I don't normally read vampire books. I did sit through the TV series True Blood, recommended to me by my wife. We ended binging it, sometimes watching four or five episodes on my days off. Staying awake through the run of this show was not the easiest thing, let me tell you. But when I was done, I knew everything there was to know about vampires. What more, really, is there to know? They drink blood, they come out at night and they live forever. The rest is just debauchery.
Turns out, quite a bit.
So I picked up Blood Ending by Michael McGovern, also recommended to me, and was pleasantly surprised. It turns out that a good story and good characters make a difference, even in genre fiction. The story is about a vampire named Severin who, when he's turned, receives a vampire heart which gives him power over other vampires. He must create a "trinity" of female vamps who serve him. The four of them pick off humans at an alarming rate. Eternity, however, goes awry when Severin brings home a wife from a business trip. There is also a wizard named Praetorious who makes a deal with the devil and pursues the quartet over time and history.
The author does a good job of showing how vampires adapt through the years or, rather, how the changing times affect vampires. The bombing of Dresden plays a role so central in this book it's almost a character itself.
This was an entertaining read. It sinks its fangs into you from the first page. A star off for a technical matter involving the tense in which the story is told.