Grade: A-

[REPOST: THIS BOOK IS OUT NOW. GO BUY IT!]

I wasn’t sure if I should review this book because I totally geeked out on the author sticking my name in the acknowledgment page and pretty much bragged to anyone who’ll listen! I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my objectivity and feel bad about giving Ms. Gleason a bad grade. Fortunately, this book did not suck. No, it was a little more than unsucky, it was actually pretty good! This series started out with the gimmicky premise of Buffy Meets Jane Austen, but I think it has surpassed that. While reading this book, I actually had to put it down a couple of times because I was afraid the heroine wasn’t going to make it out of the sticky situations she just happened to find herself in, but there were also a couple of scenes that tore my heart out of my chest like that time Buffy sent Angel to Hell by stabbing him through the chest with a fucking sword. I’m still traumatized, man. Anyway, there were spots in this book that had me scratching my head and wondering what the hell (heh!) was going on, but for the most part, I was totally absorbed. Victoria, the heroine, is developing into a seriously smart, kickass chick and the two men in her life, Sebastian and Max… oh, totally broke my heart. Dicks. Oh, man, I’m so thankful that Gleason wrote a severely readable book and I was spared from a potentially awwwwkward situation of giving her a shitty grade. What a pal. Oh… and spoilers aplenty in this biznatch.

The Plot: “In every generation, a Gardella is called to accept the family legacy…” Yeah, yeah, yeah. When we last saw the Vixtress, she had just finished sending Lilith, the Mother of All Suckheads, running for the hills, and oh yeah, yanking a stake out of the pile of vampire ash that used to be her beloved husband, Phillip. Her slaying partner Max, who was bitten by Lilith in the last book, has disappeared and the Venators fear he is dead and Sebastian Vioget, Vicky’s informant and part-time makeout partner, has also not been seen since all the shit went down. Luckily, there hasn’t been a vampire seen in London for a year, which gives Vicky some time to mourn and compose herself, especially since she went medieval on some rapist-type that she almost kills. Just when Vicky decides she’s going to have some nice girly fun— whatever it is the Victorian chicks did— for a while, she gets word from her Aunt Eustacia, the leader of the Venators, that some shit is going down in Venice and Vicky has to take her butt down there to investigate. Apparently, a vampire called Nedas, a child of Lilith, got a hold of an obelisk (what the hell is an obelisk?) that will enable him to perform a ritual that will make him into a super-powerful vampire who can control all of the undead and THUS, the world! Also, there are a bunch of humans called the Tutela who are only too willing to help him because they’re suckhead groupies and exist to serve vampires.

When The Vixmeister gets down to Venice, she runs into Max who is suddenly a member of the Tutela, engaged to some bimbo airhead who is the daughter of a Tutela big-whig, and doesn’t give two shits about her or the Venators. Vicky is convinced he is undercover, but he is doing some shit that makes her suspect homeboy has switched sides. Sebastian, on the other hand, seems to be showing up wherever Vicky just happens to be and knows an awful lot of stuff about the Tutela and vampires that makes Vicky wonder what game he’s trying play with her. Meanwhile, her Aunt Eustacia is acting weird because there’s a prophecy that the shit in Venice will be the end of the “Golden Age of the Venators” and they’re all gonna die. Oh, and Gleason upholds the Whedon tradition of bad shit happening to people when they have sex.

The Heroine: Vicky really comes into her own in this book. She’s smart, practical, and knows when to set shit aside ’cause shit just gotta get done. Sure, she mourns the life she could have had if she weren’t a Venator, but she’s definitely Venator first, Womyn second. Kickass woman or not, however, she does have her vulnerabilities and one of them just happens to be a hot, hot man called Sebastian. There are some hand-wringing on her part about whether she should have some hot, hot sex with him, which is to be expected, ’cause homegirl is what… 21 years old? But for the most part, Vicky does have her head on straight and knows she gotta take care of bizness first before getting a slice of hot Sebastian meatpie. She definitely made this book work for me and even when I got a little confused because the plot was bogged down with so many details, I kept reading ’cause I cared about what happened to homegirl. I really liked her.

