Night Rising (Vampire Babylon, Book 1)

by Chris Marie Green

book data

115 ratings, 3.32 average rating, 15 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		13%
4		33%
3		30%
2		17%
1		5%

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published

February 6th 2007 by Ace Trade

binding

Paperback, 325 pages

url

http://www.vampirebabylon.com

isbn

0441014674 (isbn13: 9780441014675)

description

In this first book of an all-new trilogy, life proves stranger than the movies when a Hollywood underground coven of vampires comes to light-and gets ...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 287)

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01/20/09

Catherine rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, paranormal, series-reminder, urban

Read in January, 2009

Probably really a 4 star, but I'm finally a little burned out on urban fantasy. It was quite a good book. The characters are different (a stunt woman, little person/actor and telenova star/science geek, plus a mysterious employer) and the vamps and creepies have an original concept. Leaves a lot of questions to be solved in the next books.

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06/20/09

Heather L'Hoste-Hernandez rated it:

bookshelves: vampires---read

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in June, 2009

recommends it for: Vampire Lovers (even though there is a Vampire Hunter aspect to it)

Great plot, Multiple Mysteries, Bizarre & Endearing Characters, Relevant to Current Hollywood Stereotypes/Lifestyles and Intriguing World - Worth Reading...But...
I gave this book four stars because it was difficult to get through the first 60 or 70 pages (which is less pages than any Anne Rice book where you have to get through at least the first 150 pages):O). The author spends a lot of time on 'world building' in the beginning - it is always necessary to give the reader some background an...more Great plot, Multiple Mysteries, Bizarre & Endearing Characters, Relevant to Current Hollywood Stereotypes/Lifestyles and Intriguing World - Worth Reading...But...
I gave this book four stars because it was difficult to get through the first 60 or 70 pages (which is less pages than any Anne Rice book where you have to get through at least the first 150 pages):O). The author spends a lot of time on 'world building' in the beginning - it is always necessary to give the reader some background and understanding of the world in which the story takes place (especially when the book is meant to be part of a series as this one is) - but in this book the author spend too much time up front on descriptions and has a weak voice at the start.
However and this is a BIG however - the story and world itself are quite intriguing which is what kept me reading. I started and stopped reading it several times in the week after I bought it - but finally said to myself "okay, just sit down and read to the midway point (page-wise) of the book and if you still don't like it give up and give it away". With that said I sat down and ending up reading the entire book in 1 DAY! After getting past those pages it was great. I couldn't put it down (which my Hubby was none-to happy about). One other thing that irked me about it was that the end is something of a cliff-hanger. Of course with almost any book that is predetermined to be part of a series there is always something left unfinished but in this case there were to many things left unresolved.

I am not usually interested in reading stories from a Vampire Hunter point of view - because I Love Vampires - but it was a good book overall and leaves you not quite certain whether it is about Vampires vs. Hunters or a Vampire vs. Vampire War. So I will keep reading the series for now - meaning I will read the next on and if it doesn't blow my mind I won't keeping reading the series - if it does and/or explains who at least some of the major players really are then I will keep reading the series. Read it and you will see what I mean.(less)

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06/11/07

Becky rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, vampires

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: people who like paranormal brain-candy with a healthy dose of random smut

This one definitely falls into the category of mind-rotting brain-candy, but it's definitely into reading if you fancy that sort of thing. It's got vampires, an emotionally damaged yet ass-kicking protagonist, and sex that is only just barely justified by the plot. It's also got a psychic midget and lots of over-the-top death scenes. I don't know that I'll ever read it again, but I'm definitely buying the second one when it comes out.

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01/04/09

Renee rated it:

Read in January, 2009

After reading several vampire series lately I found this book and the follow up lacking. The author is very simple with her plot and the overall building of the vampire culture within her book. I mean she calls the vampires home underground "The Underground" and that they go "Above" when dealing with humans. The lower vampires are Servants and Groupies - how origional!! The author also can't seem to decide if she is writing PG-13 or R. I think this author needs to read the...more

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05/23/08

Jam rated it:

bookshelves: notworthit

Read in May, 2008

recommended to Jam by: amazon, the sadists.
recommends it for: no-one I liked.

I bought this book off amazon based on the blurb and my expectations weren't that high. I was looking for a fun read and I liked the idea of a stunt-woman heroine, so I was midling hopeful that I'd enjoy the book.

And wow, was I disappointed. The first few pages in and I wanted the author to get her narratorial voice sorted out. She doesn't distinguish clearly between Dawn (or any other character's thoughts) and the general omnipotent narrator. Powering through that, and there were...more I bought this book off amazon based on the blurb and my expectations weren't that high. I was looking for a fun read and I liked the idea of a stunt-woman heroine, so I was midling hopeful that I'd enjoy the book.

And wow, was I disappointed. The first few pages in and I wanted the author to get her narratorial voice sorted out. She doesn't distinguish clearly between Dawn (or any other character's thoughts) and the general omnipotent narrator. Powering through that, and there were some potentially interesting characters, but they were let down by bad writing.

