Review: Vampires, Vengeance and Fantastic Storytelling! Yes Please!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2014
5 Sensational, Vindictive Stars!The Review:I adore Vanessa Fewings incredibly talented writing. She has a wonderful way of blending factual history and haunting fantasy into a believable, tangible tale. This book is proof of how a well written story can fluidly transport the reader through time, how it can perfectly entice you into a chilling world of intrigue and beguile you completely while doing so. The characters are fascinating yet complex and the story is thrilling with plenty of plot twists and shocking visuals to keep you absorbed within the pages.The Story...This is the story of Jadeon Artimas, his past, how he came to be Vampire and the spiraling events there after. But it would also not be a proper history lesson without the hypnotic and long standing Lord Daumia’s (aka Orpheus) interjection. So together, they recount their entwined history and we are ferried through time and history as Orpheus and Jadeon narrate their trials of loss, revenge, acceptance and rebirth, all the while circling the convictions of the Stone Masters and their cleansing rites to rid the world of evil.This is their story.Orpheus...In the first book, A Vampire’s Rise we see first hand Daumia’s unfortunate life as it transforms from mundane to fantastical, his rebirth into Vampirism and the suffering he endures at the hands of others. But as time passes, he finds his way, creates a unique family and within that family is his lover, Sunaria. But loss seems to be inevitable for Orpheus and at the end, he’s set on the path of vengeance once again and everything that happens in this book is one well orchestrated scheme to exact his revenge.Orpheus’s story picks up in correlation with Jadeons as he tells of his search for his Sunaria’s murderers who call themselves the Keepers of The Stone. With only the imprinted images of Sunaria’s last days to go by and the scared faces of two small boys, Orpheus goes in search of those that took what was most precious to him.These nameless, faceless humans who seemed to snuff out immortality with ease and patience are truly a mystery to Orpheus but he stops at nothing to find them, even as he fears them.I could see a monumental change in Orpheus, letting his revenge mold him into a different being than the boy and then the man, we first met in book one. He no longer struggles with what he has become. He’s accepted it and is now revered for it.Orpheus is a well seasons planner. For every step Jadeon takes, he counters, setting into motion an unpredicted outcome. He’s smart, diabolical, patient and intriguing. He enjoys the exquisiteness of the hunt, weather it be to kill or to trick. He’s a most accomplished puppeteer, a master of his realm and their truly seems to be no equal. And though his thoughts, his desires and his moral compass are completely immoral, you can’t help but fall victim to his charms and to his character, enjoying his story as well as his viewpoints.....Jadeon...In the year of 1805, Lord Jadeon Artimas was a prominent young man in his early twenties, who had a family legacy laid out before him. However as the formidable Orpheus’s well constructed plan comes to fruition, Jadeon would never fulfill that family legacy, but be forced a new one when his life irrevocably changes as he is made Vampire. His world and the world of his younger brother Alex, open anew and The Artimas family would never be the same as these brothers endure over two centuries of immortality... and at a price neither would have accepted should they have been given a choice.I enjoyed getting to know Jadeon and Alex. We see them as young boys and follow them into their early adult years. Alex is seduced by Orpheus and introduced to the Artimas family. This was his entry into their lives. We get to experience love and rejection through Jadeons eyes as well as get a glimpse into the ceremonies of the Stone Master. And we also are introduced to new characters that play a significant part in their stories.Jadeon and Alex as Vampires are different than Orpheus. They remind me much of how Orpheus began, trying to do right with evil on their side. But as their new existence as Vampires begin, their journey across time was both lonely and inconsequential. They were forcefully given immortality but in hindsight, they squandered it, Jadeon both tracking and losing Orpheus through time and Alex captured in the past as he haunted his castle. It wasn’t until they come together two hundred years later that major events unfold, leaving us with a gripping ending that is both shocking and thrilling!The Wrap Up:Vanessa Fewings has enthralled me once again. This book was remarkable in every way. What I love most about this series is these Vampires are akin to real people. The have desires, they love, they seek vengeance when their family is harmed, they have dreams and they walk a line between being the demon they are designed to be and being something more, something that has a moral code and the ability to govern themselves with rules. There is a real difference between Jadeon, Alex and Orpheus in all these things, like two sides of a same coin. I enjoyed watching their story unfold and I can’t wait to see what awaits them next in A Vampire's Dominion (The Stone Masters Vampire, #3).NOTE: A Vampire’s Reckoning is book two in the Stone Masters Vampire series and is a Paranormal, Fantasy written by Vanessa Fewings. Thank you so much to the author for allowing me to read and review this fabulous book and series!