'Burned' Void City #4 by J.F. Lewis

 From the BLURB:

Immortal. Ingenious. And downright infuriating.

Void City's resident badass vampire has a secret to keep, everything to lose, and a plan to win it all. Eric has taken control of the city's supernatural hierarchy, putting all the deals and contracts that allow Void City to function up for renegotitation. When he installs his insane vampire daughter, Greta, as Void City's sheriff of the supernatural, bloody mayhem ensues.

To further complicate things, the love of Eric's life is back from the dead, immortally young, at a cost that has put Eric under the thumb of a very powerful demon. The mysterious mouser Talbot, morose mage Magbidion, and all of Eric's thralls are trying to help him keep things under control...

But with early onset Alzheimer's, vampire hunters, demons, a band of chupacabra, a cursed cousin with a serious grudge, and Rachel as his new "handler"... there's just not an app for that.

** warning, this review contains SPOILERS for the last three ‘Void City’ books **

When we left him in Void City, vampire bad-ass Eric had just made a deal with hell to get back the only woman he has ever loved . . .  now he’s unwittingly King of the city’s vamps and tasked with completing a series of torturous hellish missions to keep his lady-love, Marilyn.

If The Plan goes right, Eric might just get everything he has ever wanted – both before and after he turned vampire – but if he fails, everyone he cares about might pay the price.

‘Burned’ is the fourth book in J.F. Lewis’s rollicking urban fantasy ‘Void City’ series.

This is my fourth rodeo with J.F. Lewis, Eric & Co. You’d really think that by now I'd know the name of the game – that ‘Void City’ is a rude & crude series, delighting in gross-out horror and a tantalizingly jerky protagonist. But in his fourth venture, J.F. Lewis sweeps the rug out from under readers and gives his series a revamp (har, har!).

At the end of third book, ‘Crossed’, Eric was offered the impossible . . .  having his true love returned to him from the bowels of Hell. Never mind that at the time he was married to his vampire child, Tabitha, or screwing around with her little demoness sister, Rachel. Put aside the fact that Eric learnt not too long ago of Marilyn and Roger’s betrayals when the two were alive and human. Eric was offered the one thing in life he has ever cared about – returned to him, immortal and young again – and that was one temptation he refused to pass up. So he made an open-ended deal with Hell, agreed to complete some Demon’s ridiculous mission objectives, all in the name of love.

Thus, when ‘Burned’ begins Marilyn is back – no longer the cantankerous old lady chain-smoker of first book ‘Staked’ (well, still a chain-smoker) but this time immortal and impenetrable (even by Eric himself, no matter how much he moons after her). Marilyn is like Joan Harris in ‘Mad Men’, all red hair, curves and wicked smoulder – with a braying laugh and endless reams of guilt for the tasks Eric is having to accomplish, to earn her back from Hell. With Marilyn’s addition to the ‘Void City’ cast, the entire series has undergone a total game-changer.

From the start of ‘Void City’, Eric has never pretended to be anything other than a stone-cold killer. He makes no apologies or excuses for his murderous streak – except to say, ‘I’m a vampire. Deal with it.’ He is as ruthless with his human dinners as he is with his lady loves – the various women who have come in and out of his life, tepid imitations of his one true love, Marilyn. Even when he married Tabitha he was screwing her sister on the side – and in his wedding vows promised to cheat on her and be an all-round terrible husband. The only woman in Eric’s life of late, who he hasn’t royally screwed over, is his adopted vampire child, Greta. But, with Marilyn entering the scene as a new main character in ‘Burned’, it seems that Eric’s stead-fast stance of morally ambiguous anti-hero revelry is being flipped on its axis, and all in the name of true love. . .

“Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Yeah, I know. Not so smart. But since Marilyn was alive, okay, nearby, and even young again . . .  Why should I care about the bad things that happen in the world as long as they don’t happen to her? I'd seen her die with my own eyes, watched her soul get sucked into hell, and then . . .  in spite of everything . . .  I got her back.
I won. I won. I fucking won! I still wanted to shout it from the rooftops.

That’s not to say that Eric and Marilyn don’t have ‘issues’. She’s uneasy with the Hell tasks he is carrying out in her name, and she flat refuses to start anything up with him. But Eric lives in hope, and it’s a different (dare I say, crushing?) side of Eric that we read in ‘Burned’.

Of course, amidst all this talk of love and glimmering redemption, there is still plenty of ass-kicking. Void City’s police force needs a spring clean, and as Eric carries out his missions from Hell there are enough limbs, blood and weregeckos to go round.

