| Title | : | Eyes Like Blue Fire |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1484055616 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781484055618 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 214 |
| Publication | : | First published April 5, 2013 |
Katja and Raven will face many horrors among them Renfield style zombies, ghosts and the undead. This is also the first in the series Broken Edges.
Eyes Like Blue Fire Reviews
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Reading the first novel in what appears to be a series, you have Katja, a vampire who is torn between her past and what seems like a bleak future. She is a lonely vampire, walking the world alone until someone catches her eye. Raven, a man who is a poet and a gentle soul. But unknown to her, another, older vampire has her eye on him too. What starts out as a love story quickly turns into an adventure to save not just Raven but Katja too. I do want to point out that while there is romantic interests, this is not a paranormal romance. It is a story first, then a horror story. Some scenes actually churned my stomach, and that's difficult for my tastes in film and games run from hardcore action to survival horror. Its been awhile since I've read something that's made me grossed out. Good job Ms. Lyons!
The prose reminds me of Anne Rice, or even Steven King at times. She has an eye for emotions and characters. What I like the most is how human and realistic her characters are, how you care about them, everything about them. Even the villain of the novel comes to life, with struggles and wants and needs all pouring from the page. My favorite character Zero is everything from awesome to lovable, and I'm really interested in seeing what happens to him along with Katja.
While I will not spoil the end, I do believe that this is going to be a vampire series that will change the current shiny vampire, back to the blood drinking or spraying vampires that we all miss. -
(Full disclosure: I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
Eyes Like Blue Fire is a decent idea in need of an editor. It’s a story of love, loss, love again, revenge, demons, zombies, and most of all vampires.
Sounds good, right? Well, maybe.
Synopsis:
Katja is a vampire, whose sire, Anton, leaves her. She wanders aimlessly until she meets Raven Nightshade, who looks almost exactly like Anton, while she looks almost exactly like Raven’s lost love Kathryn.
Meanwhile, Anton made other vampires before he got to Katja, and one of them, is evil, evil, evil. She wants to destroy Anton’s legacy, and ruin all the happiness of his one other surviving fledgling, Katja.
And she also manages to make life awful for several generations of Raven’s family, just because.
All this comes to a head as vampire must battle vampire, and the fate of a whiny poet stands in the balance.
The review part:
I’ve never been comfortable with reviews that are snarky, or attempt to score points at the author’s expense to make the reviewer look clever.
So with that said, this book objectively shouldn’t have been published in its current form. It should have either been given to a professional editor, or to several trusted beta-readers that would be truthful and critical.
If that had happened, then almost every issue I had with the construction of this story might have been addressed. There are point-of-view switches in the middle of paragraphs, the story shifts from past to present-tense at will, and there are numerous grammatical and spelling errors.
Even these technical errors might be forgiven if not for the biggest, most glaring problem - there is no thought at all given to the consistency of the characters, or the plot itself. The plot moves forward, and whatever needs to happen to fulfill whatever is happening in a given moment, or is necessary to feed what happens next - happens. Characters who’ve spent half a chapter brooding over their own inadequacies suddenly become strong and confident. Vampires aren’t affected by crucifixes, unless they are, and then they’re not again. Minor characters are introduced, only to have major significance much later, as the connections get too incestuous and convoluted for their own good. There’s an entire scene with a completely new vampire about two-thirds of the way through, who happens to have summoned a massive snake-woman thing. It’s referred to exactly one time after that. The male lead is the most consistent character in the whole plot, and that’s because he only has four reactions: screaming, fainting, brooding, and gagging.
I wanted to give this story a real chance, and I wanted to like it - and there are several really nicely turned set-pieces, such as a zombie attack, and the first time Raven’s ex turns up in a nightmare (though constant repetition of the same scene dulls its impact), as well as a really, really nasty bit of business that answers the question, “When a previously sexy dead woman feels a certain need in her worm-infested body, what is she to do?" Its yuck, but it’s creative.
Hopefully the author will keep writing, because there is a great creative spark there, but she needs to enlist some help on the proofreading of the next book in this series. (Oh - it’s a series.) -
*I was given this book for free, in exchange for an honest/fair review
I rated this book 3.5 stars
Eyes Like Blue Fire is the first book in a series/triology? by Amanda M.Lyons about Vampires, Zombies and a lot of gory stuff that will make you gag!
