Title/Series: Welcome to the Darkness | Darkness Trilogy #1
Author: L.M. Justus
Publisher: Taurpio Publishing
Published: August 5th 2013
Format: eBook | Pages: 353
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: ARC provided for blog tour
★★★✩ (3.5/5) Stars!
A typical teenager, seventeen-year-old Reed Hennessy doesn’t realize how lucky he is to lead a normal life until he loses everything, including his humanity. The attacker who slaughters his family and destroys their home turns out to be a vampire, a creature Reed had considered a myth.
Now a vampire himself, but with the unique ability to walk in sunlight, Reed struggles in the dark underworld he didn’t even know existed. His only two allies in his fight to stay alive are his reluctant mentor, Nathaniel, a vampire with over two hundred years’ worth of emotional baggage, and Sarah, a rookie cop with a secret ability of her own.
Together, Reed and his companions face a harrowing, cross-country journey before stumbling into a plot which could mean the end of everything for humans and vampires alike.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm always one for a good vampire book and, though I had a few issues with it, I still really enjoyed this book. It was different and a bit darker than the average vampire novel that I normally read. It was fast paced and kept me engaged from start to finish. Once I picked it up I was hooked and found it difficult to put it down.
This book was told in multiple POVs. Well three to be exact; Nathaniel, Sarah and Reed. Though what I found kind of odd and one of the things that annoyed me was the fact that when we were in Nathaniel or Sarah's POV everything was in the third person, but when it was Reed it was in the first person. I don't mind switching between narrators but when you then also throw in the constant back and forth between first and third person it just sort of felt a bit messy.
I was pulled in from the opening of the book, which is actually quite tragic as 17 year old Reed's family is slaughtered by a vampire and in the mix of it all he makes one huge mistake trying to kill the intruder, which ends up getting him turned. I felt for him immediately. To witness something so horrible happen to the people you love and then come to the realization that you've turned into the very thing that did this to them... I think he was probably my favorite character throughout the book. He's not the average vampire though, and has special gifts that set him apart from the rest. Which puts him on everyone's radar and not necessarily in a good way.
Youngling vamps aren't allowed to be out on their own without a mentor of sorts with them, teaching them the ropes and rules so that they don't expose their kind obviously. If one is found they're supposed to be killed. This is how we meet Nathaniel. Though when he comes across Reed, he decides to bring him in to the Queen instead of killing him when he finds out just how different Reed is. Nathaniel was funny at times, I mean he's a 200 year old vampire so he still had that sort of proper and stuffy air about him. And as hard as he tries not to, he forms a bond with Reed that I found sort of sweet and endearing.
Through a series of events we're also introduced to Sarah who is a rookie cop and has a very special gift of her own (as a human). She is my other issue within this story. She all too easily, for my taste, accepts this world of vampires and puts her trust in Reed, who by the way, absolutely does some very untrustworthy things when they first meet. It just made no sense to me that she would then skip off with him and allow herself to be thrust into their dark world and even fall for him. I felt like there should have been more fight there. Instead it was just sort of like she shrugged it off and goes off with him without a second thought.
I guess, to me, it seemed as if quite a few things over all just happened to fall in to place way too easily like that. There was either a simple solution or not very much resistance with anything that went wrong through a lot of the book. Regardless of any of those minor complaints I had, none of them were so aggravating that I lost interest. Because the story itself, and the lore and the world created were very fascinating and I had a hard time stopping myself from turning the page to find out what happens next. And it leaves you with just enough of a cliffhanger that I'm very eagerly awaiting book 2 to find out what happens to these people...err and creatures!
About the author:
Lisa Justus' path to becoming an author took a circuitous route through the University of Waterloo where she earned a Bachelor of Mathematics, followed by jobs in quality assurance and technical writing at a high-tech company. With a keen interest in creative fiction, she wrote her first fantasy novel as part of NaNoWriMo as well as an early chapter book for her kids when they were younger. Her YA paranormal fantasy novel Welcome to the Darkness is the first book in the Darkness Trilogy.
These days Lisa is busy writing her fourth novel, reading, finishing her basement, doing volunteer work, and trying to stay in shape by running somewhat regularly. She, her husband, and their three children live in Ottawa, Ontario
Lisa Justus | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
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I love darker vampire books with good old fashion vampire lores! Glad you enjoyed it overall, Sheri! :)
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