Book Review: K. J. Wignall's "Blood"

For a book called "Blood" I have to say, the contents aren't so bloody...

I was given this book by my sister a couple of weeks ago and didn't expect much. Sure the cover looked interesting, but Vampire fiction is so common these days I didn't even bat an eye. This is another quick read which I managed to finish in less than a day. Once I'd finished it, I felt conflicted. At some points Wignall's writing was like a breath of fresh air, at others I was asking myself why I was still reading.

I liked..

The fact that the main character is written well. The smaller extracts written from Will's perspective are probably my favourite parts of the whole book. I felt like I could understand him and relate to him a lot easier because of them. :) There were a few times when I forgot that he was living in the body of a sixteen year old and had to remind myself. But I don't mind: I  like that Will doesn't try to act like a regular teenager.

Another thing I liked about the book was the fact that not everyone can be made into a Vampire. I'm so sick of reading books where the male Vampire is fighting his girlfriend to make sure she stays human when she really wants to be a Vampire like him. Although the book does use this idea as a plot point, to my delight it doesn't last for long! :)

Superficial point but the cover is awesome. Especially when you're taking a picture of it with flash! ^^

Look at how much the title stands out. It looks friggin' awesome.

Okay so I used a cool camera app, but even with a regular camera + flash the title stood out the most.

I didn't like so much:

The fact that the story line reminded me a lot of Prophecy: Child of Light. It's familiar - at the end of the day both books hold common ground: Vampires - but familiarity was not what I wanted. But I guess that's what happens when a mass of authors write about the same thing - ideas get recycled. On the other hand, if you've read and like either of these books, you'll most definitely like the other one. :)

Another point to note, is that nothing really happens. 288 pages and I'd say 150 of those pages contained anything significant. On the other hand, the book is easy to read so it's easy to read it all fairly quickly. The fact that nothing happens means the book is easy to forget. I'm straining to remember what happened in the book even now and I read it a week ago.

I also feel like the romance between Will and Eloise is a bit forced. It isn't written as naturally as it could have been.


[SPOILER ALERT] Especially their first kiss.. seriously, what was that? From what I can see Wignall is aiming for a fate/meant to be love story but their relationship comes across more like teenage lust for the majority of the book. Even when Will holds her hand and describes their relationship as fate, I felt like the whole scene was really artificial. [END SPOILER]

Lastly, I really really really wish the book had been written completely from Will's perspective. The small extracts written in first person are so much better than the mass of it written in third person. I honestly believe it had all been written from Will's perspective I would have enjoyed reading it a lot more.

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To conclude, I am very conflicted. I liked reading the book but I'm glad I didn't pay for it myself. Yet, I probably will buy the rest of the series to see what happens because I've already read the first book. It's expensive at RRP £6.99 (definitely not worth that much!) so I'll be buying the next book(s) from Amazon which has it for almost half the price!

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Book Review: F. E. Heaton's "Prophecy: Child of Light"

After receiving my kindle I decided to find myself a nice cheap eBook on Amazon to test it out. At the time, I was about to embark on a week of writing essays to meet my final deadlines at uni. The book I would choose would of course be read after it was all over so when I saw Prophecy: Child of Light I was sold. It was cheap (69p!), from the fantasy section and above all about vampires: it was perfect.

The majority of the blurb, the rest that got cut off:

Prophecy: Child of Light is part one in an epic tale of love and war that is sure to capture your heart and leave you craving more.

“A vampire unlike any other" and an "epic tale of love of war": fighting words if I’ve ever seen any (coming from a blurb anyway..) At this point, the blurb alone leaves you full of expectation. Luckily for me, I didn't care too much for the blurb and went in expecting nothing. So when I reached 100% read on my kindle and Heaton had failed to live up to the hype of the blurb, I wasn't surprised.

Prophecy is unique to her world alone; in the real world, Prophecy is just one of many. Vampire novels not only run in abundance in book shops worldwide, within the past few years hundred of authors have spewed out even more following the "vampires are cool" bandwagon. As a result, a unique vampire book had to be something new for even the averagest of joes. My own love (bordering on obsession) of vampires was at it's peak during highschool. So, to me Prophecy’s story felt very familiar and predictable. Heaton like many other authors recycles general plot and story points. As a result I found myself able to prophesise (haha I couldn’t help myself ^^) what would happen next.

The book is written from the perspective of the main characters: Prophecy and of Valentine. Despite being the protagonist of the novel, I couldn’t relate to Prophecy at all. Sure, she’s a vampire and I'm a human so there's not much to relate to at first glance, but any good protagonist (whatever the species) should be able to draw the reader in. I found her to be an annoying character and only continued to read the book because I was rooting for Valentine. His past and history seemed much more interesting than Prophecy's story. I can’t help but wonder how much better the book could have been if written entirely from his perspective.

On a positive note, I did find myself moved slightly by our main couple’s passion towards each other. I wouldn’t call this much of a feat though considering that I’m a pushover when it comes to fictional romance.

All in all, the book fulfilled the task I had for it: it was an easy read. It’s not a must read and in no way is it a must own but if you’re looking for something to simply pass the time, or you want a mindless read to take your mind off a heavier book –perhaps a classic or better yet, a real epic– it’ll do the job.

Originally written and posted on 30/07/2011 @ Novel Nerds

Rating:  

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