2nd hand purchases today.. Reviews to follow!

'Now the darkness is complete...'

After such a gripping first book, I immediately picked up the second in the trilogy- The Fall by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.

As a stand-alone book this novel isn't amazing. It certainly doesn't hook you in the first chapter like its first instalment. The pace is slow, and the chapters are a lot more weighty than previously. 

The Fall is used as a way to explain the past of the characters we have met previously, and we learn a great deal about how they came to be. Despite this wealth of characterisation, the female characters never really seem to develop - they almost exist merely to show us more about the male characters. The downside  of this is you never really care if they get sucked dry by vamps!

The slow pace really picks up towards the final chapters, with a clever plot development which leaves you siding with the team responsible for wiping out humankind.

My advice is this; persevere all the blather, if only to get to the third and final part of the trilogy. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be a bloodbath worth waiting for..!

The Strain - Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan

The best thing about having an action film director as half of the writing duo for a book? It reads like you're watching a movie you daren't take a toilet break in the middle of!

Stephanie Myer taught us that Vampires are actually just mis-understood beings - who happen to be incredibly beautiful to boot! Hogan/Guilermo have re-written the Vampire legend, and turned them back into creatures to be truly feared.

I really cannot commend the writing of this book enough. The description of each bloodbath is perfectly described, and the clarity of each 'set' leaves you feeling you have been stood right in the middle of the action. There really is never a dull moment! 

I must stress that despite the violent nature of the tale, there is plenty of characterisation in the read, which reminded me of a slimmed down version of Stephen Kings The Stand. You gradually begin to feel a part of the troop of main characters, who gradually bind together, similar to that of The Walking Dead.

It seems as though the writers took great care to remove the 'waffle' that other writers use to describe situations. Every single sentence feels meticulously planned - but as a reader you barely notice it as you glide effortlessly from one side of New York to another.

This book is the first in a trilogy and I will be moving swiftly on to the next portion of gore!

Grave Minder - Melissa Marr

Ghouls, ghosties, and a spot of off/on romance? Ahhh, perfect :)

This book was plugged as a Young Adult Fiction writer moving into adult terrain for the first time. After having read all the YA section of my library had to offer I was very excited about this book - and I was well rewarded.

Initially it hurtles along at a break-neck pace, which often left me wondering who was you and struggling to remember where I was. There are a few confusing shifts from present to past before I really had a grip on the characters, but it doesn't take long for you to fall into Melissa's writing style.

The conversations are a little clunky in places, but you become so swept up in the story that you gladly ignore the basic script in anticipation of the next lavishly described ghoulish encounter. 

I can honestly say this is the first book I've read in a long while where the end came too soon in the tale. About fifty pages from the end I had to flick to the last few pages to check it wasn't going to cruelly end suddenly and then advise me I'd have to wait for the next instalment!

If you like your murder mystery tales with a dollop of 'will they, wont they?' Then this book will be a match made.