Sunday 17 November 2013

Pretty When She Destroys by Rhiannon Frater

Pretty When She Destroys by Rhiannon Frater is the third and final part of her vampire trilogy starring young vampire necromancer, Amaliya Verzorak. This novel is an absolute roller-coaster of a ride as all Hell breaks loose. The Summoner, Amaliya's sire is back, albeit in spirit form. He has taken control of the body of Bianca Leduc, a young student whom he sired at the same time as Amaliya. Whereas Amaliya took three days to rise from her shallow grave, Bianca took four days and thus they became separated. Both girls inherited some of the Summoner's necromantic powers, giving them control over the dead.
The Summoner wants to open a portal to the demon dimension in order to usher in a host of supernatural nasties and eternal night. Unless he can be stopped, humanity will end up as slaves to the demons or worse. In order to open the portal, the summoner needs thirteen magical rings that were hidden throughout the world by monks many centuries ago. Unfortunately for Amaliya and her friends he possesses twelve of the rings. However, Amaliya holds the thirteenth and she won't give it up without a fight to the death. Not only does Amaliya want to stop the Summoner from achieving his goal, she also wants to rescue Bianca.
Fortunately, she is not alone in her quest. She has her own Scooby Gang of misfits, made up of humans and supernatural entities. These include Cian, the vampire lord of Austin, Texas and Amaliya's lover; Samantha, Cian's ex-girlfriend and now a phasmagus (someone who could control the spirits of the dead); Benchley, his sister, Alexia and Jeff are human paranormal investigators and vampire hunters; Cassandra, Cian's dhampir daughter and her lover, Aimee, a white witch; Rachon, a black female vampire and one time ruler of Louisiana, Eduardo the were-coyote and finally, Baptiste the elemagus (a magic user who can control the elements).
Cassandra leaned forward in her chair. "We fight."
Eduardo grinned fiendishly. "Until we die."
The witch gave him a dire look. "Or win."
"Like Buffy and the Scoobies," Samantha said, sounding almost jovial.
The reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and her friends is well made. At times this novel certainly steps into Buffy territory and as a lifelong fan of Ms. Summers, I say this is no bad thing. I admit that I had high hopes for the final part of this trilogy. I wanted action galore, suspense, drama and witty dialogue and a healthy dose of gore. I was not disappointed. Rhiannon far exceeded my expectations and created a fitting finale. If your knowledge of vampire novels is limited to the Twilight phenomena then be prepared to be blown away. In my humble opinion, this is exactly what a vampire novel should be like. Rhiannon pulls out all the stops to bring the trilogy to a fitting and welcome climax. It is scary, witty and exciting and character development is at the forefront of the story. The sex scenes, so prevalent in the first novel are toned down but romance still blossoms for Amaliya and Cian, Jeff and Samantha and Cassandra and Aimee.
Pretty When She Destroys has a recommended retail price of £8.32 but I picked up my copy for £7.76 at Amazon.UK, not much of a saving but better than none. Having awarded the first two novels in this trilogy 10/10 scores, I simply have to give this the same award. 10 out of 10 and an absolute belter of a series. Vampire fiction doesn't get any better than this!

10 comments:

  1. Sounds like a damn fine trilogy so far!

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  2. Hm, looks like another Kindle download for me :) Thanks for the recommendation, Bryan.
    Did you know there is a spin-off featuring Cassandra and Aimee?

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    1. Pretty When They Collide is a novella that features Cassandra and Aimee, stefan. I haven't bought it yet but it is on my shopping list.

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    2. Just bought the whole set for 11,67€ so I'll have something to read during my business travel on friday.

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    3. Cool. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

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  3. If others, like you, are into Vampires these sound like a great series to get into from your reviews.
    Out of interest for some, on Kindle e-books the four books of "Pretty when ...." range from £1.88 to £2.59".

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    1. I don't own a Kindle or any kind of e-book reader but I do appreciate the info. Many thanks, Joe.

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