But ‘Burned’ does feel like a bit of a rebirth for ‘Void City’. New characters are entering the scene, while a few old favourites are being slowly pushed out. As well as Marilyn, a new vampire cousin of Eric’s joins the cast of quirks. Evelyn is a vampire with a detachable head, who has a vendetta against Eric, but unwittingly becomes Greta’s sheriff side-kick. Greta and Evelyn sometimes steal the show in ‘Burned’ – their repartee is often garish and gruesome mixed with random hilarity, and some of their scenes are Tarantino-esque (picture the sedate ‘Royale with Cheese’ conversation in ‘Pulp Fiction’, right before a bloody shoot-out). Greta and Evelyn have great chemistry, and while their scenes showed a whole new level of craziness to the already mad-as-a-hatter Greta, I also laughed the hardest with these two. Like when they were trying to decide on ‘special cop names’;

“Pinky and the Brain is more like it,” she grumbled, letting her head drift higher so we were almost looking each other in the eye.
“Hmmm.” I thought that over. “I don’t know that it fits.” I narrowed my eyes at her, flashing them red for a brief moment.
“Try saying ‘Narf’.”
“Narf,” she said without enthusiasm.

Like I said, these new characters are wonderful additions to the ‘Void City’ crew, but I did feel a slight twinge of disappointment that two old favourites seem to be getting shuffled out. Rachel and Tabitha – the disastrous sister pairing are actually two of my favourite characters. Rachel, because I love to hate her and Tabitha because I've enjoyed my frustrations with her. In ‘Burned’ both of these girls have much more diminutive roles than in the last three books, and it’s a bit of a shame. Rachel, I can understand had to have a slightly less demanding role since her nefarious plans were revealed in ‘Crossed’. But Tabitha is being kicked aside as Eric faces up to his affections for Marilyn. In ‘Burned’ he urges Tabitha to forget about him, move on and do something with her life. And that’s a great bit of advice for Tabitha – because as he (and readers) knows, Tabitha is a lot smarter and funnier than anyone gives her credit for. And for that reason I do hope that her smaller role in ‘Burned’ is not an indication of her being slowly clapped off the ‘Void City’ stage. I still think she has a lot to offer – and some of my favourite scenes in the book were between all the women; when Evelyn, Greta and Tabitha had a heart-to-heart, and even more when Tabitha and Marilyn nutted out some pressing questions. Brilliant!

‘Burned’ is a game-changer of a book. Just when I thought I had Eric and all his bad-assery all mapped out, J.F. Lewis goes and reveals new facets to Eric’s soul, and shines a burning glimmer of hope on his redemptive path. Marilyn’s addition to the cast has spun the ‘Void City’ series into a whole new stratosphere of awesome, and not since Starsky & Hutch has there been such a good cop pairing as in Greta and LEGO-head Evelyn. I didn’t think it was possible, but with ‘Burned’ I have fallen a little bit more in love with J.F. Lewis’s ‘Void City’ series. Now gimme, gimme, gimme the fifth book!

5/5

'Crossed' Void City #3 by J.F. LEWIS

From the BLURB:

COMMITTED. CONFLICTED. AND UTTERLY CHAOTIC.

In spite of his continuing hot-blooded affair with his soon-to-be sister-in-law Rachel, Eric’s plan is simple: Give his vampire girlfriend Tabitha the fancy wedding she’s always wanted, then head off to Paris for their honeymoon in the hopes of tracking down his sire, the Empress vampire Lisette. The City of Love proves anything but romantic when the True Immortal rulers of Europe try to block Eric from entering the Continent—and subject Tabitha to a series of challenges to prove her vampire worth. Back home in Void City, Eric’s volatile daughter Greta is getting lonely and bored—and that’s not good news for anyone. And when, like a bat out of hell, Lisette descends upon Void City to wipe Eric and his brood off the face of the earth—forever—this much is clear: the honeymoon is over.

Hey little sister what have you done

Eric is back and cruder than ever in J.F Lewis’s epically awesome ‘Void City’ series.

A lot happened in the second book ‘Revamped’. Eric and his Mouser, Talbot, defeated a demon and incurred the wrath of Hell. Eric finally got wise to the wily ways of tantric witch, Rachel and agreed to keep her as his thrall if she stayed in line. Eric also turned a bunch of Sweetheart Row prostitutes into thralls and now has a ready supply of servants/snacks at his remodelled Demon Heart (now a bowling alley). Eric also discovered who his maker is – a French aristocrat emperor vampire called Lisette.

Oh, and he proposed to his girlfriend/latest vampire child, Tabitha (despite having a sidelines affair with her sister, the very same witchy Rachel).

‘Crossed’ begins on the day of the wedding . . . and if you think Eric taking to the aisle is going to reform him, the first page is a rude awakening. Eric is about to say “I do” but before the nuptials he and Rachel have a little fun in the rectory. Still, despite the single most unromantic wedding speech (with Eric promising to cheat and eventually forget the bride’s name), the crazy vampires do get hitched and hitch a ride to Paris, France for the honeymoon.

Except that Eric’s maker, Lissette, pays a visit to Void City to meet with her creation. And Eric and Tabitha have to face off against Europe’s true immortals if they hope to stay in Paris.

Rachel has plans of her own to crash the honeymoon and the power behind Void City has a scheme brewing.

You can bet that the honeymooners won’t be having a grand old time in the city of love.

Hey little sister shot gun!

I loooooooove the ‘Void City’ series. I maintain that the books are not for everyone – yes, there are hot girls on the covers, but the characters within are morally bankrupt and the storyline is often a twisted fare. In other words, J.F. Lewis is writing vampires as Bram Stoker intended – gloriously mean. They snack on people, kill without consequence and to hell with all the rest.

