Riley Banks

There is an awful lot going on in this book, so my brief summary can only scratch the surface. Vlad Roman (AKA Dracula) is on a mission to wipe out any human descendants of his Strigoi line because they are the only ones who can kill him. There are also several other vampire bloodlines, and they all seem to have different traditions, methods of turning people, etc. Vlad's wife, Veronika, is of a different blood line, and this provides a source of conflict in the marriage that will ultimately have some pretty horrifying results, not the least of which is their born-vampire daughter, Angeline. The vampires employ werewolves and other shifters as their servants/slaves. In addition to trying to wipe out any potential threats, Vlad is also keenly pursuing Project Ichorous--his plan for a steady supply of "donors" for bottled blood. At the same time, he is renovating his castle, Castle Bran, and has hired Simon Fraser as his architect. When it becomes apparent that Simon's family has some interesting connections to Vlad's mistress (who also happens to be his chief weapon in annihilating the Strigoi), all hell breaks loose.

As I already mentioned, there's a lot going on in this book. Too much really. Somehow the author has managed to work in the Romanovs, Dracula, Twilight-esque teenaged vampires, True Blood-ish bottled blood production, and much, much more. The book was very violent and gory, which is generally not my thing. There are some pretty disturbing scenes involving child vampires (way worse than Ann Rice's Claudia!). I'm not convinced that this really should be considered a YA book when you get right down to it just because the characters are teens. I'm also not sure why the book was also listed in the "Romance" category on Netgalley--I just don't see it belonging there, either. Also, the book ended with quite an infuriating cliffhanger. I'm not sure if I will read the future volumes or not.… (mehr)

Vampire Origins - Project Ichorous by Riley Banks was absolutely amazing! I was fortunate enough to win this novel from LibraryThings.com in an exchange for an honest review. Many of the e-books that I have won lately have not been very good and just complete let downs for me. I was shocked when I found myself engrossed in every page and I could not put this book down.

The story involving these vampires/shape-shifters/humans was a nice change from my normal paranormal series I read. Although it was a paranormal romance book, there were plenty of history, tall tales, and suspense woven into the story. I really liked the fact that there was an integrated cast system. In most novels vampires and shape-shifters are usually on the same level but just not getting along too well. Oh believe me there was no love between the two species, except for a forbidden taboo romance that no one was to know about.

Each character I feel had a suiting personality, and fit into the story nicely. Sometimes there is an overabundance of characters and it throws people off the story and has people wondering - "why is this person here again? They have no real part and clearly did not even need to be mentioned." I can say that in Vampire Origins that was not case at all. Every person made sense in their role to create the story.

I want to read the second book right now! However is has not yet been finished so I will have to patiently await it. I hope Riley Banks writes as fast as possible. Anyone how enjoys a good romance/ YA/ suspenseful vampire book will love Vampire Origins - Project Ichorous.… (mehr)