Title: The Vampire's Daughter
Author: Leigh Anderson
From: Review Copy
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: 22nd March 2016
Challenges: 2016 New Release Challenge
Links: Goodreads - Amazon
Ethan and Victoria were best friends as children, until Victoria disappeared after nearly burning to death in the sun. Now returned to the village their friendship has grown into something stronger, and Ethan is ready to give up the Church to be her husband. But Victoria is clueless as to whose daughter she is, even if she knows she's different, and when the village learns that she and Ethan are to be married things take a turn for the worse. Separated for 7 years they mourn their loss, never quite getting past the anger at what they lost. That is until terrible events bring them back together...
I want to start with how much I loved the classic vampire feel of this book! I don't mean in the vampire-trying-to-be-good way either. I mean in the Dracula-humans-are-food way. I could definitely see and feel the influence of the classic vampires throughout The Vampire's Daughter, and I liked the way that that mixed with Victoria's later conflict about being a half vampire.
The vampire lore was very well thought out, and as I said above went along the lines of the more classic vampire (with a little bit of what I imagined to be like the vampires in the Van Helsing film) but the Anderson put their own spin on it with Victoria's role in it. This went all the way down to the vampire wife situation, but the wives were possibly the most cunning of all the characters.
There were a lot of twists and turns in the book, and one of the characters who did start out as at least a little sympathetic became more and more twisted as their true motives were revealed. Some of it I could anticipate happening, especially with the clever foreshadowing that was in play, and some of it I didn't realise. I liked that the author paid attention to the little bits that made the whole end game more plotted out and evil.
The role of faith was quite strong in the book, which kind of goes hand in hand with the classic evil vampires. Before I say anything else about it though I do feel that it added a sense of authenticity to the time period in which the book was set. Faith was important to both Victoria and Ethan and was partly what spurred them on, though I don't think that it was overwhelming or preachy in any way. I liked that though faith played a good role for some characters, it did also cause characters to do bad things as well.
The romance between Ethan and Victoria was interesting. It was always there throughout the narrative, but it wasn't the main focus of the story. It spurred the characters on to do what they did though and it worked well in that regard. I never felt that their love was forced or just there for the sake of it either.
This was a very enjoyable book, though the Dracula-esque elements really made it for me (Dracula is my favourite classic book). And it's what made this book stand out in an era of sparkly vampires.
Author: Leigh Anderson
From: Review Copy
Genre: Fantasy
Release Date: 22nd March 2016
Challenges: 2016 New Release Challenge
Links: Goodreads - Amazon
Ethan and Victoria were best friends as children, until Victoria disappeared after nearly burning to death in the sun. Now returned to the village their friendship has grown into something stronger, and Ethan is ready to give up the Church to be her husband. But Victoria is clueless as to whose daughter she is, even if she knows she's different, and when the village learns that she and Ethan are to be married things take a turn for the worse. Separated for 7 years they mourn their loss, never quite getting past the anger at what they lost. That is until terrible events bring them back together...
I want to start with how much I loved the classic vampire feel of this book! I don't mean in the vampire-trying-to-be-good way either. I mean in the Dracula-humans-are-food way. I could definitely see and feel the influence of the classic vampires throughout The Vampire's Daughter, and I liked the way that that mixed with Victoria's later conflict about being a half vampire.
The vampire lore was very well thought out, and as I said above went along the lines of the more classic vampire (with a little bit of what I imagined to be like the vampires in the Van Helsing film) but the Anderson put their own spin on it with Victoria's role in it. This went all the way down to the vampire wife situation, but the wives were possibly the most cunning of all the characters.
There were a lot of twists and turns in the book, and one of the characters who did start out as at least a little sympathetic became more and more twisted as their true motives were revealed. Some of it I could anticipate happening, especially with the clever foreshadowing that was in play, and some of it I didn't realise. I liked that the author paid attention to the little bits that made the whole end game more plotted out and evil.
The role of faith was quite strong in the book, which kind of goes hand in hand with the classic evil vampires. Before I say anything else about it though I do feel that it added a sense of authenticity to the time period in which the book was set. Faith was important to both Victoria and Ethan and was partly what spurred them on, though I don't think that it was overwhelming or preachy in any way. I liked that though faith played a good role for some characters, it did also cause characters to do bad things as well.
The romance between Ethan and Victoria was interesting. It was always there throughout the narrative, but it wasn't the main focus of the story. It spurred the characters on to do what they did though and it worked well in that regard. I never felt that their love was forced or just there for the sake of it either.
This was a very enjoyable book, though the Dracula-esque elements really made it for me (Dracula is my favourite classic book). And it's what made this book stand out in an era of sparkly vampires.
