the writing flow smoothly, there is no noticeable judder and you do find yourself wanting to keep reading, it cost me a nights sleep, twice.The sex scenes, yes there are some, so don’t get too disappointed, are pretty hot, smoothly written and have a high level of validity within context. They aren’t just thrown in there for the hell of it, they are cleverly written without descending into being overly explicit or being more of the same old thrust and grunt.
There is really very little in there for me to pick bones on, and what there is is really just a matter of opinion, the ending is slightly cliff-hangerery but, given the current market you have to make sure you can build your audience.
My final thoughts on this book, well worth a read and definitely worth the space on your book shelf, I’d give it a solid 9/10 , an author to keep an eye on, because if this is any indication, she’s only going to get better.