Review: Excellent Second Episode, Keeps Great Pace
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2011
If you're expecting a short story, you won't be quite satisfied here. This isn't really a short-story, or an Amazon.com Single. What it really is more closely resembles a serial novel. Much like comic books have a running storyline, in which the edition tells an almost complete story but then leaves it open for the next edition, THE VAMPIRE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER is a serial that requires the reader to stay tuned for the next 'episode'. This Part II is the continuation of the story fromThe Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Part I, so don't purchase this one until you've purchased and read the first one, or you'll miss some of the best action scenes and won't get as good of a feel for what compels the protagonist.The story is told from the point of view of the lead character, our protagonist, Chloe, whose age is between 14-16 in the storyline. However, don't let this age fool you into thinking this is a story for kids. It's not. Young adult, teen, yes, but not kids, and there's enough action to entertain adults too. Just because the lead is a teenager doesn't exclude the adults from reading. I like the voice of the main character. Wright does a good job making her feel like a typical teenager, but then she also puts the weight and responsibility of being more than your average teenager to work too.In Part II, Chloe has to begin her training as a vampire hunter, and she is introduced to more people in the quaint 'village-like' city in which the hunters live together, keeping their secrets and cosmic roles from everyone else, bounded by their mutual responsibility to protect the humans of the world from the vampires who would turn or kill them.We also learn more about how the vampires in this universe operate, and how they can be eliminated too. We also learn, with foreshadowing, that Chloe, while having to just learn to be a teenager, also is going to have to learn more about what being descendant from the bloodlines of powerful vampire hunters (and perhaps even demi-gods and goddesses), but also that she is unique in that she is the offspring of both a hunter AND a vampire. What gifts, talents and supernatural interventions find her remain to be seen, but this mixture of bloodlines might prove more than she can handle.Of course, it doesn't hurt that the vampire she's the offspring from is quite powerful... and he has his mind set on getting his hands on her too! In the meantime, Chloe has to learn just to be a normal teenager, cope with her mother's death, cope with moving to a new place and learning things about herself she never knew... it's a lot for a girl to deal with, and Drew, a young man we get to know more in Part II, isn't being as helpful as he could.After finishing the Part I, I was eager to read the next part, and by Part II, I was hooked. Don't pick this up unless you're committed to reading the series, because you'll find you can't wait to get to the next section! As the author continues to add to the series, I hope to continue to read it.I enjoy the tone of this series. Wright does a great job capturing the feel of a teenager who is a bit rebellious, a little flippant, a touch sarcastic, but mostly, alone and scared and trying to put on a brave front for everyone. Additionally, as we learn more about the universe this series is set in, we learn about the vampires and the hunters, the legends behind them and more. This series puts a new twist on the genre of vampires, keeping it fresh.