And Eric may just be the most unrepentant of them all. Eric has rage blackouts when he turns into über-vamp – a blackened, winged monster who is the embodiment of Eric’s anger. Eric is also incapable of feeling, much – like with Tabitha, he knows he doesn’t love her but he doesn’t hate her all the time and that warrants a wedding. Still, Eric has flashes (however dim and brief) of decency. He has firm rules about not harming children, and in fact he saved his adopted ‘daughter’ Greta from a human monster years ago. Eric also maintains that the love of his life is Marilyn – the human woman who he was once engaged to but who also cheated on him and perished in the explosion at Demon Heart.

With Eric, it’s a game of checks and balances. Overwhelmingly, he’s corrupt and morally bankrupt. But if he was completely villainous and devoid of redemption, then he wouldn’t be interesting to read. The true brilliance in his character is wading through the snark and murk and crossing your fingers that Eric does something somewhat ‘nice’, for once;

He wanted a song that could vanquish demons and save the world. He wanted me to be a hero, a golden soul . . . like in El Segundo. I swear to God, you save the world one fucking time and some people never let you live it down.

But then, I guess everybody has their little eccentricities. Talbot’s is that he thinks I'm a hero. Whoever bought him DVD copies of Angel ought to be shot.

Rachel is another villainous all together. I would wage that she’s worse than Eric, partly because a death by leukaemia and a trip to hell changed her for the worse. Rachel is so teeth-grindingly awful; and it’s made doubly worse by the fact that Eric has a soft spot (blind spot!) for her. Still, she’s one of those ‘evil’ characters who is so outlandishly, gut-wrenchingly awful that they bypass annoying and head straight into fascinating reading.

The same can be said of Eric’s adopted vampire daughter, Greta. Part of ‘Crossed’ is told from Greta’s perspective and it’s so twistingly psychotic that she’s a (sick) delight to read. Greta had a traumatic childhood, and even though she’s been an adult vampire for years now, she’s still living in the fall-out of post-traumatic stress. Greta’s mindscape is at once childlike and chillingly primal. She’s hungry; so she (over)eats. She wants to know what a ribcage looks like; so she kills someone and feeds them to Fang (Eric’s vampire car).

I love J.F. Lewis’s characters. They can be cut and dry awful, but it’s his glimpses into the gray areas that keep you coming back for more (like a martyr) in the hopes that the redemption finally overtakes the cruelty.

It's a nice day to start again

I definitely get the feeling that ‘Crossed’ is all about ‘the long game’ for J.F. Lewis and his ‘Void City’ series. Many new players come out of the woodwork and show their sleight of hand. From Ebon Winter, the singing God and son to Phillip . . . to Phillip’s staked show-case, Percy. I had a feeling that these bit players would step to the forefront eventually, I was just ridiculously happy that Lewis trotted them out in this third book. Percy, especially, has me grossed-out and intrigued . . .

‘Crossed’ also marks the mention of Eric’s ‘destiny’. There are many references made to Eric’s place in the grand scheme of things – and many characters reveal how they have a hand in Eric’s trajectory. I cannot wait to see how this all plays out . . . Lewis has left many bread-crumbs throughout ‘Crossed’, and I can’t wait to see where they lead to.

It's a nice day for a white wedding

As J.F. Lewis is prone to do, ‘Crossed’ ends on a giant chasm of a cliff-hanger. I'm talking heart-in-your-throat-ass-on-the-edge-of-the-seat kind of cliff-hanger. It will greatly affect Eric and his ‘destiny’, and especially impact on Tabitha and the un-life she and Eric have embarked on.

I will say that I hope the next book in the series has more Eric/Tabitha interaction. We’ve never really read them together for extended periods of time (what with Eric banging her sister and all) . . . but these two at the end of ‘Crossed’ were hilarious (like a twisted Lucy and Ricky) and I'd love to see more wicked banter between them.

It's a nice day to start again

‘Crossed’ is yet another tantalizingly abhorrent instalment in the ‘Void City’ series. J.F. Lewis keeps getting better and better, and Eric keeps getting nastier and nastier. I love it! I especially love reading these books to catch snatches of Eric’s prospective soul and evidence of his (possible) redemption. ‘Crossed’ is definitely looking towards the ‘Void City’ long game and what is in store for Eric . . . yes, there’s a Grand-Canyon-sized cliff-hanger, but it’s all worth it for the grand new turn the series is taking. Plus, I can’t begrudge Lewis a cliff-hanger ending when he wrote one of the funniest and twisted references to make me cackle: Chitty Chitty Fang Bang. Touché, Lewis.

5/5

Books You're not Reading but Should be...

Hello darling readers,

I thought I’d do a post today about diamonds in the ruff – those books and authors who seem to fly underneath the radar and have a smaller fan base than their brilliance demands.

The idea germinated from an author interview with Marta Acosta, who struggled to find an audience for her wonderful ‘Casa Dracula’ series after it was incorrectly categorized as being paranormal romance.

