Pretty When She Dies (Pretty When She Dies, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Dec 15, 2008 Rhiannon Frater added it · (Review from the author)

Shelves: i-wrote-it

I wrote this book, so I love it. :)

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Oct 17, 2009 Literary Ames rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy, read-in-2009, 1st-in-series, vampires, horror, kobo, kindle, series-continue

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I haven’t read many newly-risen-vampire books but in direct competition of those I have read (The Turning and Undead and Unwed are all I can think of at the moment) Pretty When She Dies wins hands down. It was gritty and very realistic in that if vampires did exist I wouldn’t be surprised if when they first rose they had similar obstacles to overcome, namely the bloodlust and the inadvertent killing spree to sate it.

There are good vampires, which seem rare in this book, bad ones and perhaps som I haven’t read many newly-risen-vampire books but in direct competition of those I have read (The Turning and Undead and Unwed are all I can think of at the moment) Pretty When She Dies wins hands down. It was gritty and very realistic in that if vampires did exist I wouldn’t be surprised if when they first rose they had similar obstacles to overcome, namely the bloodlust and the inadvertent killing spree to sate it.

There are good vampires, which seem rare in this book, bad ones and perhaps some that fall in between. The reasons the Summoner was evil were made obvious; his boredom and loneliness after so many centuries of walking the Earth had warped his mind - in some books you never know what turned the “enemy” to the dark side.

The characters were believable and their development over the course of the book was well done. Amaliya was tough, she’s a survivor of both physical (what the Summoner does to her) and emotional (her cruel screwed up family) pain who has learned that running away when things get hard is the best thing to do but finds that with the Summoner on her tail there is nowhere for her to run that he won’t find her so she’s forced, mostly by Cian, to make a stand and fight. The romance between Amaliya and Cian progressed from “maybe I should kill her” to “he’s not my type he’s too short and clean” to forbidden love/lust and finally relief that they could be together. I liked Cian’s transformation. His appearance changed from clean shaven good guy in hiding to a rougher, more confident and alert politician ready to take on the vampires.

Obviously my favourite character was Grandmamma – wow, I was right there with her grandson Sergio in his shock, disbelief and finally laughter after the revelation about her love life. I was glad when their fear of what Amaliya had become gradually turned into acceptance, unlike the reactions of her cruel family. I have to admit that I fully expected Grandmamma to let her religion get in the way of her accepting Amaliya’s new state and was waiting for her to call her the spawn of Satan and attack her granddaughter. I wish she was my grandmother, she’s a fierce but loving woman – no man or woman would want to cross her.

I don’t really want to make this comparison but Pretty When She Dies does remind me of certain aspects of Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake series. The Master (vampire) of the City system, the messed up zombies made from multiple body parts, the necromancy are all similar but I think this book is tighter and perhaps darker in its very isolating you-against-the-world nature. Overall this is an intriguing and worthwhile read for urban fantasy lovers.

I have read that there may be a sequel, Pretty When She Kills which I will definitely be interested in if and when it is released.
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Oct 29, 2009 Steph rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: year-read-2009, series-ended, series-i-love, author-웃, series-book1, favorites-all-years, favorites-2009, author-favorite

I started this book with the idea I'd just taking a peek to see how it starts off, had every intention of waiting to read it fully after I completed the other three I'm already reading. However, the story grabbed me from page one and never let go! I was bummed when it was over. I was happy to see Ms. Frater mention a 2nd book, "Pretty When She Kills" coming out in the future, so there will be more Amaliya and Cian to come. :)

Things I loved about this book:
* What vamp book lover out there coul ...more

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Dec 15, 2009 Jackie M rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2012, nov-2012

Amaliya wakes up to find herself buried underground. She's not sure what has happened to her so she just follows her gut instincts and does what she feels she needs to do. She pretty much just muddles her way through and figures out that she is a vampire.
The one who made her is following her and and is treating her like some sort of science project. Amaliya realizes that she needs to find others like her so she can learn how to be a vampire. Along the way she learns she has a cool power that is ...more

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