Eyes Like Blue Fire has many twists and turns for it's reader the biggest one being, it's starts as a paranormal romance book, then suddenly you realise that you are now reading a horror book. I loved that! One of the most refreshing things about this book was that Vampires were presented here as they were in the days of Dracula and the original vampire books, they were not sparkling or brooding mysteriously which was great.
The setting for the book spans from the 17th century to modern Europe. Our main narrator to begin with was Katja remembering a night in her life which the reader can assume was when she turned. She seems to be destined to search the night trying to find a love, thinking that she will never be able to replaced her lover/creator Anton, due to feelings of both love and guilt. This is until she meets the young man Raven, who has also lost someone in his life and now is also living with the guilt of this, although we don't find why out until further in the book. Now that we have met Raven we also have narration from him as well including flashbacks, which since it's only two people is not that confusing YET.
Someone else also has their eye on Raven though and this person is evil! She was one of Anton's creations and her name is Marie. Her main mission in life it seems is to make Ravens family either kill themselves or go crazy and also to kill Katja. We see that she has become power hungry and has too much pride, she wants someone to love her, but she can only love herself. She refuses to create a vampire because no one has ever met her standards, but she does create Zombies, because every evil person needs followers.
Zero is also a follower of Marie, not a horrible mindless Zombie, but a man who she expanded his lifespan and oh yeah killed all of his family, but he has betrayed her and turned his back on her and has decided to help Katja. I loved Zero, i thought he was a great character who was strong and also has that sensitive side. I loved his backstory and i also liked his narration as well.
Many flashbacks are present in this book and i didn't find this to be confusing while there was only one narrator, but as the book goes further on the more narrators there are the harder it is to be able to keep track of all the story lines and also who was actual speaking at the time. Many times i would read a whole section thinking it was one character, but the get confused when it would then turn out to be a different person, leading to many paragraphs being re-read.
I liked the book but i wasn't as submerged as i normally am with a book, i found about 2/3 of the book to be quite slow paced but an amazing story line and the last 1/3 of the book had amazing action scenes and the 'big battle'. I really liked all the unexpected twists and turns. I think my main problems with the book were that it was really hard to keep track who was narrating and also spelling errors. I think with a great editor though this series can turn out to be amazing! -
Eyes like Blue Fire is a vampire story spanning the centuries, from 17th Century Europe to the present day and features a love-lorn female lead vampiress.
There are some very powerful and evocative scenes which are a real strength: some are almost poetic and I particularly liked a scene in the orchard.
There were aspects of Eyes Like Blue Fire that I found less satisfactory, in particular storyline was difficult to follow and character's backgrounds confusing. I struggled with the character 'Raven Nightshade' not only did his name seem improbable but I struggled to understand his background. Maybe I missed something so I ignored the questions forming in my head (how does a US family move country to live in a ruined Bavarian castle etc) and read on.
Although the characters became defined over the course of the story, I have to confess I found it difficult to empathise with them. Katrina I had some empathy with but as a bloke I didn't take to Raven Nightshade: introspective and dripping with angst/self pity and a poet to boot. Of course, it's good to have characters that evoke a response but I'm not sure this was the one intended. Dark, sensitive types are not intrinsically unattractive, but for me he was and I just found myself thinking 'get a grip.'
For me, the earlier parts of the book seemed more powerful and structured but thereafter the storyline became more meandering and uncertain, although the author's descriptive powers remain consistently good. -
*I was given this book free, in exchange for an honest/fair review*
This is NOT an urban fantasy romance book, this is a paranormal horror book and a damn good one! The plot is amazing! If you are thinking about sparkling vampires, just stop! This book brings them back to all their glory and gore of the underworld. The way they should be seen.
Katja is a lonely and haunted vampire. She missed her creator/lover/mentor - Anton. Katja is stuck between the past, when she was mortal to the present of being a blood thirsty vampire looking for her next meal. Her mind is never far from Anton. In fact, she still hears and sees him sporadically. Anton is leading her to someone. One of Anton’s other creations has her eyes on that someone too and will destroy him if Katja can’t get there in time to save him from destruction. Will she make it? With her apprentice be saved from destruction?
Ms. Lyon’s paints a very vivid scene, it’s almost like you are there seeing it firsthand! You feel every emotion that Katja is feeling. It’s insane, but in a good way!! Her writing style is similar to Anne Rice. There are parts in this book that made me cringe.
