Saturday, March 8, 2014

The Fifth Empire (The Journal of Vincent du Maurier) by K. P. Ambroziak

In 1216 BCE, Vincent du Maurier was promised an eternal life. Today, in 2052, he faces extinction as the outbreak of the living dead threatens his sustenance. When he finds one of the last human survivors, a pregnant girl, he decides to save her. For both the human and vampiric races, he must keep zombies from eating her flesh and vampires from draining her blood. Hoping to outlive the pandemic, he chronicles his attempt to salvage humanity … and himself.

"The Journal of Vincent du Maurier" is the first book in The V Empire trilogy.


Vincent Du Maurier  is a vampire, and one of the oldest vampires around.  When a zombie plague hits the population, he isn't too worried at first.  Then they run out of food and find that in their weakened state, they too are susceptible to the plague.  Vincent must find a way to save the human population and thus vampires, and he must do so before they all starve to death.  

This book is written in the style of Vincent's diary.  It starts out with the plague already in place and the vampire 'nest' starving and beginning to wither and weaken.  Not only does it follow the events to come, but it also delves into Vincent's personal feelings and thoughts.  Along the way, we found out some of the histories of other characters as told by Vincent.

I was captivated from the first page.  I couldn't sleep until I'd finished this one!  There are smatterings of French, but even if you don't know what they're saying, it's easy to pick up on it.  Ambroziak doesn't treat the reader like an imbecile, but rather gives subtle context clues that will help you figure things out.  The style of Vincent's writing is absolutely beautiful.  It's more classic, but not difficult to follow.  Ambroziak did a wonderful job of being in Vincent's head while writing.

Honestly, I was a little nervous about reading this one.  I've read so many vampires and zombies that after awhile it feels redundant.  This was a different read for me.  It was sort of 'Walking Dead' meets 'True Blood'.  Imagine Erik Northman coming up to save Rick!  If you're fans of these, you know what I'm talking about and know that this is a must-read.  If you aren't fans of these, let me tell you, you ought to be!  This book is the best of both the zombie world and the vampire world.  Both are classic, but once you blend them and toss in a little 'redneck thinking' and Shaman hospitality, it's a sure fire win.

Ambroziak is an editor (which made reading so much simpler!)  and has also written A Perpetual Mimicry, which has received star reviews and is available on Amazon.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Shawn

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The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

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