So the following list is comprised of books that I love, and think should have a bigger readership. I hope I’m not insulting any authors by listing their books – any offence is entirely unintentional, I promise you. I’m not saying the following books aren’t brilliant, or are without a devoted readership – I’m saying that they’re popularity should be more in accordance to their fabulousness. . .

'Casa Dracula' series
by Marta Acosta

I must confess that when I read first book ‘Happy Hour at Casa Dracula’ I was under the misimpression that Acosta’s series was paranormal romance. It’s not. Many Amazon tags have labelled it as such – whether because of the fun and flirty front cover, the promise of ‘vampires’ (and all the blood-lust that that implies) or due to the fact that the series’ heroine is a buxom Latina beauty. The ‘Casa Dracula’ series is not paranormal romance. Yes, there is a love triangle, a deliciously dark bad-boy to tease our heroine and sexy/bloody foreplay. But Acosta’s series is more unique than the banal tag of ‘paranormal romance’ implies.

The ‘Casa Dracula’ series is a comedy-of-manners and errors, an enlightened situational comedic series of Oscar Wilde-esque proportions and brilliance. The series is about a lowly Latina novelist who gets bitten into a family of vampire socialites and how she copes amidst the fanged and fabulous.

If you don’t want to read another same-old, same-old vampire book then give Marta Acosta’s series a read. You will not be disappointed, but you will be in stitches.

'Dark Swan: Eugenie Markham' series
by Richelle Mead

I know what you’re thinking – ‘Richelle Mead is ridiculously popular! Her “Vampire Academy” series is selling like hotcakes and a movie deal is in the works. . .’
Very true. Richelle Mead has become one of the reigning queens of urban-fantasy alongside Charlaine Harris, Jeaniene Frost and Patricia Briggs. Her ‘Vampire Academy’ books are New York Times bestsellers and her adult ‘Georgina Kincaid’ series has a devout, rabid fan-following. But her third series, ‘Dark Swan: Eugenie Markham’, always seems to be eclipsed by Georgina and Rose. But to be honest, I can’t choose which series is my favourite out of the three. I love them all for very different reasons, and each series is very unique. ‘Georgina Kincaid’ and ‘Dark Swan’ have an adult readership in common, but that’s about it. Richelle Mead’s penchant for writing messy, heart-breaking lovelife’s for her characters is there in all three series. . . but the romance’s and leading men are vastly different.

The ‘Dark Swan’ series is all about Eugenie Markham, who has spent the majority of her young life sending supernatural creatures back to their natural, magic habitat. Until the day that Eugenie discovers she is part fae (fairy). . . in fact, she is fairy gentry and fated to produce a child-King. Now all the royal fairy’s want a piece of Eugenie – whether to prevent her from producing a Kingly heir, or to try and impregnate her themselves. . .

I love this series, and I’m always a little frustrated that ‘Vampire Academy’ and ‘Georgina Kincaid’ have stolen the spotlight (to the point that Mead’s publishers decided not to release ‘Dark Swan’ #3 this year for fear that the VA and GK release’s would overshadow!).

'Harper Connelly' series
by Charlaine Harris

Charlaine Harris is another ridiculously successful author who’s most popular series, ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’ has unfortunately overshadowed her other equally wonderful series. Just go onto the Amazon discussion boards and scroll through the many posts asking if ‘Lily Bard/Aurora Teagarden/Harper Connelly is in any way similar to Sookie Stackhouse?’

I’m going to make a big call and say that, in many respects, I prefer the ‘Harper Connelly’ series over ‘Sookie Stackhouse’. Charlaine Harris is first and foremost a mystery writer, but that’s sometimes easy to forget in the Sookie books where the crux of the series revolves around Sookie sinking deeper and deeper into vampire politics. I think Harris marries paranormal and mystery much better in the ‘Harper Connelly’ series.

Harper is a young woman who was struck by lightning as a child. . . and as a result she can sense the dead. Don’t go imagining ‘Sixth Sense’ though; Harper’s technique is a little trickier. When she comes near a dead body she can ‘sense’ the corpse – pinpoint its location and even glimpse the last moments of the person’s life before death. Harper and her step-brother, Tolliver, travel across the country helping out cold cases, missing persons and the flat-out bizarre. But Harper’s sole motivation for using her ‘skills’ is the hunt for her little sister, Cameron, who disappeared when Harper was a young girl. She and Tolliver scour the country looking for other people’s missing persons in the hopes that they’ll stumble across one of their own. . .

I love this series. Harper is a very tricky character who had a horrendous childhood and is now coping with her adult freakdom. There is a romance, but to mention it would be giving away a HUGE plot twist and delicious tension. . .

If you need any more reason to read the ‘Harper Connelly’ series, you should know that CBS is developing the books into a TV show. It’s all very early stages, but a screenplay is being written (headed by Kam Miller) and fans should know around January if the show has been picked up. Oh, and I should mention that Scott Free is producing - that’s Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Yeah. . . this series just got awesome(r)!