If you buy just one vampire book this year, it should be this one. -
After reading the book description, I was intent on reading the whole thing. Though there were a lot of things I liked about the book, there also were many things that bothered me.
The basic idea for the plot was interesting, with some intricate ideas and also well-balanced between romance and action. I also liked the flashbacks in history used to explain background and motivation of the protagonists. But despite these well-chosen ingredients I was not satisfied with the resulting story. The writing was not too bad for a first novel, but surely would have benefited from even more proof-reading and editing. Transitions between chapters/change of locations/povs were often clumsy and abrupt. And some plot twists just didn't make sense to me. Therefore, reading the book turned out to be a mostly confusing and sometimes even frustrating experience.
Another promising first novel which is based on a good idea, but suffers from poor implementation.
(I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review) -
I got this book for an honest review.
I hate giving bad reviews, but I have to be honest. This book's blurb sounded awesome, but it was confusing a lot of times. From the beginning, I felt that the writing was all over the place, and for me, at times the story was slow. The writing style just wasn't for me. Katja is a tortured vamp on a quest for love, and the mission was set up by her sire. There are other things that unfold, but I hate spoiling a book.
So all in all this book gets 2 stars for the ending, the fighting grabbed me a bit, but I still got lost a lot. -
This is a face paced read with an exciting end. The author weaves an interesting story as she slowly introduces you to new characters making them, and their back-story, easy to follow. The flash backs are weaved into the tale, making them not feel dragged out or unnecessary to the plot. Watching how all of the character’s stories come together at the end is a perfect example of the creativity of this author. Being a person to cheer on the “villain”, I was not disappointed with this book’s version. I look forward to seeing what else this author produces.
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Eyes like blue fire review
I was given a free copy of this book as part of a group review.
I really enjoyed reading this novel, with it's twists and turns - some of which were guessable, others less so.
It was an interesting start, weaving plenty of questions into the back history of the characters.
I like the gothic undertones and classic feel of this story, though things like castles etc could be viewed as a little cliche but I understand they fitted with the location and time period.
There unfortunately were a number of typos starting in the first chapter so a slightly finer edit may have been needed. The text wasn't justified which I felt should have been, especially as this was a paperback edition, and it caused some paragraphs to be a little out of format in some areas. Punctuation also could do with a bit of work and editing, but I am an editor by trade which makes me that little bit more picky!
I liked the way the story was based over different time periods, displaying the scope of Katja's past, however I did find the back and forth of the story a little confusing in places, and the timeline a little unsure. I was unsure how 'modern' the present day scenes were at first as instances such as the girl on the bench had a feel of an older time, and Katja's memories of Anton and Sebastian sometimes felt a little muddled. I think it potentially went back and forth too much in certain places, confusing me a little.
The speech was sometimes not entirely accurate for the period in which some of the scenes were set (17th century), and Katja's adresses to Sebastian (once she knows he is related to her master) could have been a little more realistic in terms of how she speaks to him ("do that again and you'll regret it" is not something a servant girl would have said to a member of her master's family - no matter how much she may have wanted to!) there is no real separation of speech between the old and new scenes which was a shame.
Overall, however, I enjoyed reading this novel despite its faults. It was an interesting plot line, weaving characters together and creating a character in Katja I would like to see more of, given the right plot line. -
*I was kindly sent a free copy to read in return for writing an honest review of the book*
Despite the low star rating, there is nothing that I would say is particularly wrong with the book itself or the writing style. It is just not the type of book that I personally enjoy. I am very much into action packed urban fantasy and this comes more under gothic historical fiction featuring vampires.
Other reviews already recount the plot so I will concentrate on what I felt were the positive and negative things in the book.
The positives:
1)-the author invests time in character development, especially what is going on in the mind of the main character, showing her feelings and emotions, and trying to create a bond between vampire and reader
2)-the author spends time setting the scene to try to draw the reader into the world, with lots of description and scene setting
3)-it delves into the personal history of the character to explain her current circumstances, giving you an idea what makes her tick
If you like this kind of fully descriptive, world building book, have patience to follow a slow building plot or are fans of Anne Rice and gothic vampire tales, you will probably like this.
