Review: Revenge, Romance, Vampires, and Surprisingly Solid Writing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2014
I haven't gotten into the vampire genre as much as everyone else seems to have in recent years, but I'm a firm believer in trying new things, which is why Felices' series appealed to me so much. It didn't seem like the sparkly vampire, YA style of horror writing that seems to dominate the shelves these days, and the reviews were good for the series. After reading the first book, I was sufficiently hooked to try the second, which I enjoyed quite a bit more. It had a decidedly darker edge to it, which is definitely up my street in terms of tone for a vampire novel, and I feel like Felices hit her stride in terms of finding a good voice for the characters.There was a decent amount of romantic interludes and monologues, but it didn't strike me as childish or irritating, but rather as a valid part of the plot that actually held relevance. The Righteous also made for a rather epic plot element, and with danger on every side, combined with single-minded focus, Rachel really seems to have come into her own as a strong, dominant protagonist. I'm glad she had the support of Arun, as he distracted me from a few of the more annoying moments that Rachel occasionally fell into, and he became just as important of a figure as Rachel. It takes a talented author to inject a series with new characters, plot developments, enemies, and friends without feeling like they're padding the books to stretch out a single plot line, but Felices manages to do it quite well. While this wouldn't be considered high literature by most people, it is well written, fun, surprising, and even gripping in enough places to definitely make it worth the read.