Wow, this book was awful. I always forget what it's like reading books by guys and end up convincing myself they're not that bad. Except then they totally are! If you want a book that involves a girlfriend being fridged near the end, then this is for you. ( )

David McAfee took the standard vampire idea and made it his own. It was a great book to read and didn't bore me at all. It was amazing to see how the characters all mixed together by the end. The history and bible references just made the story seem all the more real. I hope he releases a sequel to this book so we can see the characters again.
Overall it was an enthralling read and i would recommend it to anyone who likes the original Dracula and the not so sparkly vampires. ( )

#1, Vampire conversion. No I don't mean humans converting into vamps after bloodsucking, I mean vamps seeing Jesus and converting to Christianity. Okay then.

#2, People with strong faith glow. Oh wait, it's only CHRISTIAN faith that glows. Presumably, if you only have pantheistic faith, or whatever, you don't get the glow. After the crucifixion of Jesus, the whole damn nation started glowing with faith in Jesus (completely ignoring the fact that Christianity remained a fringe group among the Jews, he wants instead to convert the whole lot of them to the glowing light.)

#3, A centurion has a death knell conversion to Jesus just before he gets remade into a vampire, and retains this overlay of faith even after he rises!

Pah.

Seriously, this is Religious Fiction masquerading as a horror novel. Its premise, though interesting, would have been better served if the author had not attempted to stretch it around his obvious intent of retaining the concept of One True Faith.

I gave it two stars based on the fact that I finished it, and the concept was interesting. Too bad the story had to go through so many gymnastics in order to stay on the "right" side of Jesus-Lit.

Update:

The author has contacted me privately to correct my "inaccuracies," and to let me know he disagrees with my review.

He assures me that he is not a Christian, and feels the comparison to Religious Fiction is unwarranted, because apparently non-Christians are incapable of writing religious fiction. I'll be sure to share that with my writer friends who write stories that don't reflect their personal faith. In addition, Mr. McAfee, you'll note that I said you wrapped your novel around the "concept" of One True Faith, I did not suggest that it is your personal belief, so your correction is moot.

He also wants me to know that the Christian "Glow" really wasn't Christian because Christians didn't exist until after the crucifixion. Because of this distinction, he claims, ANY believer in the One God, whether or not Christian, could "Glow" with faith. Point taken, I should have said "follower of Christ," instead of "Christian." My bad for confusing the two, they really ARE quite different. Heh. My point was that he clearly was tying the "Glow" with the religious persuasion, NOT with faith, as he so claims, or there would have been many "Glow"-ers of many faiths, including the pantheists.

I don't review many books, maybe 10% of my "read" catalog, but I have to say this is the first time I've ever had an author write me to tell me I was wrong. My OPINION is that this book has serious problems. I've enumerated three of my problems with the book, and received a "correction" on those opinions, but my further opinion is that it is a correction without distinction. One star.

Update:

This update really should precede the last one, since the behavior took place during the few hours between when I posted the original review but before I responded to the email the author sent.

I have noted, several days after the fact, that you, McAfee, have gone around to a couple other locations around the internet, whining about my review, and including some ad hominem attack supposing that I wrote letters to Clash of the Titans protesting pantheism?

YOU made it personal. YOU wrote ME to tell me that my OPINIONS of your book were wrong, then YOU went around the internet on some sort of whining attack-fest. What the hell is wrong with you? The internet is a small place for niche readers, and if you want to go whining (in public!) to your friends regarding the mean old wrong reviewers, don't expect that your reviewers won't see it.

And in ALL OF THIS, you have never satisfactorily addressed my original observations, other than to tell me you are not a Christian (which I never claimed,) and that I was just wrong. FAIL.
( )

*Giveaway Bonus*

If you enjoy the review below and would like the opportunity to win a signed, print copy of 33 A.D., all you have to do is comment at Reader's Den by March 3rd, 2012 (http://www.readers-den.com/2012/02/33-ad-bachyir-book-1-by-david-mcafee.html).

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When former Enforcer Ephraim breaks the laws of his people to follow another, the Council sends Theron after him - not only to kill Ephraim, since the Bachyir don't believe in mercy when it comes to betrayals, but to figure out who could have made an Enforcer as loyal as Ephraim stop working for them.

After a fairly quick massacre, Theron reports back to the Council that Jesus of Nazareth was the one who Ephraim betrayed them for. Just as Theron expected, the Council orders him to take Jesus out. However, when Theron goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, he learns the task won't be as easy as he thought. The glow of faith around Jesus is so strong that he can't even get close to him. Plus, Jesus has hundreds of followers. To fully satisfy the Council, he'll have to put a lot more thought into how he'll murder Jesus.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the two guards Theron recklessly murdered on his way to report back to the Council about Ephraim has the city in a stir. The guard he beheaded, Didius, turns out to be the beloved brother of Marcus, the intelligent and powerful centurion who works right under Pontius Pilate. Pilate's order to take out the murderer who killed the guards becomes much more personal.

33 A.D. has multiple sub-plots and POV switches. Taras, Marcus's best friend and a secret assassin who is just a regular legionary (soldier) as far as everyone else knows, is determined to marry Mary, even though a Jewish woman is not allowed to marry a Roman man and her father hates him. But, before Taras can really consider starting a new life with Mary, he wants to show his loyalty to Rome one last time by helping Marcus uncover and hunt down the murderer of Didius. Taras was probably my most favorite character of this story with Marcus following closely behind.

Marcus and Taras are convinced that Theron is a follower of Jesus and that Jesus played a part in the murders, so, just like that, Jesus ends up being hunted by both Theron and Marcus. Theron's purpose is to brutally take out Jesus for the Council and make it look like zealots did it, as well as take out anyone that Jesus may have revealed the vampire secret to.

Basically, there is a lot going on.

There are four parts. At the beginning of part four, I was a bit nervous that all of the sub-plots would become too much, but I don't think they overwhelmed the author and they didn't overwhelm me. I feel like everything was tied up and handled as they should have been. For a story dealing with something as intense as the massacre of Jesus (albeit before they knew just how powerful Jesus could be), I liked the feeling of the plot also being large and intense to compensate.

If anything, Theron has a knack for killing the wrong character at the wrong time, and this story is definitely a tragedy with a large death count. Theron was perhaps my least favorite character - not so much because he is a bad guy who is ruthless about killing, but because, in spite of how intelligent and powerful he seemed, he was also rather reckless. Like in most tragedy stories, most of his undoing was unknowingly at his own hands.

Overall, I liked the story and would recommend it to anyone who has grown tired of flowery vampires. Plus, it has vampires trying to take out Jesus. I mean, come on, something that crazy and unexpected is too interesting to pass up. ( )

Vampires implicated in the plot to crucify Jesus of Nazareth. I'm thinking, "Wow! This should really be good". Well, not so much. Conceptually it was dead on. An original idea for the vampire mythos, but the execution was somewhat faulty. A lot of the dialog just didn't work for me. Some of the things the Roman Legionaries would say, just didn't fit. I know the author needed to write in a modern language, but I felt the conversation needed to have more of a Roman Empire feel to it. Kudos to the author for keeping the Biblical story, of the last days of Jesus, intact and he actually did a pretty good job of intertwining his story with what was already known. Also, more backstory on the Bachiyr and the Lost Ones would have been nice. Let it be said, I am not a professional reviewer, just an avid reader who knows what he likes and I didn't particularly like this one. ( )