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Void City #4
Burned
IMMORTAL. INGENIOUS. AND DOWNRIGHT INFURIATING.
Void City's resident badass vampire has a secret to keep, everything to lose, and a plan to win it all. Eric has taken control of the city's supernatural hierarchy, putting all the deals and contracts that allow Void City to function up for renegotiation. When he installs his insane vampire daughter, Greta, as Void City's sheriff of the supernatural, bloody mayhem ensues. To further complicate things, the love of Eric's life is back from the dead, immortally young, at a cost that has put Eric under the thumb of a very powerful demon. The mysterious mouser Talbot, morose mage Magbidion, and all of Eric's thralls are trying to help him keep things under control . . . But with early onset Alzheimer's, vampire hunters, demons, a band of chupacabra, a cursed cousin with a serious grudge, and Rachel as his new "handler" . . . there's just not an app for that.
Void City's resident badass vampire has a secret to keep, everything to lose, and a plan to win it all. Eric has taken control of the city's supernatural hierarchy, putting all the deals and contracts that allow Void City to function up for renegotiation. When he installs his insane vampire daughter, Greta, as Void City's sheriff of the supernatural, bloody mayhem ensues. To further complicate things, the love of Eric's life is back from the dead, immortally young, at a cost that has put Eric under the thumb of a very powerful demon. The mysterious mouser Talbot, morose mage Magbidion, and all of Eric's thralls are trying to help him keep things under control . . . But with early onset Alzheimer's, vampire hunters, demons, a band of chupacabra, a cursed cousin with a serious grudge, and Rachel as his new "handler" . . . there's just not an app for that.
359 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 31, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
May 24, 2012
Lewis knocks another one out of the park. I'm starting to notice that these Void City books come in duologies - Staked ended with a cliffhanger and unresolved plotlines that ReVamped neatly tied up. Crossed felt very much like a "middle book" with lots of setups that Burned does a good job of wrapping together. The story ends with a big, shiny hook for the series to continue, but there is also a stronger sense of closure.
What propels the story this time, and what sets the pace for this one higher than the previous novels, is that for once Eric has a Plan (with a capital P). In the past, Eric merely reacted to what was going on around him and made the best of a string of crappy situations. In Burned, he takes the magical hierarchy of Void City by the horns (literally) and bends it to his own benefit. That kind of intricate conniving doesn't come easy for an immortal part-time vampire with Alzheimer's, but like it says on the cover - there's an app for that.
Also: more Greta. Thankfully, she's still growing as a character. Greta's fun, but could easily fall into a rut as a one-note killing machine. J.F. doesn't seem to be taking her in that direction.
My only minor gripe would be that the setting is becoming so crowded with supernatural species that the human characters are fading into the background. This might lead to Void City turning into a twisted, Burtonesque version of Xanth. On the other hand, who doesn't like chupacabras?
What propels the story this time, and what sets the pace for this one higher than the previous novels, is that for once Eric has a Plan (with a capital P). In the past, Eric merely reacted to what was going on around him and made the best of a string of crappy situations. In Burned, he takes the magical hierarchy of Void City by the horns (literally) and bends it to his own benefit. That kind of intricate conniving doesn't come easy for an immortal part-time vampire with Alzheimer's, but like it says on the cover - there's an app for that.
Also: more Greta. Thankfully, she's still growing as a character. Greta's fun, but could easily fall into a rut as a one-note killing machine. J.F. doesn't seem to be taking her in that direction.
My only minor gripe would be that the setting is becoming so crowded with supernatural species that the human characters are fading into the background. This might lead to Void City turning into a twisted, Burtonesque version of Xanth. On the other hand, who doesn't like chupacabras?
March 1, 2012
Eric has a plan, if he can remember it. Greta knows Dad is up to something and is trying to find out what, if she can stay focused. And, Fang? Fang is where he needs to be, doing what needs doing. Another wild blood splattered, but surprisingly sweet ride from Lewis.
February 5, 2012
"im the boss applesauce!" greta....nuff said. this book delivered and out did the others in the series. eric and the void city gang are still badass and lots of things happen change and get tied up. the mad mayor lewis of void city better keep writing cause i love this series.
im team greta all the was. love her new bff!
im team greta all the was. love her new bff!
February 28, 2012
** warning, this review contains SPOILERS for the last three ‘Void City’ books **
When we left him in Void City, vampire bad-ass Eric had just made a deal with hell to get back the only woman he has ever loved . . . now he’s unwittingly King of the city’s vamps and tasked with completing a series of torturous hellish missions to keep his lady-love, Marilyn.
If The Plan goes right, Eric might just get everything he has ever wanted – both before and after he turned vampire – but if he fails, everyone he cares about might pay the price.