'Monere: Children of the Moon' series
by Sunny

This is a paranormal romance/erotica series of epically delicious proportions! The series is all about Mona Lisa – orphaned as a child she has never felt as though she fits in. . . Until one day a beautiful man comes into the hospital where she works as a nurse. Mona Lisa is drawn to him, and he to her and they have a combustible night together. The stranger, Gryphon, explains their strange intensity – telling Mona Lisa that she is a Monere (moon) Queen. She is descendant of a strange, fae-like race who has so few females that their women are revered and crowned royalty – and encouraged to consort with all the men they want in order to keep the Monere race growing.

This series is somewhat similar to Laurell K Hamilton’s ‘Merry Gentry’ – insofar as a royal woman has to take multiple lovers for the good of her race/kingdom and in order to produce heirs. But Sunny’s series is far superior to Ms. Hamilton’s.
For one, the book-covers beautifully encapsulate the elegance and beauty of the series. Sunny never loses sight of story and character in the face of smut and sex (which there is a lot of, consequently). And in fact, the ‘Monere’ series covers a lot of themes and storylines – from power-struggles and corrupt politics to immortal love. This series is very much about the characters with sensual sex scenes as a side-benefit.

'Void City' series by
J.F. Lewis

As a seasoned reviewer and reader of urban-fantasy I really didn’t think there was any vampire ground I hadn’t read/tread or a vampire book left that could surprise me. I was wrong. So, so wrong. Enter J.F. Lewis and his anti-hero protagonist, Eric.

This is a series full of antagonists and morally-bankrupt characters. . . and it’s wonderful.
Throughout the books you will cringe, scoff, yell, say ‘eew’ and have generally violent emotional reactions. But you’ll also be incapable of putting the books down. For one thing, a male protagonist in an urban fantasy is refreshingly unique. For another, an antagonist protagonist in urban fantasy is a tornado of fresh air.

The character’s and their actions are often deplorable (i.e.: sleeping with your girlfriend’s sister) but if you wade through the moral muck you will find some redeeming qualities in these despicable characters and discover that half the fun of investing in this series will be rooting for the bad-guy, hoping they make good and waiting to see if any sort of redemption shines through.

The moral bankruptcy is often balanced out and smoothed over by J.F. Lewis’s quick-wit. His is a very dark humour, and while reading you will find yourself slack-jawed and saying “Oh my God, he just went there!” Brilliant, in a ‘so-wrong-it’s-right’ kind of way.

'Texas Vampires' trilogy
by Diane Whiteside

Vampires and desperados – oh my! I love this paranormal erotica trilogy so, so much. But I've read some negative and ‘wtf?’ reviews.

To be honest, the trilogy is very unique for Whiteside’s perspective storytelling. The first book is ‘Bond of Blood’ (‘The Hunter’s Prey’ was published first, but is a collection of short stories featuring characters, but unrelated to the trilogy itself). ‘Bond’ tells the story of Don Raphael Perez, a vampire and former Spanish knight who mourns his human wife who died decades ago. Don Raphael is given a second chance when his wife is reincarnated in the body of Grania O’Malley, a beautiful young veterinarian who is new to Texas (which is consequently Don Raphael’s vampire ‘territory’). But before he and Grania can live happily ever after and get their second chance, Don Raphael must quell a potential take-over from a rival vampiress.

The unusual perspective is due to the fact that book #2 ‘Bond of Fire’, and book #3 ‘Bond of Darkness’ are all centred around the same plot point as ‘Bond of Blood’. What changes however, is the character perspective, as the 2nd and 3rd books are about two of Don Raphael’s vampire lieutenants and their own tricky romantic loves.

So, essentially the same story is being retold from three different perspectives. And like I said, I have read some negative reviews – but one person’s unique is another person’s frustrating, I guess.

I personally love this series. The romance is epic; the sex scenes are H-O-T and Whiteside writes very elegant (but smokin’!) paranormal erotica.

'World of the Lupi' series
by Eileen Wilks

In Wilks’s universe, werewolves are celebrities. They are hounded by the paparazzi, lusted after by groupies and gossiped about in tabloids. None more so than Rule Turner, whom the San Diego media have labelled ‘werewolf prince’ for being the son to the area’s alpha.
But things change for Rule when he is implicated in the murder of one of his mistress’s husband’s. On the case is San Diego detective Lily Yu - a unique individual who can ‘feel’ magic. What neither Rule nor Lily counted on when they meet one another is a powerful mating bond joining them together – they are literally each other’s soul mates. The series is all about Rule and Lily adjusting to their romance and mateship, amidst tabloid prejudice and werewolf society.

I love this series – it is one of the most unique urban fantasy’s out there. Wilks’s werewolf mythology is wonderful for hitting so close to home. And the romance between Rule and Lily is lust-worthy. As much as each book is a magical ‘whodunit’, it’s Rule and Lily’s unlikely coupling that keeps me coming back for more. These two are so romantic – a wonderful case of opposites attracting and a relationship thriving under impossible odds.

The series is currently six books deep, with a seventh due for release next year. A series you can sink your teeth into, for sure!

'ReVamped' Void City #2 by J.F. LEWIS

From the BLURB:

REVIVED. REFRESHED.
AND READY FOR REVENGE.

