BLOOD SKIES, by Steven Montano
I admit I had a hard time getting into BLOOD SKIES, by Steven Montano, but that was my own fault – the in media res prologue followed by a twenty-year jump is not my favorite literary device. However, I’m glad I persisted – BLOOD SKIES is a fascinating book.
The premise is that a mysterious force called The Black afflicted contemporary Earth, causing the dead to rise as vampires, humans to develop magical abilities, and a number of alien worlds to intersect with Earth. After several decades of this, the survivors have banded together in an alliance of city-states, and are fighting a losing war against a coalition of vampire cities and other horrors.
Because of humanity’s dire straits, all humans with magical ability are pressed into military service. Eric Cross is one of them, and he finds himself part of an elite squad assigned a dangerous mission to hunt down a traitor. But when Cross’s sister is assigned to the squad, Cross finds himself willing to risk everything to save her, even as his mission leads him up against the dark forces at the root of The Black.
The setting is fascinating, and I appreciate that it depicts vampires as evil monsters rather than sparkly romantic figures. It’s a bit dark, but then it is dystopian military fantasy fiction, and I look forward to seeing what happens in book 2.
-JM
I just downloaded for free from the amazon and it is my next book to read – thanks for the advices it does look intresting.
Also i curios if you can make like a category in this site for “Books” – Books that you are reading right now or you plan to read , books that have an influence in your writing or plain simple books that you like to read .
I second Ciphas’s request!
Oops! I see that you answered this in this week’s reader question day.
Also let me clarify:
I did not mean book reviews, I already know you’ve done that. But going more indepth into your influences would of course be very interesting! I know you have talked a little about it before, but hey, I’m always game!