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The warrior priest, Castus, embarks on a hunt for one of the deadliest creatures to ever walk the lands of Taal—a vampire by the name of Sallus. After a year of failure, Castus enlists the aid of Giento, a man who claims a special ability to sense the dread lords, but in fact is nothing more than a coward.
As the hunt intensifies, the duo find themselves facing not only Sallus, but the family the vampire has made for himself. With the hunt expanded to four of the deadly creatures, Castus plunges headlong into a chase that Giento fears will end in the worst of all possible fates.
Meanwhile, Sallus’ latest son-in-death, Conrad, encounters all the dangers of his new life as a vampire – a life where the warrior priest turns out to be the least of his problems.
Great. Another vampire story. Aren't there enough already?
If that's what you're thinking, then you need to stop thinking and trust my judgement instead. We've been so inundated with vampires trying hard to be human lately, that it's about time someone reminded us what these creatures originally were - Blood. Drinking. Monsters.
As usual, the back cover hardly even scratches the surface of this novel's complexity. The story begins with Conrad, a newborn vampire, experiencing his new life for the first time, and from the very first paragraph I was swept up in the images and sensations that would carry me through the rest of the book.
There are no uninteresting characters in this story. My favourite character appears for one scene, fills it with awesomeness, and is never seen again. But with that brief glimpse, you know there's a whole other story behind him.
At times leaning towards the extremely gory (personal advice: some scenes should not be read near dinner time), the story is beautifully balanced with good humour, suspense, mystery and the pursuit of a beautiful woman.
In sum: if this is Aaron's debut novel, then I am certainly anticipating the next.
Interested in forming your own opinion? Order the book on Amazon here.
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