Eric has lost his strip club, his Mustang, and even Marilyn, the elderly love of his (mortal) life. Even his body was obliterated. In short, they almost got him. But when you're a vampire, "almost" is a very important word. With a little magical help from his friends, Eric is restored to corporeal form, but his treasured Mustang gets caught up in the sorcery and winds up with an unlife of its own. Now, along with "Fang the 'Stang," he's out to save Marilyn from one of Void City's most powerful soul-stealing demons. But salvation comes at a high price, forcing Eric to venture into his own worst nightmare, Vampire High Society, to uncover the truth about the origin of his powers.

At the same time, Eric's ex-girlfriend, Tabitha, has begun to wonder exactly what it was that she admired about those High Society Vampires in the first place. Her quest to find her own place in this deceptively vicious circle may lead her right back to Eric's side -- if her little sister, Rachel, doesn't kill her first. And Eric will need all the help he can get, because it looks like someone is after his soul, too. Blood will flow, fangs will be bared, and the claws will come out, because revenge is never pretty...and Eric has plenty to pass around.

** The following review contains a few minor spoilers for 'Staked' **

Here we go again

‘ReVamped’ is the second book in J.F. Lewis’s sinfully fantastic ‘Void City’ series.

The book picks up exactly where ‘Staked’ left off with uber-vampire, Eric, having just exploded along with his strip club, Demon Heart. In the explosion Eric lost his corporeal body, his aging ex girlfriend and realized the depths of his best friend’s hatred (since Roger was the one doing the blowing-up).

Meanwhile across town, Tabitha, Eric’s other ex-girlfriend (recently turned Vlad vampire) has high-tailed it across town to the plush Highland Towers penthouse suite where she intends to throw herself on the mercy of Void City’s politicizing vampire, Phillip.

The action starts right from the word ‘BANG!’ and doesn’t let up for 432 pages.

There’s quite a lot of mechanics for J.F. Lewis (and Eric) to work out in this second novel. A lot of the bigger plot points were established in ‘Staked’ and carried over for greater significance in ‘ReVamped’. Like Tabitha’s little sister, Rachel. In a move that won him ‘grand-daddy poombah jerk of the year’ (awarded by me), Eric shacked up with Tabitha’s 18-year-old kid sister in ‘Staked’. . . not knowing that Rachel died last year of cancer and her coming back has repercussions of demonic proportions. ‘ReVamped’ is all about Eric and his band of supernatural friends figuring out exactly what those repercussions entail. . .

No One is Innocent

I felt a little bit assaulted by first book, ‘Staked’. I was initially thrown by the seemingly traditional Urban Fantasy cover of a gun-wielding hot chick and my expectations for a paranormal romance complete with Alpha-hottie vampire heroes. Not the case with ‘Void City’. Eric is an awful guy (see: having sex with his ex-girlfriend’s little sister) who revels in his monster-side and has no moral qualms whatsoever. In ‘ReVamped’ Eric quite casually states that since becoming a vampire in 1965 he has killed approximately 10,000 people (give or take) and he’s not the least bit sorry.

Going into ‘ReVamped’ I felt a lot more prepared for the onslaught of character atrociousness that peppers the ‘Void City’ series. I know Eric is an anti-hero protagonist who, love him or hate him, is unflinchingly honest and darkly humorous. I understand that Tabitha is a vain and vacuous love interest who will let Eric treat her like a doormat. . . I know not to expect too much, morally, from these characters, and with that in mind I can sit back and enjoy the raucous ride.

(I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone

As much as I know Eric and Tabitha will never be upstanding protagonists with high moral fibre, I couldn’t help but root for their decency a teensy-weensy little bit. For me, the most likely scenario in which Eric and Tabitha might reveal their softer-sides is with regards to their on/off relationship.

In ‘ReVamped’ Tabitha has sworn off of Eric and left him for good (with hopes that he’ll come chasing after her). Meanwhile Eric is realizing that Tabitha is the first turned girlfriend he’s actually maybe, sorta missed since breaking up.

The one big road-block to semi-happiness for these two is Rachel. . . the demonic little sister who stole big sis’s boyfriend and is trying to harness his powers for nefarious purposes.
As a woman I really wanted Tabitha to make a lot more of the Eric/Rachel hook-up because it is just so darn wrong and icky. But two things are working against my hope for Tabitha’s Aretha Franklin moment. . . The first is that she is a vampire now, and her thinking and emotions have become hardened and somewhat dulled. So her indignation just isn’t there like it would be if she was still human. Second is that fact that Tabitha is a human doormat. . . she loves Eric so much and is so fixated on getting him any way she can that she’s willing to forgive a lot. As an empowered female it’s hard to read, but J.F. Lewis somewhat makes up for the emotional shortcomings with a head-ripping scene of epically fantastic proportions. Now that’s girl-power!