‘Burned’ is the fourth book in J.F. Lewis’s rollicking urban fantasy ‘Void City’ series.
This is my fourth rodeo with J.F. Lewis, Eric & Co. You’d really think that by now I'd know the name of the game – that ‘Void City’ is a rude & crude series, delighting in gross-out horror and a tantalizingly jerky protagonist. But in his fourth venture, J.F. Lewis sweeps the rug out from under readers and gives his series a revamp (har, har!).
At the end of third book, ‘Crossed’, Eric was offered the impossible . . . having his true love returned to him from the bowels of Hell. Never mind that at the time he was married to his vampire child, Tabitha, or screwing around with her little demoness sister, Rachel. Put aside the fact that Eric learnt not too long ago of Marilyn and Roger’s betrayals when the two were alive and human. Eric was offered the one thing in life he has ever cared about – returned to him, immortal and young again – and that was one temptation he refused to pass up. So he made an open-ended deal with Hell, agreed to complete some Demon’s ridiculous mission objectives, all in the name of love.
Thus, when ‘Burned’ begins Marilyn is back – no longer the cantankerous old lady chain-smoker of first book ‘Staked’ (well, still a chain-smoker) but this time immortal and impenetrable (even by Eric himself, no matter how much he moons after her). Marilyn is like Joan Harris in ‘Mad Men’, all red hair, curves and wicked smoulder – with a braying laugh and endless reams of guilt for the tasks Eric is having to accomplish, to earn her back from Hell. With Marilyn’s addition to the ‘Void City’ cast, the entire series has undergone a total game-changer.
From the start of ‘Void City’, Eric has never pretended to be anything other than a stone-cold killer. He makes no apologies or excuses for his murderous streak – except to say, ‘I’m a vampire. Deal with it.’ He is as ruthless with his human dinners as he is with his lady loves – the various women who have come in and out of his life, tepid imitations of his one true love, Marilyn. Even when he married Tabitha he was screwing her sister on the side – and in his wedding vows promised to cheat on her and be an all-round terrible husband. The only woman in Eric’s life of late, who he hasn’t royally screwed over, is his adopted vampire child, Greta. But, with Marilyn entering the scene as a new main character in ‘Burned’, it seems that Eric’s stead-fast stance of morally ambiguous anti-hero revelry is being flipped on its axis, and all in the name of true love. . .
“Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Yeah, I know. Not so smart. But since Marilyn was alive, okay, nearby, and even young again . . . Why should I care about the bad things that happen in the world as long as they don’t happen to her? I'd seen her die with my own eyes, watched her soul get sucked into hell, and then . . . in spite of everything . . . I got her back.
I won. I won. I fucking won! I still wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
That���s not to say that Eric and Marilyn don’t have ‘issues’. She’s uneasy with the Hell tasks he is carrying out in her name, and she flat refuses to start anything up with him. But Eric lives in hope, and it’s a different (dare I say, crushing?) side of Eric that we read in ‘Burned’.
Of course, amidst all this talk of love and glimmering redemption, there is still plenty of ass-kicking. Void City’s police force needs a spring clean, and as Eric carries out his missions from Hell there are enough limbs, blood and weregeckos to go round.
But ‘Burned’ does feel like a bit of a rebirth for ‘Void City’. New characters are entering the scene, while a few old favourites are being slowly pushed out. As well as Marilyn, a new vampire cousin of Eric’s joins the cast of quirks. Evelyn is a vampire with a detachable head, who has a vendetta against Eric, but unwittingly becomes Greta’s sheriff side-kick. Greta and Evelyn sometimes steal the show in ‘Burned’ – their repartee is often garish and gruesome mixed with random hilarity, and some of their scenes are Tarantino-esque (picture the sedate ‘Royale with Cheese’ conversation in ‘Pulp Fiction’, right before a bloody shoot-out). Greta and Evelyn have great chemistry, and while their scenes showed a whole new level of craziness to the already mad-as-a-hatter Greta, I also laughed the hardest with these two. Like when they were trying to decide on ‘special cop names’;
“Pinky and the Brain is more like it,” she grumbled, letting her head drift higher so we were almost looking each other in the eye.
“Hmmm.” I thought that over. “I don’t know that it fits.” I narrowed my eyes at her, flashing them red for a brief moment.
“Try saying ‘Narf’.”
“Narf,” she said without enthusiasm.
