The Dark Heroine - Abigail Gibbs (Book Review)
The latest book I have read... Well you'll see as I go on. It's called the Dark Heroine (Dinner with a Vampire) by Abigail Gibbs.
First of all, I'm not really sure which is its real name, they're both on the cover! So either it has two short names or one really looooong name. Colour me confused. Anywho the book opens with a 17-year old girl (Violet Lee) who is in Trafalgar square, way past her bedtime might I add, after being out clubbing with a friend. She witnesses the mass murder of thirty people by vampires and then is kidnapped by the murderers. Naturally I was sucked in from the first page. Here's a sneak peek from the start:
‘Kaspar, are we going to clean this one up or just leave it?’ said the one who stood nearest the fountain,
even his fiery red hair dull compared to the water he swirled his fingers through.
‘We’ll leave it as a little message for any other hunters who think they can cross us,’ he replied.
‘Scum,’ he added, spitting on the nearest limp body.
His voice had lost its cool and had been replaced with a deep, satisfied sneer, and anger began to
override the fear as I watched him carelessly kick the arm of another dying man out of his way, causing him to let out one last meager moan.
‘Jerk,’ I breathed.
He froze.
So did I. I held my breath, stomach knotted. He can’t possibly have heard me from across the square.
That’s just not possible. But slowly, almost leisurely, he turned so that he faced me.'
At first glance, I'm hooked, the cover is dark and mysterious and gives nothing away. The first couple of chapters were AMAZING. After that however, I'm afraid to say I succumbed to the confusion of the vampire politics. I just didn't understand, why some people were treated the way they were, what the big deal was over some 'major' issue. I just don't understand. Believe me people, I'm quite an intelligent girl so needless to say I persevered throughout the good 549 pages that were in the book but in the end I really didn't think this book was for me. I understand that the author was 15 when she wrote this book, which kind of freaks me out a bit as it claims it's 'The sexiest romance you'll read this year.' but the storyline was poor. To be honest *SPOILER*
*SPOILER* I think this novel could have been great if she had waited a few years to write it. There are flaws in her writing style, actually I'm going to be honest, her writing style doesn't have flaws, it has genuine problems that need counselling, it can be disjointed (and sometimes not detailed enough, so I haven't the foggiest what she's on about) her characters could have undergone more development, in 549 pages we know about as much about Kaspar as we knew before Violet met him. I guessed after the first hundred pages that this book must have been written by a younger author. Really this book was about Stockholm syndrome with vampires, but publicized as a romance.
My final verdict is that this book should have been about two hundred pages shorter, less violence, more genuine romance like I expected, (Violence isn't sexy Abigail!!) probably less politics, or at least more explaining as I seriously struggled to understand the political side of everything. So, I give it a 4/10 for effort. That's just my opinion but I welcome all other opinions in the comments section as I am genuinely curious to hear what you thought of this book. If you have a book you would like me to review let me know, if I have it or can get it cheaply I'll read it and review it for you :) Until next time x
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‘Kaspar, are we going to clean this one up or just leave it?’ said the one who stood nearest the fountain,
even his fiery red hair dull compared to the water he swirled his fingers through.
‘We’ll leave it as a little message for any other hunters who think they can cross us,’ he replied.
‘Scum,’ he added, spitting on the nearest limp body.
His voice had lost its cool and had been replaced with a deep, satisfied sneer, and anger began to
override the fear as I watched him carelessly kick the arm of another dying man out of his way, causing him to let out one last meager moan.
‘Jerk,’ I breathed.
He froze.
So did I. I held my breath, stomach knotted. He can’t possibly have heard me from across the square.
That’s just not possible. But slowly, almost leisurely, he turned so that he faced me.'
 |
| 'He turned leisurely.' Not. Cheesy! Found this hilarious. |
At first glance, I'm hooked, the cover is dark and mysterious and gives nothing away. The first couple of chapters were AMAZING. After that however, I'm afraid to say I succumbed to the confusion of the vampire politics. I just didn't understand, why some people were treated the way they were, what the big deal was over some 'major' issue. I just don't understand. Believe me people, I'm quite an intelligent girl so needless to say I persevered throughout the good 549 pages that were in the book but in the end I really didn't think this book was for me. I understand that the author was 15 when she wrote this book, which kind of freaks me out a bit as it claims it's 'The sexiest romance you'll read this year.' but the storyline was poor. To be honest *SPOILER*
*SPOILER* I think this novel could have been great if she had waited a few years to write it. There are flaws in her writing style, actually I'm going to be honest, her writing style doesn't have flaws, it has genuine problems that need counselling, it can be disjointed (and sometimes not detailed enough, so I haven't the foggiest what she's on about) her characters could have undergone more development, in 549 pages we know about as much about Kaspar as we knew before Violet met him. I guessed after the first hundred pages that this book must have been written by a younger author. Really this book was about Stockholm syndrome with vampires, but publicized as a romance.
My final verdict is that this book should have been about two hundred pages shorter, less violence, more genuine romance like I expected, (Violence isn't sexy Abigail!!) probably less politics, or at least more explaining as I seriously struggled to understand the political side of everything. So, I give it a 4/10 for effort. That's just my opinion but I welcome all other opinions in the comments section as I am genuinely curious to hear what you thought of this book. If you have a book you would like me to review let me know, if I have it or can get it cheaply I'll read it and review it for you :) Until next time x
.jpg "Curiosity Killed My Stupidity")
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