The Hero(es): It’s been a year since Vicky’s husband Phillip died, so naturally, in Victorian England, that means she can date! Woo-hoo! Sebastian Vioget, the “mysterious” cat who keeps seducing our Vicky and breaking her heart when he does something “ZOMGWTFBBQ, YOU’RE EVIL??!!?!?” is back and I love him more than ever. Dude’s got tons of thecrets and I love how totally morally ambivalent he is. He’s totally Spike or something, except cooler and he’s not a total wanker and he’s like… not a midget and, like, he doesn’t look 80 years old (I hope). And there’s Max, who’s totally like… a mix between Angel and Angelus. Max brings on the angst like no one’s business. Is he evol? Is he playing a game? WHOSE SIDE IS HE ON? Max, you’re TEARING MY HEART INTO LITTLE PIECES! I hate you! I love you! Oh, I can’t take it, it’s too much. Both of them pitch in to yank Vicky out of some tough spots, but ultimately, Vicky needs NEITHER of these men. They’re totally eye-candy. ZOMG, they’re both so Lindsey McDonald and his stupid plastic hand (which is evol).

Secondary Characters: This contribution to the series is really about Vicky AND her Aunt Eustacia, a Venator way past her prime and now has to decide if the Vixmeister-Vee is ready to take on the reins of Illa Gardella, the leader spot. Has Vicky had enough training? Is Vicky psychologically and emotionally ready to make the shadowy gray decisions for the greater good? I found it interesting that aside from Vicky, she’s the only one with a POV narration of her very own, ’cause like I said, this book is definitely also about her passing on the torch to the Vixtress and the New Power Generation. I also enjoyed the weird Indian guy (I can’t remember his name… it’s not Alfred, though) who plays her lover-man and Vicky’s trainer. Dude is hardcore. Verbana, Vicky’s sassy maid, is also back and she’s good times. The villains were a little MWAHAHAHAHA WE WILL TAKE OVAH ZEE WORLD NOW AND ZER IS NUFFING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!1!!1!!! but they totally fit. ‘Cause you know, it IS Vicky’s job to fight the evol of the world and it would be kind of pointless if she only had to fight slightly evol people.

O h My Word: The setting was awesome. Gleason made good use of the Venice location and it was interesting to see Vicky reacting to the changes in customs. In London, for example, it is unheard of for a woman in her position— even though she is a widow — to receive a gentleman caller on her own, but in Venice, it’s totally cool ’cause everybody does it. The developing character arc of Vicky is definitely something to watch; as she takes on more responsibilities as a Venator, I expect we’re going to see some pretty cool stuff from this lady. I did enjoy the sticky situations that Gleason stuck her in because it was enjoyable (and fucking stressful at the same time) to watch her try to get out of it using her wits and Venator training. The romance reader in me also really enjoyed the angsty love/hate stuff she shared with both Sebastian AND Max (more Sebastian right now, but Max is someone to watch out for, methinks). This doesn’t have a traditional HEA — absolutely not! far from it!— but it is quite helpful and sets up the next book in the series quite nicely. Speaking of which, I CANNOT WAIT to read it. Dear Ms. Gleason, SEND IT TO ME NOW. I think it’s going to be Max-heavy and it’s killing me a little bit inside that I have to wait for it. Damn you, Gleason!

Anyway, this is definitely better than the 1st book in my opinion, but you ABSOLUTELY MUST read that in order to get the full effect of the angst! and the high action! and the drama! of this book. And you’ll truly appreciate Vicky’s character growth and how much she’s changed since the first book. If you don’t read it, it’d be like watching Buffy for the first time smack dab in the middle of the third season and going, “Huh! Who is this Angel person and why is he naked and shivering in the cold? Why is this skinny blond bitch killing vampires? Whoa, there are vampires? Hmm… I think the redhead sidekick nerdgirl might be kind of gay… but why is she seemingly in love with the Zeppo character? Why am I?” Trust me, read the 1st book.

If you’ve read the 1st book and you absolutely cannot wait to read this one, BUY IT HERE!

Love, Peace, and Snarkage,

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 8:15 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: A, Romance: Paranormal, Romance: Historical, Suspense/Horror. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.