Like I said, these new characters are wonderful additions to the ‘Void City’ crew, but I did feel a slight twinge of disappointment that two old favourites seem to be getting shuffled out. Rachel and Tabitha – the disastrous sister pairing are actually two of my favourite characters. Rachel, because I love to hate her and Tabitha because I've enjoyed my frustrations with her. In ‘Burned’ both of these girls have much more diminutive roles than in the last three books, and it’s a bit of a shame. Rachel, I can understand had to have a slightly less demanding role since her nefarious plans were revealed in ‘Crossed’. But Tabitha is being kicked aside as Eric faces up to his affections for Marilyn. In ‘Burned’ he urges Tabitha to forget about him, move on and do something with her life. And that’s a great bit of advice for Tabitha – because as he (and readers) knows, Tabitha is a lot smarter and funnier than anyone gives her credit for. And for that reason I do hope that her smaller role in ‘Burned’ is not an indication of her being slowly clapped off the ‘Void City’ stage. I still think she has a lot to offer – and some of my favourite scenes in the book were between all the women; when Evelyn, Greta and Tabitha had a heart-to-heart, and even more when Tabitha and Marilyn nutted out some pressing questions. Brilliant!
‘Burned’ is a game-changer of a book. Just when I thought I had Eric and all his bad-assery all mapped out, J.F. Lewis goes and reveals new facets to Eric’s soul, and shines a burning glimmer of hope on his redemptive path. Marilyn’s addition to the cast has spun the ‘Void City’ series into a whole new stratosphere of awesome, and not since Starsky & Hutch has there been such a good cop pairing as in Greta and LEGO-head Evelyn. I didn’t think it was possible, but with ‘Burned’ I have fallen a little bit more in love with J.F. Lewis’s ‘Void City’ series. Now gimme, gimme, gimme the fifth book!
When we left him in Void City, vampire bad-ass Eric had just made a deal with hell to get back the only woman he has ever loved . . . now he’s unwittingly King of the city’s vamps and tasked with completing a series of torturous hellish missions to keep his lady-love, Marilyn.
If The Plan goes right, Eric might just get everything he has ever wanted – both before and after he turned vampire – but if he fails, everyone he cares about might pay the price.
‘Burned’ is the fourth book in J.F. Lewis’s rollicking urban fantasy ‘Void City’ series.
This is my fourth rodeo with J.F. Lewis, Eric & Co. You’d really think that by now I'd know the name of the game – that ‘Void City’ is a rude & crude series, delighting in gross-out horror and a tantalizingly jerky protagonist. But in his fourth venture, J.F. Lewis sweeps the rug out from under readers and gives his series a revamp (har, har!).
At the end of third book, ‘Crossed’, Eric was offered the impossible . . . having his true love returned to him from the bowels of Hell. Never mind that at the time he was married to his vampire child, Tabitha, or screwing around with her little demoness sister, Rachel. Put aside the fact that Eric learnt not too long ago of Marilyn and Roger’s betrayals when the two were alive and human. Eric was offered the one thing in life he has ever cared about – returned to him, immortal and young again – and that was one temptation he refused to pass up. So he made an open-ended deal with Hell, agreed to complete some Demon’s ridiculous mission objectives, all in the name of love.
Thus, when ‘Burned’ begins Marilyn is back – no longer the cantankerous old lady chain-smoker of first book ‘Staked’ (well, still a chain-smoker) but this time immortal and impenetrable (even by Eric himself, no matter how much he moons after her). Marilyn is like Joan Harris in ‘Mad Men’, all red hair, curves and wicked smoulder – with a braying laugh and endless reams of guilt for the tasks Eric is having to accomplish, to earn her back from Hell. With Marilyn’s addition to the ‘Void City’ cast, the entire series has undergone a total game-changer.
From the start of ‘Void City’, Eric has never pretended to be anything other than a stone-cold killer. He makes no apologies or excuses for his murderous streak – except to say, ‘I’m a vampire. Deal with it.’ He is as ruthless with his human dinners as he is with his lady loves – the various women who have come in and out of his life, tepid imitations of his one true love, Marilyn. Even when he married Tabitha he was screwing her sister on the side – and in his wedding vows promised to cheat on her and be an all-round terrible husband. The only woman in Eric’s life of late, who he hasn’t royally screwed over, is his adopted vampire child, Greta. But, with Marilyn entering the scene as a new main character in ‘Burned’, it seems that Eric’s stead-fast stance of morally ambiguous anti-hero revelry is being flipped on its axis, and all in the name of true love. . .
“Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Yeah, I know. Not so smart. But since Marilyn was alive, okay, nearby, and even young again . . . Why should I care about the bad things that happen in the world as long as they don’t happen to her? I'd seen her die with my own eyes, watched her soul get sucked into hell, and then . . . in spite of everything . . . I got her back.
I won. I won. I fucking won! I still wanted to shout it from the rooftops.
