vampires – Samuel Colbran

Review of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

I haven’t reviewed books lately, so I thought not just reviewing specific series that I have read but four series by one author, Drew Hayes.

To start will be his supernatural series, Fred, the Vampire Accountant. I have listened to this series multiple time on audible. Before I jump into why I love the series, I would like to shout the fantastic narrator, Kirby Helborne. His vocal range brings the series to life, and I am glad for his superb narration.

Now back to the review, Fredrick Frankford Fletcher, also known as Fred to his friends, is about a vampire who is living a ‘normal’ boring life as an accountant. Now you would think, why would that be interesting? This concept comes down to Mr Hayes’ creative mind and how he brings something humdrum into a thrilling and page-turning series.

This series is one of my ‘go to’ series when I am feeling down and depressed. Each book (six in total so far) is a journal-like setting. Each one has an introduction of Mr Fletcher explaining that it is okay to be dull, which give Fred, the Vampire Accountant, such a breath of fresh air on the vampire genre. He isn’t sparkly or super sexy, so no Ms Meyers or Ms Rice for Mr Fred. Drew brings each character to life in his interpretation of the supernatural world, filled with vampires, therianmorphs, mages and even dragons.

What makes this series even more remarkable is the world-building and nod to long histories of lore that these supernatural mythologies.

I would highly recommend this series, as the great Fredrick Frankford Fletcher says:

‘You will eventually discover that under the movie stereotypes, imposed mystique, and overall inflated expectations, each and every one of us is at least a touch more boring than our images would indicate. And that is not a bad thing.’

Amazon Au link here.

Review for Off Axis by D.D Scarlet

I just finished Off Axis, and still reeling from this complicated story Ms Scarlet created. I gave the first book four stars, but this is a five star all the way. The richness of the world of the modern Vampire is layered, layer upon layer of intrigue and complexity.

In this book, D.D expanded the pov to other main characters. Off-Axis opens the reader up to the mindset of very primal creatures. Mars is still the main character, and his emotional range is impressive.

Ms Scarlet has taken the trope of Vampire and made it feel like it is real in this world. Then she shows you how entirely broken that world is

Review of From Dusk by M. G. Ryan

From Dusk: the Vampire Hunter Prophecy is the first of four novels that I picked up at Supanova and this week is dedicated to reading and reviewing them. To understand how I feel about this story there will be some spoilers, not how I like to do reviews but there is no other way for me to talk about this book honestly.

So spoilers ahead, but I will keep them small.

I meet M. G. Ryan at Gold Coast Supanova; she was a few booths down from me. I was intrigued by her cover and title, so I brought a copy. An overall feel of the book, I enjoyed the novel itself, but the last third was I say my most favourite part. It follows a hero’s journey but had elements of romance and discovery of oneself.

Lexi is the main protagonist; her character was a great way of showing a strong female without trying to make her overly masculine. Her femininity was I think one of Lexi’s compelling points, which caused me to become engaged with her story, accepting her path with a measured approach. I read one review that is was like Twilight, as I have read that series, I can tell you it is far from that type of story. Some elements are similar, wolves and vampires but it concentrates on a prophecy about a vampire hunter. The Lore of the Vampires was more like Anne Rice than Stephenie Meyer. There are some issues of flow at the beginning of the book, but once you move past that, the story was difficult to put down.

Jack is Lexi’s main supporting character. I do like him, he feels like a real person like Lexi. Something happened to him in his past, and he needed to understand this. The relationship between Lexi and Jack, I found believable. Being that close to an oblivious attraction with each other show how to do organic romance in literary form.

My favourite character is Corey, can’t go into why as I think this would ruin the book for readers but when he came into the story, the dynamic of Lexi, Jack and Corey made me lose track of my reading and before I knew the book was over. I want to read the next one now!

I would highly recommend From Dusk. Aside from the pace at the start, the book flowed and showed what knowing the path and walking it means.