Cutting Your Teeth

Neutral 2.5 rounded up. Take my rating with a grain of salt as I don't think I'm the right audience for this one.

Too much of this book hinges on people not being able to communicate. There was a lot of stuff I would have just edited out of this one to make it shorter, it suffers from trying to set up relationships that I assume will bear fruit in future installments of the series but which as of right now just seem like bloat.

I received an audible code to judge for the Indie Ink Awards, so thanks to the author and organizers. Richard Pendragon’s narration was great and added to the overall enjoyment for me.

The novel is a modern vampire urban fantasy. It starts with Ezra’s final boxing match before he’s ready to skip town again. Enter Killian, his last opponent, and so much more. From there, the novel spirals out of control, with estrangement and loss, deception and deceit. Oh, and vampires of course.

Through no fault of Ezra’s, naturally, some awful things happen to him, and therefore little choice is left when an injury threatens his life. Waking up a vampire certainly changes things, but I loved how grounded the novel read. The author does a great job of keeping the story going as it already was, only amping things up and adding in more supernatural elements over time. It made it read as a very personal story.

I also enjoyed the various bits that the author changed about what people think of vampires, especially as they were all done very underhandedly, which made them feel real to the story itself. Stakes to the heart, bullets, blood, this is a world of its own. I did like that there was a concert scene, as well as some later on werewolves, both of which felt like an Underworld club scene-esque nod.

The ending had stakes, the emotional connect was well made, and the somewhat supernatural explosion at the end read as warranted. This is not a typical read for me, but boy did I enjoy it. It was refreshing and different.