Aeterna
By Kim Bannerman

First i'ed like to thank Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing story .
I couldn't resist this dark fantasy/end of the world vamp book.
It was so good, couldn't put it down, at times it felt like I was watching a movie, the story really sucks you in, no pun intend.
I'm really looking forward to read book two.

Highly recommend to lovers of fantasy.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book! I initially picked this book up because vampires - if it says vampires I'm intrigued. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from it initially, but overall I thought it was a good read! It's been some time since I picked up vampire book that wasn't straight romance, but I'm glad I did. There is some romance to this, but I wouldn't say it dominates the storyline and instead helps it to unfold as Marcus finds his way. I was intrigued by the concept of a post-apocalyptic world dominated by vampires, but really it was the political intrigue and deceptions that had me wanting to finish it.

I'll be interested to read the next installment in the series.

In a post-apocalyptic world, vampires have ‘cleansed’ the planet of human life and established their own underground city – Aeterna – run by the nine senior families.

Every 100 years, the families compete in the Bloodlet, hunting cloned humans released onto the surface with the victor becoming First Among Firsts and leading the city for the next century.

Aeterna (the first book in a new series) follows Marcus, the youngest son of the current leader as he prepares for his first bloodlet and tries to learn more about his life before being turned into a vampire.

His world is turned upside down, however, when he finds himself in the middle of a plot to overthrow the nine families and encounters a cloned human with memories of her own.

I didn’t realise until I was a few chapters in that this was the start of a new series and it definitely helped to explain the detailed descriptiveness of the writing.

There is a lot of world building for the longer term benefit of the series, helping to explain how the characters are connected, the hierarchy of vampire life and what happened before the fall of the human race.

The story really begins to get exciting when they arrive at the surface for the Bloodlet and Bo (the cloned human) becomes a more prominent character.

A supernatural dystopian romance with a hint of mystery – I can’t wait for the next book to learn more about what’s next for both vampire and humankind!

Thank you to the Author and to NetGalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review!

This was a fun, quick read. I enjoyed the idea behind it (an underground vampire city) and the main characters were sweet. I hoped for more development both in characters (who sometimes felt flat) and worldbuilding (just how did humanity disappear?), but overall it was a good introductory book in a series. I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series!

TW: blood and death (vampires!). 3.5 stars

Thank you, NetGalley for a chance to read and review this!

I didn't think I would like a vampire dystopia, but I kinda did! Kim Bannerman builds up the world Marcus lives in really slowly, so it's kinda hard to really get to the story. I love Sibyl as a character, and I kinda prefer her to Marcus and Bo at the moment (all of the nine are more interesting). Of course, we'll learn more about their backgrounds in the upcoming books.

Thank you NetGalley and the BooksGoSocial for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Aeterna is a post apocalyptic vampire story. Its really the story of Marcus, the last vampire created, coming of age and trying to understand his place in the world. Aeterna is the name of the subterranean city that the vampires have created in the aftermath of The Cleanse. Vampires have cleansed the planet of humans and are living under the rule of the 9 families. Every 100 years, the 9 families complete in a content of Bloodletting. The family that kills the most cloned humans in a single night ascend to the position of first among firsts (aka the leaders) for the next century. Marcus is the youngest vampire and a member of the currently ruling family who longs to see the human world and understand where he came from. As he begins to explore, Marcus finds himself embroiled in a plot to end the current system.

So, I didn't really love or hate this book. I feel like the elements of the story that I was most interested in: namely the Bloodlet, did not have enough time to breathe and really develop. It also felt like we spent a lot of time doing world building which is something I'm never a fan of. In all fairness, I did not know this book was the 1st in a new series when I started. Once I learned that nugget of information the pacing, character development and general plot made more sense. This book suffers from what I think of as series syndrome. What I mean is that the book is focused heavily on explaining the world, background and introducing characters that are involved in later entries. These items are done at the detriment of the 1st books story and plot. It also explains why the story pitched in the blurb really don't start until the 45-50% mark.

Marcus and Bo are fine characters. I wish there had been more time to explore them as existing characters and their backgrounds.

Overall, I find this to be a fine book, but I probably won't continue on with the series.
Recommend for lovers of dystopian and vampires.

3.5 Stars rounded up to 4

This got off to a shaky start for me, there was far too much info dumping at the start of the book, slowing the pace for a while. I also found some of the descriptions overly detailed and unnecessary for developing the story. However once we get to Bo, the story picked up and I found myself much more engaged by what is essentially a blend of paranormal, suspense and romance. Once I'd got through that first third the plot picked up in intensity and I found myself not wanting to put the book down.


It took me a while to understand Marcus' motivation, he felt a little lacklustre at first but we really get to know him as the story progresses. There was also good character growth and I soon found myself captivated by him. Bo was a really fascinating character and I very much enjoyed seeing how the pair of them interacted together. I would rather have had more time spent on developing their relationship and less on the early over explanation. On balance, however, this was still an engaging read.

Thank you to the Author and to NetGalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review!

