"One final, delicious twist nicely brings the story to a heart-racing conclusion." " Kent's masterful means of slowly building tension." "I did not want to put this story down." Another US review - at VampChix. |
The first US review is available at Publishers Weekly. Kent's sprawling historical horror debut, the first of a quintet, brings blood-gushing brutality back to vampire fiction. As Napoleon's army nears Moscow in 1812, four Russian spies meet with a dozen uncanny marauders who agree to harass the French. By the time Aleksei realizes that the fiends are literally bloodthirsty, the 12 have begun feeding on Russian civilians. Aleksei instinctively despises the vampires, while his friend Dmitry insists they can be useful allies, and his mistress is tempted by endless youth. Aleksei's sometimes plodding self-examination doesn't impede densely detailed, hard-driving action as winter and the vampires drive the invaders from the ravaged city. The novel's earnest conviction saves it from being mere ghastly melodrama, and the vampires are genuinely scary villains, more vivid than most of the living characters. With no romantic yearning or teen angst in sight, this is just a bloody good tale. (Sept.) |
"An accomplished, entertaining blend of historical fiction and dark fantasy." "These vampires are not the smoothies beloved of romantic novelists." For those of you who missed the review in the January 3rd 2009 edition, it's available online. |
"Wonderful writing and storytelling." "One of the best books of the year." Click here for the full review. |
"Good vampire-hunting fun." 
The review is not available online, so you'll have to go out and buy issue #178. |
"Sit down and read it for the sheer pleasure of the storytelling ." "One of the big debuts of 2009." Visit My Favourite Books for the full review. |
"Rich, detailed and enjoyable ... a real page-turner." "A great read and a breath of fresh air." The full review is at Fantasy Book Review. |
"Incredibly atmospheric." "A great genre-splitting novel." Read the full review here. |
"Progeny of Tolstoy or Pasternak, with a Stokerian twist." "Bloodily fantastic." Read the full review at SFFWorld. |
"A beautifully written historical fantasy." "Reminiscent of Alexander Dumas." Read the full review at Infinitas Bookshop. |
"Rich historical insight and compelling storytelling." "A compulsively readable adventure." 
Waterstone's Books Quarterly has this to say, by Xavier Aldana. |
"As cool as the vampires are, it's this strong human factor that really makes the book what it is. " "A solid, engaging novel and a promising start to the quintet." A new review just in from James Long at Speculative Horizons. |
"A beautifully told historical novel." "In the same vein as classics such as For Whom the Bell Tolls and All Quite on the Western Front." "A brilliant vampire tale." "A very special novel." Read this thoughful review at Neth Space. |
"One of the best alternate histories/historical fantasies I've read." "A great debut." A new review in from LEC Book Reviews. |