Robert Dowsett's Reviews > Human

I ordered a copy of "Human" because I greatly enjoyed the two Seraphime Saga books by the same author and because of the snazzy book trailer that spoke to the Thriller aspects of the plot. To be fair, this book exists in the genres of Vampire Fiction and Urban Supernatural Stuff, neither of which are big hits with me personally, so there was a bit of an uphill battle from the start.

On the whole, I liked it (partial star ratings don't seem to be a thing on Goodreads, but consider this a solid 3.5), but I do feel as though both: a) I like SM Carriere's writing more when it's not in a modern setting and b) I might have appreciated this book more had I not spent many years avoiding the crap that modern vampire stories have become. Make no mistakes - these are are old-school vampires - eastern-european origins, horrifying predatory presence, unsettling mind-control, warts and all.

Things I Liked:

-old-school vampires (predators - no sparkles), reminded me of the good old days of consuming Vampire the Masquerade-related fiction
-steamy sex scenes
-good buildup of tension with Aleksandar throughout the book (surely THIS time he'll lose his cool and flip out, vampire-style...won't he?)
-the ending, which at first I assumed was proceeding to a cheesy conclusion but ended up being surprisingly satisfying

Things I Didn't Like:

-I found the thriller elements a bit slow to get rolling, but the pacing improved greatly as the novel went on
-during the final thriller/climactic bits I felt that some of the exposition here would have been better served being presented earlier in the story, rather than slowing down more tense scenes (there were also a few items that I'm sure were already covered earlier in the backstory)

Overall, if you like Vampires and/or Modern Supernatural/Urban stuff more than I do, this will be right up your alley.

I'm eager and excited to see what SM Carriere writes next.