Arshad Ahsanuddin

I like the concept of this book a lot. Hidden paranormal societies are a favorite trope of mine, whether or not that hidden society eventually gets discovered. (In the case of this book, the opening plot trigger reveals the hidden society.) Vampire books and paranormal romance novels are fine too; I enjoy both, though I don't read either as much as I used to.

This book has the feel of an epic fantasy novel, but set in the near future instead of some medieval-style world. It has a very sweeping plot, and a very ambitious scope. There is a large cast of characters, and several of them go by multiple names and/or titles. (I didn't use it much, but I appreciated that there was a listing of the characters at the end of the book.) There were times when the multitude of POVs lessened the impact of the plot tension for me. While I didn't have trouble keeping up with everything, I did frequently need to take breaks from the book. There was just a LOT going on.

My biggest complaint about the book is that the frequent head-hopping and jumps back and forth in time are not my preferred storytelling style. I prefer to read books that follow one or two main narrators. This book, instead, uses more of an epic fantasy storytelling style as far as narrators: we get lots of different viewpoints (from the protagonists as well as the antagonists) to see all kinds of actions and angles directly, instead of hearing about them later. (Epic fantasy is not my preferred sub-genre. If it's yours, you might enjoy the way this book is told a lot more!) It was easy to track the time jumps and narrator changes. I didn't get confused by them, but I did sometimes feel they could have been told as a quick, one- or two-line explanation from the character instead of needing an entire scene.

In summary, this book was not really to my style, but that's largely a personal taste thing. If you like a more epic storytelling style, enjoy seeing lots of different points of view, and are looking for hot-but-not-erotic m/m paranormal romance, this might be a book that works well for you.

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I read this book as part of the judging process for the 3rd Self Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC3), and I was provided a review copy for judging purposes. My opinions are my own and do not reflect the thoughts of my SPSFC3 team or the competition as a whole.… (altro)

This story is like no other in its mix of races. I will not compare it to the classics of sci-fi fantasy but it came close. What I had a hard time with was the huge cast of well developed characters and the many names that they went by. I was constantly flipping back to the glossary. I also found that all of the time jumping between chapters took a lot away from the flow of the plot. Understand that there is a tremendous amount of information that the author had to get across to the reader but I feel it could have been done in a smoother way. I enjoyed the many plot twists and the idea of redeemed vampires. There is a HEA kind of ending for those who need it.… (altro)