That���s not to say that Eric and Marilyn don’t have ‘issues’. She’s uneasy with the Hell tasks he is carrying out in her name, and she flat refuses to start anything up with him. But Eric lives in hope, and it’s a different (dare I say, crushing?) side of Eric that we read in ‘Burned’.
Of course, amidst all this talk of love and glimmering redemption, there is still plenty of ass-kicking. Void City’s police force needs a spring clean, and as Eric carries out his missions from Hell there are enough limbs, blood and weregeckos to go round.
But ‘Burned’ does feel like a bit of a rebirth for ‘Void City’. New characters are entering the scene, while a few old favourites are being slowly pushed out. As well as Marilyn, a new vampire cousin of Eric’s joins the cast of quirks. Evelyn is a vampire with a detachable head, who has a vendetta against Eric, but unwittingly becomes Greta’s sheriff side-kick. Greta and Evelyn sometimes steal the show in ‘Burned’ – their repartee is often garish and gruesome mixed with random hilarity, and some of their scenes are Tarantino-esque (picture the sedate ‘Royale with Cheese’ conversation in ‘Pulp Fiction’, right before a bloody shoot-out). Greta and Evelyn have great chemistry, and while their scenes showed a whole new level of craziness to the already mad-as-a-hatter Greta, I also laughed the hardest with these two. Like when they were trying to decide on ‘special cop names’;
“Pinky and the Brain is more like it,” she grumbled, letting her head drift higher so we were almost looking each other in the eye.
“Hmmm.” I thought that over. “I don’t know that it fits.” I narrowed my eyes at her, flashing them red for a brief moment.
“Try saying ‘Narf’.”
“Narf,” she said without enthusiasm.
Like I said, these new characters are wonderful additions to the ‘Void City’ crew, but I did feel a slight twinge of disappointment that two old favourites seem to be getting shuffled out. Rachel and Tabitha – the disastrous sister pairing are actually two of my favourite characters. Rachel, because I love to hate her and Tabitha because I've enjoyed my frustrations with her. In ‘Burned’ both of these girls have much more diminutive roles than in the last three books, and it’s a bit of a shame. Rachel, I can understand had to have a slightly less demanding role since her nefarious plans were revealed in ‘Crossed’. But Tabitha is being kicked aside as Eric faces up to his affections for Marilyn. In ‘Burned’ he urges Tabitha to forget about him, move on and do something with her life. And that’s a great bit of advice for Tabitha – because as he (and readers) knows, Tabitha is a lot smarter and funnier than anyone gives her credit for. And for that reason I do hope that her smaller role in ‘Burned’ is not an indication of her being slowly clapped off the ‘Void City’ stage. I still think she has a lot to offer – and some of my favourite scenes in the book were between all the women; when Evelyn, Greta and Tabitha had a heart-to-heart, and even more when Tabitha and Marilyn nutted out some pressing questions. Brilliant!
‘Burned’ is a game-changer of a book. Just when I thought I had Eric and all his bad-assery all mapped out, J.F. Lewis goes and reveals new facets to Eric’s soul, and shines a burning glimmer of hope on his redemptive path. Marilyn’s addition to the cast has spun the ‘Void City’ series into a whole new stratosphere of awesome, and not since Starsky & Hutch has there been such a good cop pairing as in Greta and LEGO-head Evelyn. I didn’t think it was possible, but with ‘Burned’ I have fallen a little bit more in love with J.F. Lewis’s ‘Void City’ series. Now gimme, gimme, gimme the fifth book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Shelved as 'featured'
December 4, 2021
February 26, 2012
I was confused by so much of this book, but I think it was on purpose. Eric is always saying how he says he has Alzheimer's, that he can't remember, and this whole book is based on a plan that Eric has and his not being able to remember is planned in on it.I found it funny that they had to create an app for the plan and Eric kept referring to it and it was staffed 24/7 to help him out. In the last pages of the book the plan is revealed. I think I would have liked it better if the plan would have been laid out from the start.
Greta seems to be getting out of control with each book. There are times that she is sane, but at others she is bat shit crazy. In her own way she has a code of right and wrong, but it is skewed. Seeing Greta struggle with what friendship is and if someone is her friend, along with just who Mom is was fun at times. At others you just wanted to slap her because she couldn't get it.
With the changes at the end with Eric it will be interesting what happens next in Void City.
Greta seems to be getting out of control with each book. There are times that she is sane, but at others she is bat shit crazy. In her own way she has a code of right and wrong, but it is skewed. Seeing Greta struggle with what friendship is and if someone is her friend, along with just who Mom is was fun at times. At others you just wanted to slap her because she couldn't get it.
With the changes at the end with Eric it will be interesting what happens next in Void City.
