Review: The "Origin Story" of V
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2012
The book has a distinct urban flavor. The kind that can be found in Guy Ritchie's films without being as down and dirty or fast-paced or sarcastically humored. For about half of the book, the story sets up the main hero, Jonathan, by showing his regular life as a high schooler in Leeds and then a college student in London. He is a game geek who lives in some pretty gritty neighborhoods, gets picked on and bullied. His friend is almost driven to suicide by the local gang, his friend's mother is in jail for trying to save her son. After he and his father leave for London, he tries to start a new life, gets a hot girlfriend with whom he shares many of his interests but still ends up in a similar situation.Once again - this goes on for almost half of the book and there's not a single mention of the vampires in any shape or form until the half-way point. I just want to make sure that you don't grow disappointed and stop reading before things get all interesting - this background story is essential to the narrative. It shows Jonathan's character development, it brings in all the secondary characters that influence him, it sets up the mood, and it allows the reader to feel together with Jonathan the need for revenge and ponder on the choices he is making.The inner dialog between Day Jonathan and Night Jonathan is a good plot device, if slightly overused here. It does however, come to the fore at the end of the book so you'll see why the author uses it throughout.Now, a quick mention about the "Vampire Rules" here. Thorn represents a more standard female vampire, almost a return to the "good old days" of the vampire lore. Which is actually refreshing, after so many authors put so many different twists on the "Vampire Rules" that sometimes you can't even see any vampires behind the glitter. However, this is a provisional conclusion - there were hints on more and different types of vampires so, we'll see how it goes in the next instalment. The "Vampire for the Night" bit is pretty good and almost unused in modern literature, nice touch there.There are a few things in this book that could be improved from a technical point of view, however. For example, Browning High-Power or Browning Hi-Power is the name of the weapon and it has to be written just like the above. Well, I doubt many would notice this but it's easy to fix and it will make the text look more professional.This book is an "Origin Story" of V. I am somewhat reluctant to call him Vengeance since that has already been used and leads to a bit of perceptual confusion. The book does not end with questions unanswered but with new questions and challenges that appear right before the end and some of the old questions reframed. This is how the cliffhanger is done, people! (Sorry, I was talking to the writers out there.)Criticisms aside, this is an entertaining book that I've read cover to cover. Recommended.