Title: ReVamped
Author: J. F. Lewis
Series: Void City #2
Cover Art: John Vairo Jr.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Pocket; Reprint edition
Date Published: September 28, 2010
ISBN-10: 1439191174
ISBN-13: 978-1439191170
Review Copy Source: Publisher
Reviewed by: Abigail
Book Description
REVIVED. REFRESHED.
AND READY FOR REVENGE.
Eric has lost his strip club, his Mustang, and even Marilyn, the elderly love of his (mortal) life. Even his body was obliterated. In short, they almost got him. But when you're a vampire, "almost" is a very important word. With a little magical help from his friends, Eric is restored to corporeal form, but his treasured Mustang gets caught up in the sorcery and winds up with an unlife of its own. Now, along with "Fang the 'Stang," he's out to save Marilyn from one of Void City's most powerful soul-stealing demons. But salvation comes at a high price, forcing Eric to venture into his own worst nightmare, Vampire High Society, to uncover the truth about the origin of his powers.
At the same time, Eric's ex-girlfriend, Tabitha, has begun to wonder exactly what it was that she admired about those High Society Vampires in the first place. Her quest to find her own place in this deceptively vicious circle may lead her right back to Eric's side -- if her little sister, Rachel, doesn't kill her first. And Eric will need all the help he can get, because it looks like someone is after his soul, too. Blood will flow, fangs will be bared, and the claws will come out, because revenge is never pretty...and Eric has plenty to pass around.
Review
Parts of J. F. Lewis’s follow-up to his urban fantasy debut, STAKED, are crazy good (the humor, the pacing, the world building), other parts are crazy frustrating, for example the bit of bait and switch when it comes to cover art. A woman is featured on the cover, and even though there are a number of chapters told from the perspective of Tabitha, the main protagonist in REVAMPED is Eric. I knew this going in, but I can imagine a lot of readers feeling duped.
I only had one real problem with REVAMPED, but it’s a biggie. It was the struggle to find redeemable qualities about the main characters in order to care about them. First off, everyone is a giant whore. Eric is a scumbag (with occasional moments of opportunistic compassion). He is truly in love with a woman who he’s had to watch grow old because she didn’t want to become a vampire with him, but he has a girlfriend (Tabitha) who he neglects, and he’s sleeping with her sister (Rachel) on the side. I found myself giving him a pass on his total lack of morality because he was funny and he told everyone upfront that he was an unrepentant bastard.
I found it much harder to give a pass to his on/off girlfriend Tabitha. She goes from sleeping with a fat, old vampire in exchange for a luxury apartment, to shacking up with Eric’s best friend in said luxury apartment, to essentially begging Eric (on her knees) to take her back even though she can literally smell her sister on him.
To make things worse, Tabitha and Rachel know that Eric is sleeping with both of them and instead of kicking him to the curb, they compete over him. Rachel even tells Eric when he and Tabitha are heading to bed that he has to screw her twice for every one time he screws Tabitha. Classy.
Parts of REVAMPED were really funny, the political posturing between all the vampires in Void City was endlessly entertaining, and I’m crazy curious to find out about Eric’s unique vampire origins, but I couldn’t stand how pathetic the female characters were, so much so that I’m not sure I’ll be buying the third book in the Void City series, CROSSED, when it releases on January 25, 2011
Sexual Content: Several non graphic sex scenes
My Rating:
3/5
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying.
Click HERE to read an excerpt from REVAMPED
Previous books in the series:
Also reviewed by:
I read a few chapters of the first book and it peaked my interest, but I have to say after reading your review, I know I would have issues with the "morality" of the second book(LOL)! Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteInteresting issue with the cover, I think J.F. Lewis has blogged about his publishers *refusing* to feature a male-only cover. Weird. They must have done research into 'what sells' and decided a hot-chick is the only way to go? I agree, a shame.
ReplyDeleteI love this series - especially for the fact that Eric is a complete antagonist. I totally understand that some people would be blind-sided by such a bad-guy 'hero' and bankrupt morality... but I kinda love it. Eric is actually playing the traditional vampire role... a monster.
Lizzielvr - The writing is good and consistently funny. I think if I'd know about the characters before starting it I would have enjoyed it more. It was just a surprise.
ReplyDeleteDanielle - I've read J.F's beef with his covers and I can't blame him. Jim Butcher's covers feature Harry, so why not Eric? Maybe if he agreed to be shirtless :)
I actually liked Eric despite myself. It was the girls who I wanted to strangle.
@ Abigail - totally! I want to ram a fork through Rachel's eye! Or at the very least I want Rachel and Tabitha to get into a cat-fight and duke it out. They both deserve a few good slaps. lol
ReplyDeleteDanielle - Oh good. So it's not just me :)
ReplyDeleteHi Abigail - Yes, Eric is a total scumbag, but I feel like he's my scumbag, if that makes any sense. I revel in his anti-hero status because he's rare, and dirty, and disgusting.
ReplyDeleteThe covers have long disappointed me because they pretend to be a heroine-based UF and they're NOT. Ugh. At least they get the mustang on there. That's cool.
Rebecca - Eric grew on me. Oddly I felt for him too. But I despised Rachel and Tabitha...The fact that they were sisters made it even worse.
ReplyDelete