Very fun read! Kindle version needs a tighter copy edit, though. ( )

The first 50% of this book was great, it was bleak and compelling but as soon as the heroine meets a boy, she becomes a simpering, teenage ninny. Unfortunately a DNF for me. ( )

The world as we know it is over, civilisation has fallen, mankind is almost annihilated. In fact, April, her mother and her little brother, hiding in a bunker outside of Las Vegas, may be the last human beings on the planet. The city and the night has fallen to the vampires – monstrous, feral creatures that swarm in the cities and hide from the sun, giving brief respite in which April and her family can scavenge for supplies.

Until her family is taken from her and, in her quest to find her loved ones and the only other humans that are left, she stumbles onto a whole new type of vampire she never imagined existing.

A combination of a zombie apocalypse and a vampire story, this world has so much potential. Humans stalking through the slowly mouldering cities for supplies, avoiding dark places, knowing they have to return to safety by sun down. Watch out for movement in the shadows, stay where it’s sunny and if you see anything lurking in the darkness… don’t meet its gaze.

Is this not an awesome concept? I think I could very much love it. For some reason the idea of sinister marauding vampires taking over the city during the night is far scarier than zombies taking over everything all the time. Just that constant “get home before the sun goes down” pressure.

There’s also some interesting side musings – the usual things in a dystopian like missing luxuries and necessities but she also makes a point to talk about things like missing toilet paper – the basics we have every day but don’t consider luxuries but would surely miss. She also goes down an interesting path of considering things she doesn’t miss – like how her priorities change and she no longer has to concern herself with clothing or appearance –and then being plunged back into society and flailing to think about them.

We have the interesting contrast as well between April’s personal goals – her desperate need to reunite with her family, perhaps the last people on Earth – but also a, perhaps, higher goal to help the hybrids and be the saviour of an entire people. The balancing of the desperate personal need with, in some ways, the greater community good is a harsh and difficult contrast and choice to make. And that’s before we get April’s very well presented trust issued (before the woo-woo romance anyway)

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of the writing I’m not a fan of. It’s very repetitive – we’re constantly told how hot or cold it is (and since the book is set in Las Vegas it’s not like there’s a lot of interesting weather options here). We’re told about vampires in buildings avoiding the sun – which is fair enough world building, but it doesn’t really need repeating. Or she tells us she needs to clear out shops before stocking up on goods – even if we couldn’t have inferred that from her actions, we didn’t need to be repeatedly told

There’s also odd statements about that are pretty redundant – like her machete being perfect for close up fighting. It’s a machete, how else are you going to fight with it? Throw it? Also, some purpleness creeping in – like turning on her flashlight and it’s beam “caressing” what it illuminates. I feel quite cheated, no torch I have ever owned has caressed anything. And when a vampire grabs her it’s the “cold grip of death.” And vampires don’t drain her blood – they “sucked my life’s elixir away”. One character manages to watch her with a look of contempt and respect on her face… what would that facial expression even look like?

And some of the dialogue is just… not great.

“You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time; I will make you pay for what you have done to my family.”

“I have been watching you, seeing what it is you seek.”

Yeah, not great. Seek? Unless you’re a D&D games master, who uses the word “seek” in daily conversation?

And there’s a huge wallop of info-dumping at the beginning of the book – showing us the world, April, her mother and brother and what they did in one big crammed telling-all-of-this; it felt like the author wasn’t interested and wanted to hurry to the main story so had one big dollop of info. Which is a shame, because there’s a lot here that could have been really interesting: Developing her contrast from normal teen to teen fascinated with weapons, from kid to adult way too soon – and the difficult dynamic with her mother who forgets how much she has grown up. Developing her active lifestyle into weapon’s training, trying to keep her brother’s relative innocence, trying to make some kind of home in their bunker.

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I had the honor of reading an advanced Arc from the author. :)

This book blew my socks off!! I loved it!! I really didn't know what I was in for. I love the character April and her being hero/ bad girl persona. I also loved the character Rye and am left wanting more!!! This story is about a young adult girl named April with her mom and brother after a virus has mutated the human race into Wildings/ Feral vampires, hybrids, and the more human (April). On a day that they are in the town of Las Vegas scavenging for some supplies, her mom and brother disappear. She is determined to find and save them when she gets involved with these so called hybrids.

I really enjoyed this story and the uniqueness it brought to the over populated vampire books that are out there. I can't wait to read the next book by this author!

“Reign of Blood” by Alexia Purdy

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Alexia Purdy is AWESOME! She wrote an incredible 5 STAR book! I loved the characters, the setting, the action, the romance, the TWISTS! Wow, this book just has so much everything. I always wanted to check out Alexia Purdy’s work, and let’s just say…I am totally glad I did! I will most definitely check out her other books – they are all going to be on my TBR (to be read) list! So, if you enjoy reading post-apocalyptic books, “Reign of Blood” is for you. It’s different than most though, because the world wasn’t taking over by zombies but by feral vampires! Yup, I said FERAL vampires… not the Twilight kind of vampires.

A virus wiped out the whole world’s human population. A year later, the only known humans were April Tate, her younger brother Jeremy, and her mother Helen. Together, they survive the ruins of Las Vegas, Nevada. They venture out in the day to gather supplies and such because the vampires cannot be in sunlight – they disintegrate into ash. It still is very risky though because the ferals can hide in the shadows of the buildings, which has caused April to fight back and kill them – she is a kick-@$$ vampire hunter. April and her family are usually semi-safe once they make it back to their bunker in the mountains before nightfall.

“…Now nothing but silence and blood reigned once the sun went down (Kindle 70%).”

Everything changed for April when one day her mother and brother disappeared from broad daylight. Nothing made sense or added up as to how they could have disappeared. April spent her days searching everywhere for her family, desperate to find the only two souls that matter to her. Soon, April finds out that there are more ‘beings’ in the city besides the ferals and her family. There are hybrid vampires. These hybrids speak, feed off other vampire’s blood instead of humans, and have reasoning skills – besides the bloodsucking and certain vampiric physical characteristics; they can almost be mistaken for humans. Every time April thinks she knows what is going on and gets a hang of things, another twist is thrown at her. She realizes that not all the hybrids are bad – some are even willing to help her, like Miranda and Rye; others not so much. After not having any social contact with anyone for so long, conversation with anyone can be tempting – especially when said company has information about April and her family. But can April trust the hybrids? Can she so much as become friends with some of them? Or are they just as bad as the ferals, if not worse? Find out these answers and SO MUCH MORE in Alexia Purdy’s “Reign of Blood” now!

Wow! This was an exciting read. I love April; she is such a kick-@$$ heroine! I hope I could be as strong and bad@$$ as her if I were ever a survivor of a vampire apocalypse – or any apocalypse for that matter. I just loved everything about her; I don’t have any complaints for the “Reign of Blood” protagonist. I liked the supporting cast as well; Rye was a favorite of mine. I hope there is a sequel to this book so that I could read more about him. I also wanted to know more about what really happened with April’s family. I was expecting a little more about her family at the end of the book, but if there is a sequel I am sure I will read more about them there! I loved the ending though because it left me satisfied but also aching for more, which is my favorite type of ending to a book. I love this book and I can’t wait for more! Go check out “Reign of Blood” by Alexia Purdy now!

Brianna Lee Book Reviews
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