Series: The Raven #2
Published by Flame Tree Press on October 22, 2022
Format: eARC
Source: Net Galley
Pages: 320
Amazon UK
Goodreads
Also by this author: The Siren and The Specter, The Sorrows, Old Order, The Nightmare Girl, Savage Species, Wolf Land, The Dark Game, House of Skin, Dust Devils, The Raven
Book 2 in The Raven series
Three years ago the world ended when a group of rogue scientists unleashed a virus that awakened long-dormant strands of human DNA. They awakened the bestial side of humankind: werewolves, satyrs, and all manner of bloodthirsty creatures. Within months, nearly every man, woman, or child was transformed into a monster…or slaughtered by one.
A rare survivor without special powers, Dez McClane has been fighting for his life since mankind fell, including a tense barfight that ended in a cataclysmic inferno. Dez would never have survived the battle without Iris, a woman he’s falling for but can never be with because of the monster inside her. Now Dez’s ex-girlfriend and Iris’s young daughter have been taken hostage by an even greater evil, the dominant species in this hellish new world:
Vampires.
The bloodthirsty creatures have transformed a four-story school building into their fortress, and they’re holding Dez’s ex-girlfriend and Iris’s young daughter captive. To save them, Dez and his friends must risk everything. They must infiltrate the vampires’ stronghold and face unspeakable terrors.
Because death awaits them in the fortress. Or something far worse.
So I have finally finished this beauty and I can only send my apologies to Anne at Random Things Tours, Flame Tree Press, and of course, Jonathan Janz. My review was due a couple of months ago but with health issues, I got waylaid and boy am I glad I waited. I am now impatiently waiting for book 3!!!
This book will give you The Walking Dead feels (I am sure I said that before), a desolate world where people are infected in different ways. I love Dez, I have always loved this loveable Buffon / rogue. The Raven, as he is known, is so fierce and loyal, and protective of who he knows. His mission with Iris, Michael, and Levi is to rescue Susan, his love, and Cassidy, Iris’s daughter. As you can imagine the story would be pretty boring if it was easy.
So many times my heart was in my throat as I would panic in the situations the group found them in. They had to travel to empty towns…which were so empty or the school and what lurks in there *shudder* let’s just say it might be a while before I go in a swimming pool again -eek
The scary thing is that I worry it could happen. I don’t know how, but it could. I always worry about this, well maybe a zombie apocalypse! It could happen! At least I could be prepared.
This group of people are the ones you want on your side. They are prepared, gutsy, and a family. One of the biggest things I loved is how blurry the lines are beginning to get, and how this is going to twist for us in the future and the next installment. What a shocker we are in for.
So action-packed and I love it. The descriptions of the fight scenes were intense and visceral. I hate the fact I could imagine the scenes and hear the sounds….not always what you want in these types of books! But still at the same time so bloody deliciously satisfying. I couldn’t get enough and it felt like torture when reading the book during these scenes so I had to speed read to make sure the outcome was what I wanted!!
I just can’t tell you how much I love books by Jonathan and how much I love his descriptions and world-building. This is becoming a bit of a love letter lol. But he is an author I love to read, he can apply himself to the dark and gruesome and spin around with the paranormal and terrifying ghosts. I always know it will be a completely wild ride, body parts will be thrown, heads will literally roll and a LOT of blood will be spilled. You will also care so frigging much about the characters and even the ones you really shouldn’t. The affection I now feel for two characters in this book is wrong but I already feel attached to them and dare I say the vampire child words because they are ones not to be messed with.
However, I am staying out of the water just in case Finn is swimming around…..
Until the next time xxx
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