Cover Image: Vampires and Victims

Vampires and Victims

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Member Reviews

This was not my favorite read. The writing was only so-so and the book failed to capture my interest after the first couple of chapters. I honestly ended up DNFing it to make time for something else. Wasn't the worst, but also wasn't really the greatest.

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I found this to be very slow, quite repetitive and not very original, the plot was lacking so much and it seemed to drag on , overall the execution was poor and this just wasn’t for me at all

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

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I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good. I wish there were other vampire books that were more detailed like this. I love the new takes on vampires

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I think vampire stories are becoming a bit played out. Honestly the more I read of them, the more I dislike them, as was the case with Vampires and Victims. The plot was extremely repetitive and unoriginal. The character development was subpar at best. I think the synopsis of the story had a lot going for it, but the execution was poor.

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I would like to think if Martin M. Mcshane had been born a hundred years earlier he would have enjoyed a prolific career writing for those wonderful pulp fiction magazines which were once so popular but now sadly have ceased publication. He knows all the tropes and uses them well here. Read it with tongue firmly in cheek and you can't fail to enjoy this tale of vampires and other nether-creatures, and the children and old grannies who go to war against them.

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This book was an okay read. The writing threw me off slightly - it was overly confusing, Though it was atmospheric, the fight scene between Charlie and Lorcan just didn't do it for me. I guess with the atmospheric writing, I expected more but it didn't excite me or draw me in completely. The story plot was okay. The premise is there and the author explored it relatively thoroughly, but I just felt the writing would be stronger. There feel to be too many characters that were unnecessary, and the whole story just it didn't click for me. If you like vampires, I do think you'll probably enjoy this, but it's not one I would pick up again - I had higher hopes and felt let down.

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This one didn’t quite work for me. Love the premise – it has a Dickensian style cast and a definite 19th C novel flavour. The Lore was interesting too. But none of it really came to much. My opinion is that this book wasn’t ready. It needed another couple of drafts and a few other sets of author eyeballs on it before being released into the wild. There’s a lot of potential here though and the author could definitely do something with the concept.

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*Copy provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

Vampires and Victims had a lot of good things going for it. An interesting premise, a nice narrative, sort of like a Dickensian tale on vampires and population.

Sadly, that was all there was. The characters were not that developed and the premise got repetitive. The lore was nice, and if further developed it had a lot of potencial to be amazing. It was not but I will probably try to read more from this author.

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Vampires and Humans co-exist in the small town of Ravenport, following the terms of a treaty signed centuries ago in the past. But suddenly, children are starting to go missing, which makes the humans wonder whether the Vampires are feeding on them. But the truth is much, much worse. A Pandora's box has been opened, and now, humans must learn to train to fight against vampires and free those who have been held captive by them. The battle is over but the real war is only beginning.

I requested this book because the description alluded to it being a modern vampire story of sorts, and it did deliver! The realistic setting and atmospheric writing impeccably transported me to the book's world in Northern England, and the slow-burn tension and gothic-horror theme made it worth a read.

Vampires and Victims take its due time to build the story and introduce the cast of characters and move forward with mystery and suspense. What I loved most was that, unlike usual Vampire novels, V&H wasn't brimming with lackluster gore and violence and focused on its premise instead. I have to praise the author for the constant eerieness the book is packed with! Halfway through the book, I did feel a little thrown off by the amount of background history given on each character, and I wanted to see more action sequences that didn't end quickly.

That being said, it was still a fun read! Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

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While I didn't hate this book I don't think it was for me. It was very slow-paced which I didn't like and made me not want to keep reading this book. I think that if you love An Interview with a Vampire then you will love this one.

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I enjoyed parts of this book. The world building started off interesting. I liked the backstory of the vampire's. I liked some of the characters however I felt like disconnected from the story.

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Gracias a Netgalley y al autor por darme el Arc de este libro.

La verdad es que tenía muchas ganas de leer un buen libro sobre vampiros y sus presas, pero a medida que me sumergía en las páginas más me convencía de que el libro necesitaba algo más, no es un completo desastre pero esperaba mucho más de él.

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This book was an okay read. The writing threw me off slightly. At one point, you'd think that the townspeople might not know of the vampires but turns out that they do. Then, all of a sudden, there was an endless and vivid description of the history of vampires. It was very confusing, Though it was atmospheric, the fight between Charlie and Lorcan fell flat for me. I guess with the atmospheric writing, I expected more but it didn't excite me as I expected.

The story plot, however, was good. The premise is there and the author explored it thoroughly. I guess my only complaint is the writing style. It's very confusing, as well as too many characters that were unnecessarily added into the story. Some of them don't even contribute to the plot progression.

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Vampires versus humans. Children are starting to go missing and the town is blaming the vampires the fight begins. This was a perfect read for this time of year. I like how the author made you feel Like you were in the town. Over all the story was ok

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This was a bit boring but I also I think this has potential. The author did try to create a rather realistic environment and it did give a feeling of dread. My only issue is with the story and that it could've been better.

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In the small town of Ravenport, humans and vampires lived by the terms of a treaty signed hundreds of years in the past. However, the children of the poorer areas are starting to go missing and the older townfolk think the vampires are to blame. The story then follows a well built cast of characters as they learn about and train to fight against vampires, as well as seek to free all those taken from the town and held captive by the vampires. The battle might be over, but the war has just begun.

While parts of the story are slow, it all serves the purpose of building history and background for characters - all of which is well developed. However, the action portions were very quick; I would have liked for there to be a larger proportion of action rather than quite so much back story.

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Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

When i requested this i was just intrigued by the concept of it. I loved how we follow Vampires and Humans living together under a treaty that was signed hundreds of years ago. Now, this story had a great plot but it was lacking for me. I think I was longing for a deeper story line but however, the story was still very interesting. If love vampires, I would recommend this. I started reading this as soon as it was given to me on Netgalley.

Don't go into this thinking this will answer all your questions on vampires, *LOL* but do go in with some expectation of getting some great vampire fun. I enjoyed it. Its a solid 3 stars for me.

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McShane did a good job setting the scene in this gothic tale. It was creepy and eerie from beginning to end. The actual plot was lacking to me - it seemed to drag on during parts where I feel I could have been in suspense.

This was a very middle-of-the-road novel to me. It was okay, but I'm not dying for more.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

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I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself fron the book because it was so good. I wish there were other vampire books that were more detailed like this.

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2.5 - 3 stars

I feel a bit so-so about this book. I think the main thing it had going for it was the incredibly realistic setting and atmosphere, it was so well set that you felt like you were there and could feel the tension, chill, and darkness— I really have to give the author credit for creating this sensory atmosphere that lasted the entire book because so often authors create the feel of the book and have it last the first few chapters and then it drops off leaving the reader a tad thrown off since the once well-crafted vibe is gone.

As for the story itself it was just fine, not amazing but not horrible. I’m going to purposely be a bit vague because feel like this is one of those stories that the reader should go into not knowing too much beforehand. I feel like my main issue was that there were certain parts of the book that drug on for way to long, and instead of keeping me on the edge of my seat I felt a bit annoyed that I was being strung along without any pay off and ready for the climax and resolution to happen.

Overall I do think this was an alright read and for those that are looking for spooky vibes for this October and fall I think this would be a good book to pick up.

ARC given by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

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