Monday, January 18, 2016

Review - Vampire Hunter by Victoria Danann


ASIN: B01APIXTJ0; Pages: 279
My taste for vampire tales have slowly deteriorated over the years, mostly thanks to the overrated and over-hyped Twilight Saga. Nevertheless, since I am a horror fan, I'm always open to reading a new spin on the vampire lore.

Now available to read from 7th House Publishing, Imprint of Andromeda LLC is the newest novel by author Victoria Danann, titled Vampire Hunter (Rammel Hawkings 1). It's a prequel story to the Order of the Black Swan series, featuring the fan favorite character, Rammel Hawking.

I'm not the biggest fan of prequels (books or movies) as to me they always seem unneeded and feel a little forced upon the reader/viewer. I wasn't aware that Vampire Hunter was a prequel to the author's other works (which I have read a few of her other titles), well, until I started reading it this week and, then, I quickly realized that I read about the elf, Rammel Hawking in My Familiar Stranger and The Witch's Dream.

Yes, I said an elf. Victoria Danann has created an unique world with fairies (faes), elves, vampires and other mythical creatures, all of which sometimes tangle with the lives of humans. There are no glittering vampires here, which is a good thing.

Vampire Hunter picks up when Rammel is just a royal kid who likes to run wild in the forest until he runs into Liam O'Torvall, the mayor of Black-On-Terry. Like any gentleman, Liam feeds the boy and escorts him back to his home. Little did he know that Rammel's father, the king, would later let the boy live by himself, somewhat as a hermit; leaving Liam and his wife to occasionally look after the boy.

I guess you can say that Rammel's upbringing wasn't exactly normal, especially, when he is recruited at the age of thirteen-years-old by Alder Rathbone to join the Black Swan.  Basically, he would be in a special school until he reaches adulthood, then he would be offered the chance to become a vampire hunter in the Knights of the Black Swan. While Rammel does struggle about his future, he eventually become a vampire hunter.

Final Thoughts

For me, Vampire Hunter started out a little weak and it took me a few chapters (which switches on & off from different point-of-views throughout the novel) until I finally got hooked into the story. Like I already mentioned above, I'm not a big of fan or prequels, but the Vampire Hunter happens to be the expectation as I did end up liking the book. If you have read any of the books in the Order of the Black Swan series, then you would know how important Lan was to Rammel, as he was his first partner in vampire hunting. Here we (the readers) finally get to read about how the two first meet and, then, to the unfortunate death of Lan. Overall, Vampire Hunter is a well-written fantasy-adventure with likable characters, along with plenty of action and drama to keep any reader entertained.


*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.


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