January 20, 2014
I've been following this serie since its beginning. All the characters are so interesting and different, I like the truly insane Greta and Eric is...complicated as always. I was curious about "The Plan" Eric kept mentioning about, turned out pretty good Eric! Except for Eric and Greta I didn't care about the different POV(4-5 total). Why just three stars? maybe because I was too focus on Eric's Plan, it took a long while to get to it. Some things/events I didn't care about, it's probably just me though not the book.
January 21, 2015
4.5
Loved it confused at times, laughed at others, shocked at Greta and her deputy LEGO-head aka Evelyn.
Still wondering what Eric does about his 4 ghost haunting him. And honestly I think Greta has taken the cake for most disturbed vampire that I cant help my mixed emotions and the fact she turned out to be my fav character.
Loved it confused at times, laughed at others, shocked at Greta and her deputy LEGO-head aka Evelyn.
Still wondering what Eric does about his 4 ghost haunting him. And honestly I think Greta has taken the cake for most disturbed vampire that I cant help my mixed emotions and the fact she turned out to be my fav character.
Want to read
June 17, 2011Expected publication: January 31st 2012
November 28, 2020
Entertaining at times. Amusing at others. Normally the repeated content from previous books can be annoying but as it turns out it's been a long time since I read the first three and it was actually helpful because of all the things I had forgotten.
There are a lot of Pop culture references I could have done without as well as the music references and the Facebook and Twitter references and the cell phone app Eric uses. All of these things diminished the book for me. They may be cringe or groan or sigh generally. The demons smoking tweeting and facebooking was simultaneously amusing and cringe-worthy.
One terrible thing about such references is they cause a book to age badly. I read a lot of old science fiction from the 30s 40s 50s 60s '70s '80s... The best stuff that to this day still reads well is the stuff that isn't loaded with references to pop culture etc. Hell, I didn't get half of the references myself. There were certain songs reference that had no idea what they were. Although I did catch the reference to Dr horrible's Sing-Along blog. And while I appreciate it because it was an amazing work of genius, it wont age well if people go to read this book years down the road.
There are a lot of Pop culture references I could have done without as well as the music references and the Facebook and Twitter references and the cell phone app Eric uses. All of these things diminished the book for me. They may be cringe or groan or sigh generally. The demons smoking tweeting and facebooking was simultaneously amusing and cringe-worthy.
One terrible thing about such references is they cause a book to age badly. I read a lot of old science fiction from the 30s 40s 50s 60s '70s '80s... The best stuff that to this day still reads well is the stuff that isn't loaded with references to pop culture etc. Hell, I didn't get half of the references myself. There were certain songs reference that had no idea what they were. Although I did catch the reference to Dr horrible's Sing-Along blog. And while I appreciate it because it was an amazing work of genius, it wont age well if people go to read this book years down the road.
May 19, 2017
Once again funny! Greta, she is sick in the head but funny!!! The story felt a little dry which might explain why it took me so long to get through this, but just over half way, things got interesting and I wanted to find out what's going on and what was going to happen.
(on a side note, just after I started to read this, found out that the author was working on #5.)
(on a side note, just after I started to read this, found out that the author was working on #5.)
November 15, 2019
Why I was offered the 4th book in a series as a freebie is beyond me, but it completely ruined the story for me. No clue what was going on, who anyone was, why things were happening. I know it's not fair to the series to judge it by the end alone with no context, but this is what Simon & Schuster provided so unfortunately it's what I have.
December 26, 2020
It could have been much better if there was some thread you could follow to find a story to cling to but this seemed more to be a scene to scene action sequence that never ended. Just seemed to be a story of an obsessed daughter trying to find out what her Dad plans. Dumb.
July 2, 2019
Very entertaining.
December 29, 2013
It is a year after the last book ended. Eric killed Lord Philip, causing all the magic protecting the supernatural inhabitants of Void City to fall away too. The Mage Council is working overtime to keep hiding all the killings and horrors living in the city. When they finally ask for Eric’s help, he makes the brilliant decision to appoint his daughter Greta as the new sheriff, to keep all the other supernatural creatures in check. She is allowed to kill and eat anyone who breaks the rules. But when she comes upon a pack of chupacabra, even Greta cannot kill them all, as their poison severely affects her. She has no choice but to take on her secret second shape, and it is very impressive indeed!
A strange female vampire tries to kill Eric, as she hates him for killing her in the first place. She is some cousin, and when he killed her, the family curse that made Eric a vampire, got to her as well. Only, as he had dumped her head through the drain, she now is something different, and her head still comes off if she wants it. Eric is not afraid of her though, and he agrees to let her try to kill him once a year, if she will be Greta’s deputy. His daughter needs the help and the company, aside from Fang.
