Flora's Musings...: horror

Wednesday, 31 August 2016

Flora Reviews... Uprising (Vampire Federation #1) by Scott G Mariani

Flora Reviews...

Uprising (Vampire Federation #1)
by Scott G Mariani

Read: 28^th – 30^th August 2016

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This book is a vampire horror story with an action thriller theme based in the here and now over approx 483 pages. At the time of writing this review, Uprising is the first book in a two book series.

The official blurb says;

A new war is dawning…

For millennia, the vampires walked the earth undetected, feasting on humans in keeping with ancient tradition.

In the Information Age, vampires realised they must be more careful to avoid detection. In the late 20th century they created the global Vampire Federation to police vampire activity, with special agents like Alex Bishop authorised to hunt down her own kind who break the laws.
The old traditions are history.

But not all vampires bow down to Federation rule. When rebel vampire Gabriel Stone declares war against them, Alex and her team are plunged into danger.

Police inspector Joel Solomon, haunted by a secret terror of vampires, discovers a series of corpses left behind by Stone's bloodthirsty gang. As he and Alex are drawn together in an unlikely alliance between human and vampire, the race begins to destroy the evil Stone before his uprising tears their world apart.

...So, what did I like about it?

I haven’t read anything by this author before and I must say I found his writing style very easy to read, his story development easy to follow and his characters very believable.

I loved the way that the story kept me guessing; the twists and turns, the mystery and intrigue, it’s a real action thriller. Although most of our main characters are vampires, this is not another paranormal romance; the Vampires here are top predators - humans are food, not equals. The detail and background that Mr Mariani gives to all of the characters that we meet along the way in this tale adds depth and realism to the whole story without slowing the pace.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

No, not really. The only reason that it didn’t get a 5 star rating from me was due to the ending. The battle may have been temporarily won in this story but the war is far from over and we’re left wondering what happens next to some of our main characters.

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I really enjoyed this book; I can see it making it onto the big screen! It’s a suspense thriller with as many twists & turns as The Da Vinci Code with the killer vampire battle feel of Blade! I’ve already added Book 2 “The Cross” to my wish list. I haven’t read many horror/suspense thriller books in this vein (excuse the pun) so the only book I can compare it to is William Massa’s “Ice Shadows (Occult Assassin #2.5)” which I loved too.

So, has my review of UPRISING (Vampire Federation #1) sparked your interest? Just click on any of the links below to check out the book yourself, or to find out more about other books I’ve read, take a look at my profile on Goodreads.

See UPRISING (VAMPIRE FEDERATION #1) on Goodreads.com

Buy your own copy of UPRISING (VAMPIRE FEDERATION #1) on Amazon.com or through Amazon.co.uk

Visit Scott Mariani ‘s own little corner of the web

Sunday, 27 September 2015

Flora Reviews... Mammoth Books presents Mami Wata by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Mammoth Books presents Mami Wata

by Simon Kurt Unsworth

Read: 27^th September 2015

Format: Kindle

My Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

...So what’s this book about?

This is a short horror/paranormal story, about a jaded English business man who travels to a mine in Zambia to find out why production is down but finds the answer far from normal.

The blurb says:

When I was first asked to contribute to Exotic Gothic 3 (which was to feature Gothic-influenced stories in non-Gothic environments), I agreed without really thinking about it," Unsworth explains, "and then spent a long time struggling, trying to work out how, precisely, I was going to manage it or quite how to make a start. "I knew what I wanted to do, sort of, but not exactly how to do it, so one day alarmingly close to the deadline I did a fun thing: I freewheeled through Google. Using a small document about Zambian myths and cultures I found online (I set the story in Zambia for no reason other than an old family friend lives there and it seemed exotic in Gothic terms), I used one Zambian word from it as a search term and read what came up, took one intriguing Zambian term from the search results and searched for that, etc, and disappeared into Google's merry depths. "I ended up with an academic paper about a particular myth, a travel blog about a sort of beer made from corn and a weird little 'my God's better than your God' blog by a kid in Africa, and somewhere in the middle of that, the story appeared.

I was lucky enough to find this book for 99p from Amazon UK – what a bargain!!

...So, what did I like about it?

I thought that this story was very well written; I found Mr Unsworth’s writing style easy to read and thought the pace was spot on and well balanced plus I never got lost in his plot.

The world building and scene descriptions throughout this story were very realistic without hindering the pace; they transported me directly to the mining town in Zambia; the heat, dirt and weariness of the miners, the social separation and lack of understanding of the expat managers and the local supervisors and miners. Our main character, Thorley, was completely believable; a very ordinary man thrown into an extremely extraordinary situation. All of the supporting cast were also written with a depth that added a further realism to this tale.

The story kept me guessing and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next and how it would all end. I really liked the “Twilight Zone” style ending.

...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?

Nope.

This horror story is more mystery and tension than blood and guts gore which is perfect for my over active imagination. ;-)

...So, basically what I’m saying is...

I haven't read anything by Simon Kurt Unsworth before but I have been impressed with his ability to spin his tale, completely engrossing me in his world in so few pages and the horror/supernatural twist added a tense thrilling edge to the tale and left me with a sense of wonder.