Valentine's Exile is the latest(paperback) book in E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series. Since I haven't posted on this series in a while, and most on the f-list who might be interested in this have friended me since then:
(as always, I'm somewhat simplifying things to avoid endless exposition)
Vampire Earth is set in the near future-the first book is set in 2065-when a race called the Kurians have taken over. While not actually vampires, the Kurians-a telepathic race that feeds on lifeforce-are a race that travels from world to world through gates, taking over world and, when they've drained them dry, moving on to another. Not believing in taking the difficult way and risking walking into a line of super-lasers, they've set up gates that they use to travel between worlds, spawning the vampire myths. (Yes, I do suspect E.E. Knight is a Stargate fan, but I don't really care.) Forty years later, a near decimated humanity exists in three parts: the people who just hope they don't get eaten(but know they or their kids will soon) the quislings, who serve the Kurians-often in the form of other people on metaphorical platters-and, of course, the rebels.
David Valentine is a young man who was raised and educated by a priest who joins the rebel army. There, he learns of and comes to the attention of the "brothers" of the Kurians-the Lifeweavers. Genetically identical, the Lifeweavers and the Kurians differ in their beliefs about vampirism and whether or not wiping out entire races is a good idea. Under the guidance of the lifeweavers, some humans becomes, for lack of a better brief explanation, totems to be humanity's supersoldiers, taking on attributes of their animal totems. Valentine started a wolf(warrior) but later became a Cat(spy) making him an extra supersoldier. Fortunately, he's not written as a near god, but rather, as a very determined man who's good at what he does,
A part of me is always surprised that I like this series as much as I do. First of all: vampires. I view vampires as a sadly necessary evil to urban fantasy. While I can like vampire characters, I don't care for vampires as a whole, at least partly because the market is over saturated by them, and partly because I don't find them remotely sexy and that's supposed to be the appeal. Buffy and Angel, thankfully, had enough other stuff going for them and usually portrayed vampires as being evil and not overly sympathetic(except for a few characters) that I didn't mind, and the two vampire manga series-Canon and Vampire Knight-while series I like, I never would have touched if I didn't already like other books by the mangakas. Here, however, it barely even qualifies as vampire myth, and the vampiric elements are portrayed as horrible and monstrous...there's absolutely no romanticization to it at all. Secondly, the series has a very military approach to it. Now, I like war stories, and if the army/military plays an important role, I want it to feel right, but if it's a focus, I'm usually bored. Here, however, the story is told from the point of view of the very structured rebel army, by an army man, and I love it. Why? I don't know. Probably because David Valentine is an intelligent, creative man who is very, very good at what he does.
Also, I really, really like the covers to the series. A) They're pretty. B) Valentine is consistently better and better armed on them...almost to the teeth on the cover of Exile.
The series website if anyone wants better and more in depth descriptions and plot.
I have also read the third X-Factor trade, The Many Lives of Madrox.
Valentine's Exile is the latest(paperback) book in E.E. Knight's Vampire Earth series. Since I haven't posted on this series in a while, and most on the f-list who might be interested in this have friended me since then:
(as always, I'm somewhat simplifying things to avoid endless exposition)
Vampire Earth is set in the near future-the first book is set in 2065-when a race called the Kurians have taken over. While not actually vampires, the Kurians-a telepathic race that feeds on lifeforce-are a race that travels from world to world through gates, taking over world and, when they've drained them dry, moving on to another. Not believing in taking the difficult way and risking walking into a line of super-lasers, they've set up gates that they use to travel between worlds, spawning the vampire myths. (Yes, I do suspect E.E. Knight is a Stargate fan, but I don't really care.) Forty years later, a near decimated humanity exists in three parts: the people who just hope they don't get eaten(but know they or their kids will soon) the quislings, who serve the Kurians-often in the form of other people on metaphorical platters-and, of course, the rebels.
David Valentine is a young man who was raised and educated by a priest who joins the rebel army. There, he learns of and comes to the attention of the "brothers" of the Kurians-the Lifeweavers. Genetically identical, the Lifeweavers and the Kurians differ in their beliefs about vampirism and whether or not wiping out entire races is a good idea. Under the guidance of the lifeweavers, some humans becomes, for lack of a better brief explanation, totems to be humanity's supersoldiers, taking on attributes of their animal totems. Valentine started a wolf(warrior) but later became a Cat(spy) making him an extra supersoldier. Fortunately, he's not written as a near god, but rather, as a very determined man who's good at what he does,
A part of me is always surprised that I like this series as much as I do. First of all: vampires. I view vampires as a sadly necessary evil to urban fantasy. While I can like vampire characters, I don't care for vampires as a whole, at least partly because the market is over saturated by them, and partly because I don't find them remotely sexy and that's supposed to be the appeal. Buffy and Angel, thankfully, had enough other stuff going for them and usually portrayed vampires as being evil and not overly sympathetic(except for a few characters) that I didn't mind, and the two vampire manga series-Canon and Vampire Knight-while series I like, I never would have touched if I didn't already like other books by the mangakas. Here, however, it barely even qualifies as vampire myth, and the vampiric elements are portrayed as horrible and monstrous...there's absolutely no romanticization to it at all. Secondly, the series has a very military approach to it. Now, I like war stories, and if the army/military plays an important role, I want it to feel right, but if it's a focus, I'm usually bored. Here, however, the story is told from the point of view of the very structured rebel army, by an army man, and I love it. Why? I don't know. Probably because David Valentine is an intelligent, creative man who is very, very good at what he does.
Also, I really, really like the covers to the series. A) They're pretty. B) Valentine is consistently better and better armed on them...almost to the teeth on the cover of Exile.
The series website if anyone wants better and more in depth descriptions and plot.
I have also read the third X-Factor trade, The Many Lives of Madrox.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandroot