CarlAlves

Blood Song is an example of a novel where the saying “less is more” rings true. Unfortunately, the author seems to be convinced that more is more. More, in this case, means throwing every sort of paranormal entity that has ever existed and throwing them at the proverbial wall of a 350 page book and hoping that it sticks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. In this novel, there are vampires aplenty, werewolves, half-vampires, telepaths, mind readers, mages, demons, militant priests who fight against demons, ghosts, and sirens. I’m sure I’m missing a bunch of paranormal entities. And here lies the problem. It becomes a jumbled mess after a while. Each of these things by themselves might be interesting, but all together, they lose their punch.

In the novel, Celia Graves is a paranormal bodyguard, who has been hired to guard a prince of a small European country. Things go wrong, and she winds up getting bit by a vampire. Without a good explanation, she doesn’t fully become a vampire. Even more annoying, the vampire who sired her doesn’t even figure into the novel. Conspiracies abound. There are too many characters in general in this novel, and too many paranormal characters more specifically. Things happen with no explanation. The end result is that I quickly lost interest in the novel and never gained it back. This is a novel you will probably want to skip.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street