The negatives:
I found it to be too slow and over descriptive for my personal taste but that does not make it 'wrong' of course. It all comes down to personal taste. I was more interested in her life as a vampire than what she was doing as a human so it dragged in places for me. Reading the full history of a character is not something that I generally enjoy in a book nor are frequent flashbacks so I did find this a bit of a struggle.
The book is targeted at a specific kind of vampire fan-unfortunately it just didn't suit me. Thank you very much to Ms Lyons for sending me a copy to read. I appreciated your time and kindness and wish you good luck with the book and future books. -
I don't usually read vampire fiction, but I felt the need to do something different and stretch out a little bit. I wasn't disappointed.
Not being a vampire reader, I have been laboring under the misguided idea for years now that all new vampire fiction had gone the route of Twilight. But here, in Ms. Lyons's debut novel, I see that I was mistaken. Actual vampires do still roam the underworld of the horror genre, much to my surprise and delight. The atmosphere in this book is sufficiently heavy and dark, but without being a copy of old horror tropes. The lead character, Katja, is a very sympathetic protagonist in the same vein (hah) as Louie, the reluctant creature of the night and narrator of Interview with the Vampire. I don't really know how to get into the actual novel without giving a lot of it away, so I won't. Katja roams the night not seeking blood, but love. Her world is one of past blending with the present, of regrets and mistakes and bone-deep longing.
This novel is very obviously a personal work, and the author's passion comes through the page. There will be times, as you read along, when suddenly a phrase or a scene will come that is so succinct, so poignant, that you need to stop and contemplate it. These unexpected jewels can make any book, no matter the genre, a treasure. Even when something isn't my particular cup of tea, I can appreciate it. And I would recommend this work to lover's of the vampire sub-genre of horror. -
This book was a fantastic read. I'll give it 5 stars easily. Gothic vampire is definitely not a genre I read a lot in, perhaps ever at all. But Amanda's synopsis sounded interesting and I thought I'd give the genre a try. I must say, I'm a fan now. So kudos to Lyons because I'll be reading in this genre much more. I'm gonna read her sequel soon, in fact!
What I liked best about this book was the main character, Katja. I've read other reviews of this book and most readers liked the character Zero. Well, he was my second favorite character. I found myself pulling for the protagonist, the auburn-haired vampiress Katja. The first half of the book was understanding her past and how she came to be a vampire in the modern day. I thought her back story was handled very well. It felt like I was on Katja's team, everything that happened to her was page-turning.
The book had many flashbacks throughout it. While sometimes this can be confusing, the author did a great job of keeping the timeline simple and understandable.
The big finale was definitely great to read as well! All in all, this book has my 5-star rating and I'm very happy to have read it.
((I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review)) -
*I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review*
I really wanted to give this story a chance, but I had a hard time finishing the book as I stayed very confused. Characters are introduced all over the place and I was never sure which character I was reading at any given time as the point of view changed frequently. The book also switches from past to present often and without a warning.
The book started off very strong and had me completely drawn in as I really wanted to know what was going to happen next. As the characters developed that is where I started getting lost.
With that being said I think this could be a great story as you can tell the author has invested a lot of time into a very interesting plot. Maybe this one is just not for me.
I really wish the author great luck with this series.
Overall, I give this 2.5 stars! -
I can best describe this book as a delicious blend of the romantic and horrific and at times poetic. I really enjoyed this book. The first chapter especially blew me away with the poetic description of the character and what she was thinking and about her past which comes to you the reader in vivid description. This novel is written so well that when reading it you forget that you're reading--you're actually seeing the story--terrific suspension of disbelief! Her writing reminds me of both Anne Rice and Stephen King, but she also has her own unique voice. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.
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I immensely enjoyed Eyes Like Blue Fire. I found myself reading into the wee morning hours, when I should have been in bed, I didn't want to put it down! I read the book within three days of purchase, and await the second book. If you are a fan of Stephen King or Dean Koontz, I would bet money that you will like Ms. Lyon's book too. Paints vivid mental pictures for you. Bravo Amanda!
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I read some sort of vampiric myth or series every year. I really love when some new concept is thrown into the storyline. Either adding to canonical texts, deepening the struggles of holding onto humanity and/or the theologically deep rooted beliefs. In the historical context masters are creators and should be mentors. If they become lovers it never seems to end well. With the Master’s his eyes being a blue like fire there are so many places that could take us. I loved every single one off of them. The Narrator added to the story.