That's the thing, this book reads like badfic. Everything is expositioned, too many things happen with no sense of flow and often, no reason that's not as obvious as The Author Wanted A Sex Scene, The Author Wanted To Say This Statement, The Author...

Dawn is anguished. We hear this a lot. Many are her issues and it's not that these aren't shown, but then they're also explained right after.
As an example?

Dawn gave up. "Kik, she's a starlet. They're here today, gone yesterday. What's the use?"

Even as she said it, she knew she was being too harsh. But excuses were so much easier than getting down to the truth: the anguish of knowing that her mother had been one of them. The fact that the gorgeous masses, like Eva, made life hard for the average girl in America by creating an impossible standard of beauty to compete with.

What? Firstly, the gorgeous masses? Secondly, Hello there, Author! Nice of your to take time to speak to the audience directly about how the media-promoted ideas of beauty are bad. Thirdly, Dawn knows she's being unfair and she choses to be unfair because it's easier.

Dawn kind of sucks.

And it's all like that. The dialogue is clunky, you're never left in any doubt of someone's motivations because it's all explained to you and, just in case you forgot, the text will remind you of Dawn's anguish. Again.

"So you think... a vampire... killed your parents?"

"The police reports said it was some raging psycho who belonged in the mental ward. But they didn't see the guy, his bared teeth, the inhumanity of him. That's why I decided that they were full of crap and I was going to work my way around the system."

[...]

His clear-cut reminder of a parent's death weighed her to the spot. But it also linked her to him, because they were both struggling to shed a child's misery and loss.

It's just-- the book is bad, and it's not even bad the way a lot of paranormal romantic (or erotic) books are, because the characters are so damn cliché, although that is part of it. It's bad because it's badly written, because the book should have had an editor go through it and point out that the readers aren't stupid, that dialogue should sound natural and that knowing when it's the character thinking instead of the author is pretty damn important.

Aside from that, the plot is predictable, which isn't that surprising, but does mean that it's even less worth fighting through the prose.(less)

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04/27/08

N.A. rated it:

bookshelves: urban-fantasy

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: die-hard vampire fans

I'm having a hard time coming up with my thoughts on this book. I did like it and will read the next one, but there was just something off about the whole thing. Maybe because there were a bunch of loose ends at the end of the book than was necessary, but who knows. I didn't get the whole promiscuous thing, mostly because it didn't feel like it belonged in the book. Yes, I am a bit of a prude, but since it's fiction that doesn't come into play much. In this book, I just didn't get it and felt li...more

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02/08/08

Miss Dreadful rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, fiction, horror

Read in February, 2008

Dawn Madison is a tough stuntwoman and the daughter of a famously beautiful (and famously dead) movie star mother. She comes back to LA from a location shoot when her estranged father disappears. She hooks up with his P.I. associates on the case: a psychic-slash-actor little person; a former telenovela starlet/'tech geek' (it's a rule--every series must have a 'tech geek'); and their boss, a mysterious, disembodied Charlie's Angels-style Voice. Together, they fight vampires!

The pl...more

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03/04/09

Jonathan rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in March, 2009

recommended to Jonathan by: no one
recommends it for: no one

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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03/02/09

Jessica rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, series, vampires

Read in April, 2009

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The characters were engaging and the storyline kept you turning the pages...but...the emotional imagery was a little too intense-not really akin to how real people emote in my humble opinion. You get the feeling that the writer is a bit inexperienced in how to convey real human feelings and goes a bit overboard in the explanations. I can't count how many times the lead character was smacked/hit/capow-ed in the chest with some sort of gut wr...more

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04/02/09

Mary rated it:

bookshelves: tried-to-read

Read in April, 2009

I had to force myself to get through even half of this book. The narration is choppy from the start, and the character's voices are never fully developed. The plot had great potential, but the execution is poorly done. In all honesty? I've read better fanfiction.

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3 comments

08/26/08

Becca rated it:

bookshelves: scifi-fantasy

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Laurell K Hamilton fans

Completely surprised by the decent quality of this one. A funky, gritty paranormal LA mystery.

Dawn is a movie stuntwoman back in LA after her PI father disappears while working on a case. Her father's coworkers are unusual to say the least, a psychic little person, a beautiful cyberpunk type and a boss who never appears in person and goes by the name, The Voice. Both are also vampire hunters. Soon Dawn is drawn into an LA populated by vampire Elites, Groupies, child actors and craz...more

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05/25/09

Kim rated it:

bookshelves: read-in-2009

Read in July, 2009

I really tried with this book. I even tried to skip to the end. I just could not get into it. I didn't think the writing style flowed well.

I really liked the story plot and the characters but overall it could not hold my interest and so I am shelving it.

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09/27/08

Amy rated it:

bookshelves: 2008, vampire

Read in September, 2008

This is a vampire hunter KIND OF book. Not bad. Fun characters and JUST enough sexual tension to be interesting. I'll be reading the rest of the series.

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01/30/08

Heather rated it:

bookshelves: c-might-like, mystery, romance, supernatural

makes you wait for the next book, but good otherwise.
A little bit of everything. Not really romance, but it could easily end up that way in the series.

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