Review: Excellent
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2011
4 3/4 stars.I was introduced to the vampire genre by Anne Rice and then let it drop. Couldn't get into the stuff by the newer crop of writers that sprang up in latter years, I'm not a pre-teen and paranormal really isn't my cup of tea.I had heard about 33 AD on the Kindle forum, picked it up and loved it. Couldn't wait for this sequel and it didn't disappoint.61 A.D. takes us to Londinium during the Roman occupation with the continuing characters of Taras and Theron, two of the main characters in 33 and introduces us to some fascinating new characters as well. I especially liked the character of Baella. Councilor Ramah also reappears. Londinium is attacked by the barbarian Iceni and the vampires are unwittingly embroiled in the battle in the midst of their battle with each other.The pace of the story is fast and almost frantic, I could feel the near-panic of the characters set in as the story sped up. I was completely hooked from beginning to end, the pace didn't lag for a second.While these vampires aren't for the faint of heart, I didn't find the gore to be gratuitous either. McAfee knows how to grab a reader by the throat and hold on throughout. His stories are completely original and I think that, more than anything else is what draws me to his work. I look forward to more from him.I'm taking off 1/4 star for a couple of minor typos and grammatical boo-boos, but there were far fewer mistakes than the average independent work and even those of trad-pub works I've read lately. I think I found a total of 4.