Eric is a little better and self-aware in ‘ReVamped’ than he was in ‘Staked’. At least in this second book he acknowledges his possible feelings for Tabitha and admits the foolishness of falling for Rachel. But he’ll never be a romance hero. Not ever! The closest Eric gets to ‘romance’ is ‘territorial’;

“What’s your problem, man?” he said, popping his neck into place. “She’s just a human. What do you care?”
I grabbed him by the throat and cut him off before he got himself dead for real. Why I cared, I can’t tell you. I just did. “The reason you will understand is this: She is mine and I don’t share well. I never have. It’s a childhood malady. Maybe I had too many brothers and sisters and I have a deep need to indisputably demonstrate my ownership of things.”

You Need Hands

One of the best things about ‘ReVamped’ is the introduction of many glorious secondary characters. Sweetheart Row blood prostitutes, an eternal vampire virgin, a vampiric Mustang called Fang and best of all is creepy head-honcho vampire, Phillip.

Phillip lives in the Highland Towers and runs Void City – everything from the politicians to the firemen and police - he has a hand in every pocket. He’s short, balding, fat and a sadomasochist of disturbing proportions. Case and point, Phillip keeps a staked vampire in his lobby – a vampire who is aware, seeing and living, but imprisoned in a glass case with a stake in his heart that keeps him immobile. Engraved on this entombed vampire’s glass case is a psychotic warning from Phillip:

My dear Percy, who serves as a remembrance to all that I do not bluff, I do not make empty threats, and there are indeed worse fates than death.

As creepy as he was, I liked Phillip and look forward to how he plays out in future books.

Lonely Boy

As in ‘Staked’ my favourite thing about ‘ReVamped’ was Eric himself. Yes, he’s an awful person with no goodness about him. But he’s funny. Dark and twisted, his humour knows no bounds and goes where others fear to tread. And then occasionally he’s just plain ‘laugh out loud’ hilariously random;

“. . . I will make you a eunuch, chain you to the wall, and pay the oni to eat you like a tortured animal cracker. Do you understand me?”
He took a deep sniff, smelling me, then nodded. I let him go.
“Okay, now don’t get mad, but can I ask you something?” Talbot panted.
“Sure.”
“A tortured animal cracker?”
I flipped him off. “Feet first, asshole. If you want to torture an animal cracker you eat it feet first. Everybody knows that.”

This series couldn’t work if Eric wasn’t so darn enigmatic and likable in spite of his awfulness. J.F. Lewis has really finessed his character to make him ridiculously likable and hateable all at the same time.

Did You No Wrong

‘Void City’ is one of my favourite new-find series of 2010. Hands-down incredible. J.F. Lewis has mastered this dark Urban Fantasy and left me wanting more, more, more! Now I have to wait until January 2011 for third book ‘Crossed’, but I know it’ll be worth it.

5/5

'Staked' Void City #1 by J.F. LEWIS

From the BLURB:

UNREPENTANT. UNIMPRESSED. AND TOTALLY UNDEAD.

Eric's got issues. He has short-term and long-term memory problems; he can't remember who he ate for dinner yesterday, much less how he became a vampire in the first place. His best friend, Roger, is souring on the strip club he and Eric own together. And his girlfriend, Tabitha, keeps pressuring him to turn her so she can join him in undeath. It's almost enough to put a Vlad off his appetite. Almost.

Eric tries to solve one problem, only to create another: he turns Tabitha into a vampire, but finds that once he does, his desire for her fades -- and her younger sister, Rachel, sure is cute. And when he kills a werewolf in self-defense, things really get out of hand. Now a pack of born-again lycanthropes is out for holy retribution, while Tabitha and Rachel have their own agendas -- which may or may not include helping Eric stay in one piece.

All Eric wants to do is run his strip club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Instead, he must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice -- not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness. Because being undead isn't easy, but it sure beats the alternative.



‘Staked’ is the first novel in JF Lewis’s ‘Void City’ series, and straight-up I've got to say I LOVED it! This is a new favourite series for me.

Welcome to the Void...

Eric has it tough. All he wants is to run his strip club in peace – but his girlfriend is bugging him to turn her immortal, werewolves are turning up dead and rage blackouts are turning his mind to Swiss cheese.

Meanwhile, Tabitha (Eric’s vampire-groupie girlfriend) has finally convinced her man to give her the bite of death. And once she’s immortal Eric will finally be able to reveal his true, deep feelings of love and adoration for her and they will live happily ever in undeath... until one of those darn dead werewolves turns out to be the local Alpha’s son and things get really tricky... especially when Eric suspects someone is framing him.

You Shook Me

Fair warning – ‘Staked’ is a novel of anti-heroes. Eric and Tabitha are alternating narrators, but between them there’s not a speck of moral fibre. Eric is the anti-Edward, Tabitha spits on Bella and ‘Staked’ is the antidote (or poison, depending on how you look at it?) to all those paranormal fantasies that romanticize vampires.

Eric has no compunctions about killing – when he feels peckish he will hunt for a nubile young woman, drain her and dump the body. He draws the line at rape, but otherwise he is an unremorseful killer. And it’s not just humans who feel his wrath; Eric has rage blackouts where he can’t remember who he killed or where he dumped the body, which is especially frustrating when the Alpha werewolf’s son turns up dead. As a result Eric is very quick to temper and his human stripper employees are constantly walking on eggshells around him.