Eric has divorced Tabitha, now that Marilyn is back alive and immortal and young, he can no longer stay married to her. He does give her a generous settlement though, and urges her to go to college, to find out what she is goed at, instead of relying on her great looks and lonesome rich men. He does the same with Marilyn though, gets the Iversonian to teach her how to be an Immortal, and pays her back wages for the past 40 years, as Roger basically ruined her life.
Eric has big secrets though, and a Plan. He owes a major demon favors for bringing back Marilyn and he has to plan around that. It is hard for Rachel to accept he doesn’t want her anymore, especially as she is now a demon too. With tail and all.
I enjoyed this last book so much, and I do keep hoping for more. Greta has a big part in this, trying to figure out what has happened to her dad, and what he is planning. She is confused that there is no real Mom anymore. She sure tormented her cousin Evelyn, her new deputy and loved taking her head away. Greta is a real killer, she is certainly dysfunctional, but she is fun. She will do everything for her Daddy, so don’t mess with him!
What more can I say about this series? I like the new ways the plot keeps twisting, surprising me, and well, it is just pure entertainment. There is some romance in the end …
9 stars.
A strange female vampire tries to kill Eric, as she hates him for killing her in the first place. She is some cousin, and when he killed her, the family curse that made Eric a vampire, got to her as well. Only, as he had dumped her head through the drain, she now is something different, and her head still comes off if she wants it. Eric is not afraid of her though, and he agrees to let her try to kill him once a year, if she will be Greta’s deputy. His daughter needs the help and the company, aside from Fang.
Eric has divorced Tabitha, now that Marilyn is back alive and immortal and young, he can no longer stay married to her. He does give her a generous settlement though, and urges her to go to college, to find out what she is goed at, instead of relying on her great looks and lonesome rich men. He does the same with Marilyn though, gets the Iversonian to teach her how to be an Immortal, and pays her back wages for the past 40 years, as Roger basically ruined her life.
Eric has big secrets though, and a Plan. He owes a major demon favors for bringing back Marilyn and he has to plan around that. It is hard for Rachel to accept he doesn’t want her anymore, especially as she is now a demon too. With tail and all.
I enjoyed this last book so much, and I do keep hoping for more. Greta has a big part in this, trying to figure out what has happened to her dad, and what he is planning. She is confused that there is no real Mom anymore. She sure tormented her cousin Evelyn, her new deputy and loved taking her head away. Greta is a real killer, she is certainly dysfunctional, but she is fun. She will do everything for her Daddy, so don’t mess with him!
What more can I say about this series? I like the new ways the plot keeps twisting, surprising me, and well, it is just pure entertainment. There is some romance in the end …
9 stars.
© 2013 Reviews by Aurian
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March 21, 2012Temporary review:
Yep, I did it again. I read #4 before reading #1. Oh and in this case I really shouldn't have done that. I was lost, never connected to the characters, BUT seriously, I really want to read this series from the beginning. Why? Well...
It has to do with a very powerful vampire that cannot be killed and has Alzheimer's. He is a true immortal by night and a vampire by day (Murphy's law and all that). His daughter is feared and is quite insane. I mean she not only has daddy issues, but mommy ones as well. She sleeps in the trunk of his Mustang with the bones from the car's diet (yes, it's alive!). There is a "mouser" who is a creature that can become human. And in the case of Talbot, well, he can eat huge demons without getting any kind of gastric upset. There are also plenty of powerful mages, demons and unsuspecting cattle... uh I mean humans who all live in Void city.
Oh and I can't forget the chupacabra. How could I forget them?
Through it all, there is some demon trying to control Eric and a huge plan to put it to rights, but he can't remember exactly what that plan entails. Good thing he has an app for that. Yes, seriously, he has an app for that.
Now that I have you scratching your heads in this completely insane group of monsters and a strange task, doesn't it sound interesting? Yes, this is a series I will start from book one. Just don't follow my lead and start with this one. You will be lost. AND I do mean lost. However, even if it ends up not making much more sense than it does now, I do think I'll be able to connect to these characters when I follow their adventures from the beginning. I'd be happy with that. :)
No stars for this one. I don't think it would be fair to give them at this point.
Yep, I did it again. I read #4 before reading #1. Oh and in this case I really shouldn't have done that. I was lost, never connected to the characters, BUT seriously, I really want to read this series from the beginning. Why? Well...