* I highly recommend this book. In lieu of an honest review of the book I received a free copy of this book. -
This book was boring to start but picked up and got to be good.Narration by Sarah Jane Rose was done well.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'
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This is the first novel by this Author in the Broken Edges series.
There has been a lot of time invested in the development of the characters in this book. The Author describes in great detail the emotions, feelings and thoughts of the main female lead, in an effort to create a link/bond between the character and the reader. There is a lot of backstory for the main lead also, which helps explain her current circumstances and the motivation for doing the things she does. Not the same can be said for the male lead, he is full of angst and intricacies that make him not a very lovable character at all; he really reminded me of a teenager who declares all too often that the world doesn't understand what he’s going through. In a sense this is true, as we don’t understand his particular lifestyle, what may have helped him would have been the Author giving him as much attention to detail as she did the female lead. Other characters in the novel seemed to appear for no obvious reason and then leave just as quickly. Even though some of their involvement in the plot was explained at a later date, it still made their sudden appearance seemed a mite contrived. The character I enjoyed the most in the novel was the villain, unfortunately she didn't appear until about a third of the way through the book. She was, as all good villains should be, malicious, vindictive and violent.
The full history of a main character, and the time taken to build a world, is something I usually enjoy in a book (the sweeping epic), but for one of this length it was not needed, along with the all too frequent flashbacks. But again, if this is something you enjoy in your reads, you won't be disappointed in this one as it delivers in all three areas.
The novel also contains a lot of descriptive scene setting, again in an attempt to draw the reader into the world between the novels pages. For some this may be too much description and not enough dialogue, but I actually liked this aspect of the book, along with the fight scenes, as I am not a lover of the ‘chatty’ novel. However, the amount of descriptiveness in the book has a tendency to slow the plot down, and it’s not a fast paced building plot to begin with.
After reading the summary I was interested enough to want to read the whole book, and it did start off with such promise. However, the formatting on both my Kindle for iPad and for PC was diabolical. There were sentences cut off halfway through, and being turned into paragraphs; chapter numbers appeared in a seemingly random way and, it was very rare for one to appear in the intended spot. This really interfered in my enjoyment of the novel, and actually made carrying on to the end a painful task. As I have said, in a previous review though, I will not put a book aside completely unfinished as I feel that is more of an insult to the Author than a mediocre review.
Would I recommend this to others? Yes, especially to the fans of The Twilight series and Vampire Diaries lovers, it is right up their street. If you are looking for something vampiric along the lines of Anne Rice, I would steer clear, this is not for you. I would actually classify this as a nice little book for YA readers.
If not for the formatting debacle, and the inconsistencies in the appearance and development of some characters, I feel I would have really enjoyed this book. As it is though, I wasn't made to care enough for the lead to make me want to read any of the other novels in this series.
Originally reviewed on:
http://catesbooknuthut.wordpress.com/...
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. -
What a great vampire book! This is not a Paranormal romance! Don’t think that! There’s a bit of a romance element, but the main point here is all paranormal horror! It’s an amazing novel which deals with vampires in such a different light! Above all, they don’t sparkle! The general plot of this novel is engaging and well written, and it just gets better each page you flip!
I really enjoyed the setting of this novel, it’s so rich in detail and lends so much to the story. I really enjoyed reading this book, and each scene was very well described. The characters are so well rounded as well. I love that the vampires are one dimensional, they have a story, multiple emotions, mostly, and such wonderful character development throughout the novel!
This is definitely a book to pick up, horror lovers, it’s got the gore, the thrills and everything you are looking for. It’s well written and breathes new life into vampires. If you are only reading one vampire book, this should be the one because it blows the others out of the water in the horror genre! As i’ve stated, it’s not a romance! Go get it!
*I was given this book in exchange for an honest review on my blog -
I was given a copy of this book by the author for a fair and honest review.
This is about, Katja, a vampire. This story also tells about her life before she was a vampire. Her life was not good, and now she wanders about as a vampire, looking for love, but not really wanting it.
She does meet Zero, and he tells her of the truth of why she became a vampire. She is not happy about this. Will have to read the next book to find out what she does.
I thought this was a good book and it flowed nicely, even though it went back and forth to different time periods.
My thanks to Amanda M Lyons for the opportunity to read this book.
