Melabeth The Vampire
Melabeth Series: Book 1
By E.B. HoodAmazon Link: http://amzn.to/1dGSWn5
#UrbanFantasy #Vampire #Necromancer #Sorcerer
As a little context, Melanie, the heroine, is fifteen years old so officially this book fits into the young adult category. But due to the adult themes I think it is more appropriate for an adult audience. On to the review.
Wow! This story is jam packed with action and drama. If I were to sum it up in one word, I'd enthusiastically say that this story is very interesting. And by that I mean it kept my attention riveted until 6 a.m. when I finally had to sleep a tiny bit before picking it up again.
Melanie is born to careless parents. Her mother dies of a heroin overdose and her father ends up allowing some thugs to take her from him when he couldn't repay a drug debt. She's brought to a house where a pedophile forces her take part in a pornographic movie with the same thugs who captured her. At the end of the movie, he has one of her "partners" kill her. Thankfully, all this bad stuff is highly glossed over and just sets the history.
A vampire named Nicks finds her in a trash can and tries to turn her. He puts her in the ground where she's supposed to arise in five days. Instead, fifteen years later she wakes up in the coffin, trying to remember what happened to her. She escapes the coffin and thus Melabeth is born. Her sole purpose in life is to find the men who defiled her and killed her. And she's not looking for justice. She's looking for VENGEANCE. Trust me, you will want her to find it too.
Naturally, after fifteen years Nicks gave up that she would ever rise and had moved on, so she has to navigate learning the rules of being a vampire on her own. Most of the story takes place after she's been born again as a vampire. It documents in vivid detail the confusion and cluelessness of a newly born bloodsucker as she navigates the new world.
The story that follows is filled with tentative love interests, first friends, necromancers, sorcerers, witches, a new vampire family, and plenty of blood, death, and destruction. Not to mention a crazy vampire named Alice who was turned at age fourteen but is over four hundred years old.
Besides Alice, who I absolutely hated at first then came to adore for her wicked ways, I really enjoyed the way Mr. Hood described Melabeth's awakening within the coffin. He also does some interesting things with flashbacks and memories, weaving them seamlessly into the story. Not all authors can do that well and Mr. Hood does.
I recommend this book for adults who enjoy vengeful minded non-sparkly vampires and great action. The romance is extremely light, so if romance isn't your thing, this book should still do the trick.