It has to do with a very powerful vampire that cannot be killed and has Alzheimer's. He is a true immortal by night and a vampire by day (Murphy's law and all that). His daughter is feared and is quite insane. I mean she not only has daddy issues, but mommy ones as well. She sleeps in the trunk of his Mustang with the bones from the car's diet (yes, it's alive!). There is a "mouser" who is a creature that can become human. And in the case of Talbot, well, he can eat huge demons without getting any kind of gastric upset. There are also plenty of powerful mages, demons and unsuspecting cattle... uh I mean humans who all live in Void city.
Oh and I can't forget the chupacabra. How could I forget them?
Through it all, there is some demon trying to control Eric and a huge plan to put it to rights, but he can't remember exactly what that plan entails. Good thing he has an app for that. Yes, seriously, he has an app for that.
Now that I have you scratching your heads in this completely insane group of monsters and a strange task, doesn't it sound interesting? Yes, this is a series I will start from book one. Just don't follow my lead and start with this one. You will be lost. AND I do mean lost. However, even if it ends up not making much more sense than it does now, I do think I'll be able to connect to these characters when I follow their adventures from the beginning. I'd be happy with that. :)
No stars for this one. I don't think it would be fair to give them at this point.
January 20, 2014
This book just wasn't as much fun as the rest of the series, and I'm rather glad to see it end. To be blunt, between Greta's psychosis, Eric's Alzheimer's, the Mysterious Plan, and the shifting viewpoints, it was harder to follow than I thought the story really merited.
Basically, this book is set a year after the previous one and is all about getting Eric out of the colossally bad deal he made at the end of that volume. He's got A Plan, and everything he does is in accordance with it, but we don't find out what it is until almost the end of the book. Thus, the reader spends over 300 pages wondering why Eric's making all of these (apparently) stupid decisions, and when The Plan is finally revealed, the revelation doesn't tell us much more than we've already figured out. In my opinion, part of that chapter could've been restructured as a prologue, and the book would have worked a lot better. The Plan wouldn't have been as mysterious, but Eric's actions wouldn't have seemed so out of character.
Furthermore, several plot elements pop up and just...go away. The ghosts are annoying but have no impact. Eric's cousin is entertaining, but fades into the background pretty quickly when she joins the team. The same goes for the chupacabras, Schrödinger's vampire, Rachel, Mab's owner, and more things that I just don't care enough to list.
Overall, I just can't recommend this one. It works okay as a way to end the series, but it's more of a slog than the romps that the earlier books were.
March 9, 2012
Eric mixed up super-natural being has a PLAN at last. Now all he has to do is remember it.
This review is for all 4 books, because I've just very happily whipped through them, at super speed. There well written, fast paced and funny.
The main character is brilliant. Eric..........Is real, I'm sure he is. I want to maybe not meet him because that would be dangerous, but in amongst all the gore and dodgy memories and the anger issues is a nice bloke.Not a saint.Not a supportive I'll cook you dinner and hoover and understand all your issues bloke. But an ordinary don't want to know, but if it's in my face I'll deal with it, and if you're in trouble I'll try to sort it, kind of bloke.
This author shows rather than tells. He writes the story through different POV's which I like. There are some recaps in later books but not many. There's also a lack of long internal monologues that no one does in real life, which is brilliant.
There is real character progression in the series, the first book Staked is not the beginning of the story. As we get to know Eric his story starts to be revealed and it's complicated but everything is complicated by the huge holes in Eric's memory.
Eric is not the only interesting and fleshed out character. I also loved Greta who I definitely do not want to meet because she would eat me.
This book will stay in my memory, not many do, but this one will.
This review is for all 4 books, because I've just very happily whipped through them, at super speed. There well written, fast paced and funny.
The main character is brilliant. Eric..........Is real, I'm sure he is. I want to maybe not meet him because that would be dangerous, but in amongst all the gore and dodgy memories and the anger issues is a nice bloke.Not a saint.Not a supportive I'll cook you dinner and hoover and understand all your issues bloke. But an ordinary don't want to know, but if it's in my face I'll deal with it, and if you're in trouble I'll try to sort it, kind of bloke.
This author shows rather than tells. He writes the story through different POV's which I like. There are some recaps in later books but not many. There's also a lack of long internal monologues that no one does in real life, which is brilliant.
There is real character progression in the series, the first book Staked is not the beginning of the story. As we get to know Eric his story starts to be revealed and it's complicated but everything is complicated by the huge holes in Eric's memory.
Eric is not the only interesting and fleshed out character. I also loved Greta who I definitely do not want to meet because she would eat me.
This book will stay in my memory, not many do, but this one will.
July 25, 2012
For the first time in the series uber vamp Eric has a PLAN... all he has to do is remember it. The previous book literally took the status quo and blew it up. Now Eric the sarcastic all powerful vampire with early onset Alzheimer's is now in charge of Void City, the fictional Southern city where the supernatural coexist largely unnoticed with the general population. Well, that is before Eric screwed everything up.