Eric is just awful. And as bad as the killings and rage black-outs are, Eric wins the jerk of the year award for the way he conducts his personal relationships. Eric has killed every girlfriend he has ever turned vampire, and he is 99% sure that Tabitha will go the same staked-way as his previous amours. Yeah, he’s a jerk of epic proportions. The only girl Eric hasn’t turned and killed is his ‘daughter’, Greta. He saved Greta from an abusive foster home when she was a child, and turned her and a brother when they turned 21... But before you go getting all tender-hearted and thinking this is a bad-boy with a heart of gold, you should know that at some point in 'Staked', Eric sleeps with Tabitha's little sister. Like I said, jerk of the year.

Tabitha is a vain and vacuous vampire-wannabe. Everything she knows about vampires she has learnt through glamorized and romanticized fiction... so she is blown away when Eric finally turns her and she finds out what it means to be a monster. Tabitha is a fairly smart woman, but she is so desperate to please Eric and be the perfect girlfriend that all she can think about his pleasing him. So she turns herself into a sex kitten, pandering to his every whim and sacrificing her self-worth and independence on the delusion that he loves her and they will have an immortal romance. She’s also about as deep as a puddle. Tabitha is willing to forgive a lot of the vampiric downsides for the sake of getting a great rack and pert ass in the exchange.

Nobody's Fault But Mine

To begin with I felt a bit ostracized by the sheer awfulness of Eric and Tabitha. As a reader it is hard to wade through the inner workings of such truly atrocious people, and it becomes disheartening to read for some semblance of virtue but find none. But after a few chapters it clicked for me – the reason I was struggling with the vampire characters in ‘Staked’ was because I had gotten used to reading vampires according to romance conventions. I was used to male vampires being protective alpha males who cherish and protect their women... and that is not Eric. J.F. Lewis seems to take twisted pleasure in throwing all those paranormal romance conventions back in reader’s faces;

“Am I supposed to go fight crime with you? Open a detective agency? Look for a cure? Because it’s not happening. You wanted a monster and you got one!” Waving his gun around as he spoke, Eric came toward me, his intemperate footsteps causing the dock to creak in protest.

Eric is in no way a protective, caring vampire hero. Lewis’s vampires are not ‘nice’. They most certainly do not sparkle; they are monsters with no remorse who revel in their place at the top of the food chain. Once I accepted this I was okay. I stopped expecting romance, I quit waiting for Eric to have a revelatory moment and do the right thing (for once!). I had to accept the fact that Eric is not your traditional hero and Tabitha is no HEA love interest... and once I understood that, I could appreciate ‘Staked’ for what it is. A fucking great ride! Black and twisted humour, gross-out gore and a magnificent departure from run of the mill Urban Fantasy. I also think that to some extent I was a little more open to this book because of Stacia Kane’s ‘Downside’ series which is similarly about grey areas, anti-hero protagonists and questionable morals.

Good Times Bad Times

Sometimes Eric and Tabitha are hard character’s to swallow. Their actions and inner-monologues will occasionally repel you. You will cringe, and your jaw will hit the floor at least once. But J.F. Lewis makes up for a lot of the crassness by amping up the funniness. Eric is one sick puppy, but he is hilarious. If you like dark humour that is ‘so wrong it’s right’ then ‘Staked’ is for you.

“Did Eric ever say he loved you”? Talbot asked finally.
“No,” I whispered.
“What did he tell you when you asked?”
“He ... he would ...” I could feel my lower lip begin to tremble. Whether it was rage, sadness, or despair, I didn’t know. Maybe all three. “He would say I was a moist warm tightness with all the necessary parts.” I was crying again. Talbot turned away.

In My Time Of Dying

I loved how intricate the world of ‘Void City’ is, and the vampire mythology Lewis has customized. In this world, vampires are categorized according to their power-level upon turning. Vampires come in four categories – Drones, Soldiers, Masters and Vlads – with Vlads being the big-poombah’s and Drones the... well, Drones.
Lewis has written vampire mythology that’s a wonderful blend of practicality and far-out fantastical. He has written a very biologically plausible transformation process (that is disgusting!) but he’s also equipped his vamps with a plethora of cool abilities. Able to turn into animals, mist, disembodied blue-tinge thingys, built-in hologram telephones etc. This is one cool vampire universe J.F. Lewis has created.

Whole Lotta Love

I will warn you that if you like your vampire men to come with dashing romance then ‘Staked’ will be a rude awakening. Eric is a fantastic leading-man, but for all the wrong reasons. He is a jerk of epic, vampiric proportions – a cold-blooded killer, horrendous boyfriend and disturbingly self-aware while also unrepentant. He’s great. Equally wonderful is his newly-turned vampire girlfriend, Tabitha, who is getting an undead wake-up call about what it is to be a monster.

‘Staked’ revels in blood, sex and gore. It’s a disturbing, riotous thrill-ride that throws convention out the window. J.F. Lewis doesn’t just push the Urban Fantasy envelope. He takes a blowtorch to the envelope then gives its paper-ashes the finger.

5/5