Book Review: The Blood of Life by NightEyes DaySpring
You might enjoy this book if you:
-Enjoy gay supernatural romances
-Like vampires
-Miss the classic vampire powerset and lore
-Want something that's not too scary
-Are a nudist (no, really)
To summarize:
The Blood of Life will delight both fans of supernatural romances and fans of classic vampires alike. It features a vampire character who is made more interesting by the weakness of his blood-starved state, and whose powers pay homage to classic vampire folklore. It's also a quick read with good pacing and a direct, easygoing writing style. There are some missed opportunities on the romance front, and one might at times forget the novel is in fact a romance novel, but the main plot is thrilling and mysterious enough to keep things interesting.
Full Review:
The Blood of Life is NightEyes DaySpring's second novel and is, in my opinion, a noticeable improvement over his first. This gay vampire romance follows Radic, a vulpine vamp who, after a century away, has returned to his hometown to learn how his family fared after his "death." During his visit, he meets Ekrem, a handsome leopard who provides him with leads on his family's fate. As a romance blossoms between them, so too does a conspiracy that sees Radic pursued by dangerous people for unknown reasons, putting both Radic and his new lover in danger.
It's a setup that will delight fans of supernatural romances, but even those who usually avoid supernatural romance might find this book worth a go. It uses some clever tricks to subvert some of the genre's tropes and to make the story more believable--tricks that mainly stem from the nature of our main character.
Interview With a (Naked) Vampire
At first glance, Radic is a pretty typical vampire. He's dark and brooding, with a bit of a temper, and he's constantly stewing in his own melancholy. What starts to make him a unique character is his refusal to drink human blood for the majority of his undeath. As a result, Radic is a comparatively weak vampire, which ironically makes him a stronger character.
Now lots of vampire stories have weakened vampires who only drink animal blood. (I've unfortunately read all the Twilight books. I'm very aware.) But I find that those stories often forget to substantially weaken the vampire in a way that truly affects the plot. Meanwhile, Radic's weakness makes the story more interesting on many occasions. Radic isn't overly strong, he doesn't heal very fast, he can't compel people to obey him, and he lacks any night vision. As you'd imagine, these vulnerabilities make it difficult to protect oneself and one's newfound lover from powerful forces threatening their survival, and that adds some welcome tension to the story.
It's not as if Radic is powerless though. He's still immortal, eternally young, and quite strong. Most importantly, he can turn into a bat--a power that there's quite a lot of focus on. However, the transformation does not bring along Radic's clothing. Since Radic sees the ability to fly as one of the only real perks of being a vampire, he stays naked most of the time to make transforming more practical. So Radic is essentially a nudist vampire. I love the creativity of that, especially because losing his clothes is just another obstacle he constantly needs to overcome in creative ways.
Getting the vampire at the heart of the vampire story right is important, obviously, and I think this weakened, naked, bat transformation-loving fox is great. He brings a lot of complexity and uniqueness to the story. However, I acknowledge that many readers may find a weakened vampire like Radic uninteresting. I can just hear a few readers asking what the point of a vampire story is if the vampire doesn't rip a couple dozen heads off. Which, if that's your cup of tea, fair, but I'm personally happy with the reserved vampire we've got here.
Old blood, New Veins
I think a lot of vampire fans will appreciate how many classic vampire powers and themes are used here. It's tempting when writing a modern vampire story to do away with some of the inconvenient or bizarre abilities, but I think this book pays homage to them very well. When I heard that this book was keeping in the rule that vampires must be invited before entering a home, I got excited right away, because that's often a sign that a vampire story is going to have a decent mix of the old and the new.
A major theme of vampires is that they're trapped between the past and present, so a mix of old and new vampire powers helps to serve that theme. The Blood of Life goes a bit further with it though. Radic is investigating events from 100 years ago and dealing with very modern threats. Ekhem runs a curiosity shop of historical items both old and new. Even the threat against them mixes the old with the new in an interesting way. Local folklore even gets called in at one point. It's great.
I will say one element of vampires is missing here: fear. This book isn't all that scary. It's mostly mysterious, with a dark and moody tone that I think it sets very well. However, I don't typically find a lack of horror to be much of a dampener on the vampire genre myself, so I didn't find this to be an issue.
So I think people who are concerned about the supernatural romance element getting in the way of doing vampires justice here need not be afraid. I think vampires are depicted in a respectable way here, both in character and in theme.
The Vampire's Not the Only One Who's Thirsty
Ekrem, the love interest in this story, is a leopard who owns a curiosity shop with a lot of historical items, including the journal of Radic's long-dead sister. This prompts Radic to meet him at a local inn, and the story/romance blossoms from there. If I were to describe Ekrem in just a few words, I'd say that he's empathetic, loyal, and a bit of a dork. You'd have to be empathetic to warm up to and trust a vampire so quickly, and loyal to stay with him and help him out despite the potential dangers. His occasional dorkiness also helps make him endearing.
However, I can't say I was overly impressed with Ekrem as a love interest. He works well enough, and perhaps his potential will be unlocked in an eventual sequel, but I didn't think he was given enough of a spotlight to shine as a character (I mean, other than him looking extremely hot on the cover). He often takes a back seat to the conspiracy that's driving the plot forward. Oftentimes he's separated from Radic, and when they're together there are a lot of missed opportunities for further growth in their relationship.
This isn't something that NightEyes is usually deficient in. I've read plenty of his short stories where the relationship is built up splendidly. Unfortunately, it feels like some of that romantic depth was overlooked here in favor of plot.
This is my main criticism of the book, because it also brings down the romance aspect, and readers may at times forget they're reading a romance. It felt more like a gothic thriller by the end. A good gothic thriller, and with an interesting mystery, but rather light on the intended love story.
The Prose of Book
Time for the stuff that nobody but me notices. I wanted to comment on the writing style of this book, because I had some trouble with the style in Scars of the Golden Dancer, which I found a bit clunky at times. I'm happy to report this book is a noticeable improvement.
The polish here is appreciated, and I didn't spot nearly as many breaks in flow. The prose still sometimes feels a bit wooden and direct to me, with not much freedom and creativity taken in the wording itself, but that may just be a me issue, as I tend to appreciate unique writing styles.
The pacing is also quite good. Blood of Life is a shorter story than Scars, and I think it's exactly the length it needs to be (barring maybe 20-30 pages or so to help round out Ekhem's character). I can't think of much that I'd cut out. If you're a fan of shorter novels, think this is a good choice for you.
The Dawn has Come
The Blood of Life is a flawed gem, like Scars of the Golden Dancer before it, but I think it's considerably less flawed. NightEyes continues to improve his novel writing capabilities. Improvements like these are one of my favorite things to see in any artist, so I can't wait to read whatever book he comes out with next.
Print: https://nighteyes-dayspring.com/books/the-blood-of-life/
Ebook: https://nighteyes-dayspring.itch.io/the-blood-of-life