I have been looking for a vampire book for a while and this gave me everything I needed! The pacing was good and the premise was interesting and took on a new take for a very saturated Genre. The worldbuilding was great and the structures of an all vampire society surviving off of clones is flushed out!

I instantly loved Marcus as a character and although I didn't love Bo from the start, she grow on me as the story progressed!

Aetnera, the endless city full of the undying, but what if the undying can be killed?

Kim Bannerman grabs your attention from the very first page building Marcus’ world of Aeterna unfortunately about halfway through the book the story does (pun intended). After such vivid world building the relationships, and the ending felt rushed and almost Disney like in its predictability. I won’t spoil the story but while I could see certain things coming I was almost shocked at how quickly they did with little development. However I will be happily tuning in for the second book. The story has so much potential.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read this. I enjoyed it very much.

I know there's a lot of vampire/mortal romance fiction out there, and that's always going to be an enemies to friends type arc, but this book has such great world-building. The city of Aeterna is brilliantly realised, and the structure of vampire society is really well worked out. The vampire families are as dangerous as you would expect, and our hero is engagingly naive. His search for his identity is well worked out. There are plenty of twists and turns.

The story ends with what seems like the start of the next book in the series. I hope there is one, and I really hope to return to Aeterna.

Vampires and Sci-Fi dystopia?? Count me in! The Vampires have taken over the world and eliminated humanity. Underground society broken into hierarchy level....nothing EVER goes wrong with that! It definitely keeps you attention as Marcus, the youngest vampire, decides he wants to no more of the world he does not remember before the vampire take over. Looking forward to book 2!

Take vampires and mix them with a bit of SciFi and you've got yourself a pretty fun read. It wasn't perfect or outstanding but still pretty intriguing and fun. I'd be more than willing to read more from this author.

Vampires have taken over the world and the human race is no more. They all live underground in the city of Aeterna. Marcus spends his time deep below in the Womb, where human clones are made and kept to feed the vampires. A fight for power and a coup threaten to destroy everything they have worked so hard to create.

I really enjoyed this book! This was a different take on vampires from what I have read before. I can't wait until the sequel!

I haven’t read many vampire novels, but I really enjoyed this one. It’s quite different than the ones I’ve read before, where vampires live in the human world (either side-by-side with humans or in hiding). You may be wondering how vampires live in a world without humans— don’t they need blood to survive? Well they solved this problem by growing seemingly mindless clones. Most are kept for their blood, and a small portion are grown specifically to be released above ground for the Bloodlet. This is a hunt where the nine royal lineages chase down the clones, and whichever family kills the most is then the ruling family for the next hundred years (theoretically 😉). But when Marcus meets a clone named Bo everything changes. She is not the mindless automaton she is supposed to be. She remembers portions of her former life; she also retains language skills, which none of the others do. I thought the evolution of both characters was well done, and I recommend this book. NOTE: since vampires and blood are involved, there are definitely gruesome moments in this book to be aware of.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Aeterna is an excellent read for lover's of dystopia and vampires. I love everything about the world building of Aeterna and I can definitely confirm that the world itself is really dark and lush. Marcus and Bo are amazing well-written, compelling characters and you easily feel invested in their survival.

A phenomenal book and I enjoyed reading this book. The characters and storyline were great. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

Aeterna was an entertaining read from start to finish. I loved the premise, which was well formulated, and the action moved along at a good pace. Marcus was an instantly engaging character and I also came to like Bo as the story progressed. Their interactions were great fun to read, and you could see both characters grow through them. I had assumed this book would be a standalone story; however, from the way it ends, a sequel seems possible, if not likely. As the blurb suggests, this story plays out across several genres and therefore it's worth checking out if you like one or more of the following: vampires; dystopian; paranormal; mystery; and sci-fi. I would certainly read on if the story continues. For me, it's a 4.5-star read.

I did enjoy Aeterna and found the premise different and interesting. I would hesitantly describe Aeterna as Vampire soap opera meets The Hunger Games meets Game of Thrones.

Marcus is a vampire, the last of the human race to be turned before the Cleanse. With no memory of his human life and no record of human history in the city, Marcus spends his time searching for any clue to what life was like above ground. He is intensely curious and has little regard for the rules that the millions of Vampires in Aeterna thrive upon. The Bloodrite leads to Marcus to encounter his first human but he quickly realises there is a much larger game at play.

Aeterna begins with a lot of world building. With 9 prominent families and a city that stretches deep into the earth, there are a lot of characters to introduce and a whole world to establish. Unfortunately, this world building provides most of the entertainment. What starts off as an incredibly fast paced and intriguing story quickly becomes monotonous and slow once. With no major twists or epic cliffhangers to hook me in I can only describe Aeterna as ok. The story does end with an opening to the sequel and I'm interested enough in Marcus' story, due to it's uniqueness, to continue reading the series.

3.5

I love a good vampire story and Kim Bannerman did a fantastic job creating one. While its not a book I would reread I did enjoy reading it for the first time. I think Kim did an amazing job portraying Marcus. I found his curiosity refreshing and relatable. The plot did drag a good bit and at times I was bored but overall I think many vampire fans will find this book enjoyable.