Once again for me Eric was the least interesting character in the series. From the start he has always struck me as too much of a "Mary Sue" to be interesting; however, the series continues to introduce interesting supporting characters, which more than make up for the main characters short-comings.
In my opinion, Burned is the best of the series so far, which as the most recent in the series, is a good indicator that the books will continue to improve.
Once again for me Eric was the least interesting character in the series. From the start he has always struck me as too much of a "Mary Sue" to be interesting; however, the series continues to introduce interesting supporting characters, which more than make up for the main characters short-comings.
In my opinion, Burned is the best of the series so far, which as the most recent in the series, is a good indicator that the books will continue to improve.
Read
May 31, 2012Void City has been on my list for awhile now, for that magical day when I suddenly have nothing to do but read really kickass books all day because elves have taken over the housework and Gordon Ramsey is in my kitchen whipping up something delicious for dinner. Why the DNF then? Essentially, that day hasn't come and I couldn't pick up the series without reading all the previous books first. I passed Burned along to Jenny, but she had the same problem I did...without knowing what happened in previous books it was difficult to understand this one. I've heard incredible things about Eric and this terrific UF setting, so I am keeping this one on my shelves for a time when I can start at the beginning.
Read
July 13, 2013Very fun book.
It was unbelievable,cheesy, plot weak,but Greta was even better than the main protagonist.
If you need to analyze a lot this may not be for you.
If you want an escapist crazy fun ride this is it.
I wish there was another book where Eric realized there was only one person anywhere that loved him completely.
We need another book showing what Greta would do if anyone was fucking her,when she woke up after a party.
I know fighting thralldom for 40 years is crazy good and Greta lives to see her pretend Dad happy, but Greta would do that and more.
And she is killer sharp,she doesn't feel sorry for Eric ,she just feels for him.
It was unbelievable,cheesy, plot weak,but Greta was even better than the main protagonist.
If you need to analyze a lot this may not be for you.
If you want an escapist crazy fun ride this is it.
I wish there was another book where Eric realized there was only one person anywhere that loved him completely.
We need another book showing what Greta would do if anyone was fucking her,when she woke up after a party.
I know fighting thralldom for 40 years is crazy good and Greta lives to see her pretend Dad happy, but Greta would do that and more.
And she is killer sharp,she doesn't feel sorry for Eric ,she just feels for him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2017
I like the series, and the author, but I still wish he would stick to first person POV with Eric as the person. Greta is an interesting character, but I don't need to be in her head - it's scary in there. I didn't really care for finding out all the details of "the Plan" all at once near the end of the book either. I love Fang.
March 22, 2012
This series just gets better and better with each book. The snarky irreverence and gleefully gory violence are turned up to eleven. The characters are even more sympathetically twisted than ever. I literally laughed out loud over and over again. Burned is quoteably funny and if the last chapter is any indication of what's in store for the future I want to buy my ticket right now.
January 31, 2014
J.F. Lewis does a fantastic job with these books, even if your getting tired of the whole vamp thing, you will still love these books! they are crazy funny! the characters are funny, psycotic and just fun!! These are at the top of my list of Favorite books!! I am waiting for his next in the series!!
February 17, 2012
What a great read. I absolutely love Greta and I adore Eric.
This book had me on the edge of my seat. Action packed doesn't begin to cover it.
I didn't realize how much I missed this series until now.
Great Read!!!
Highly Recommend!!
This book had me on the edge of my seat. Action packed doesn't begin to cover it.
I didn't realize how much I missed this series until now.
Great Read!!!
Highly Recommend!!
February 28, 2012
Another terrifically dark and funny Void City book by Lewis. If you like a good (really bad) anti-hero then this is the family for you. These people are all nuts, and yet they're totally compelling. I can't wait for the next one.
April 29, 2012
Really a 3.5 for me. I felt lost too often and descriptions were unclear to me so I couldn't picture what was happening in my head. i found that really frustrating so it brought it down half a star.
Otherwise, I love me some Eric and Greta! =)
Otherwise, I love me some Eric and Greta! =)
April 14, 2016
Yep, Greta still rocks!!!
It was great revisiting some favorite characters in this series. I hope Lewis will come out with another Void City book in the near future.
More on Talbot would be nice. Hint, hint, hint.
It was great revisiting some favorite characters in this series. I hope Lewis will come out with another Void City book in the near future.
More on Talbot would be nice. Hint, hint, hint.
March 4, 2012
With each book it gets better and better.
July 24, 2012
another delightful, readable, imaginative installment in the void city series. So fun.
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