Vampyr Legion by Alan Gibbons

Vampyr Legion Reviews

• 
  Daisy

  Well, I'm torn. This was a good sequel, not as good as the first but still good. In fact it actually had a much better ending than the first. I enjoyed it. But at the same time I'm like, What the hell are you doing Alan Gibbons!?!?!
  
  To explain the excessive use of punctuation above, I have to say that this was SO much more violent then the first book in the series. I'm sorry, I was under the illusion that this was supposed to be a kids' book? Descriptions worthy of an adult horror (or at least YA), about throats being ripped out and stabbing vampires with stakes were mentioned in passing. Let's remember that our main character here is fourteen years old.
  
  And on that subject, our protagonist in this book in Phoenix Graves. He is one of the strangest protagonists I've ever come across. In any other situation he could easily be the villain. Even if you ignore the fact that he deceives and lies to his friends and family without much reason, he is still described in a dark sort of way. For instance, he 'threw back his head and laughed' when he brandished a knife at someone and some other people mistook this as an attempted murder, and his reactions to tragedies were just plain weird.
  
  

  Seven dead. He frowned.

  
  
  No, no, no, no, no. Just no. You don't frown when you remember seven people just died. And this is all we get. He doesn't wonder what it would be like if that was him dead, or his friend, rather than them. He doesn't get angry that seven innocents died needlessly. It never crosses his mind to give them a funeral or do something to remember their sacrifice.
  
  And this is our good guy. This is actually a real pet peeve for me in books. It's stupid when major characters don't even seem to care about minor characters deaths. Even if they have just met. FYI - death is a big deal!
  
  Despite all this, Phoenix is not a character I hate. No way. It's hard to explain if you haven't read the book, but I did really like him at times. But at others I hated him. He's that kind of character. It's the second book and I still can't figure that guy out.
  
  Some examples of perhaps not Phoenix's best moments:
  
  ♦ The author seems to think that now Phoenix has made it through the first Legendeer game, he is suddenly an expert on fighting for his life against mythical creatures. He is seemingly not at all disturbed by Vampyrs killing almost everyone around him and violently kills them (the Vampyrs that is) without a second thought. And I'll say it again, he's fourteen. He may not be disturbed, but I am.
  
  ♦ Gees, this boy talks to himself all. the. time. I know he's meant to be a bit unusual, but the way he does it is just seriously annoying. Not one of his best traits.
  
  ♦ Phoenix is always going on about his destiny. Uh, since when has he even had one? As far as I know he just invented this to make himself seem cooler or something. I don't know.
  
  So if this is our good guy, who's the bad guy? Well, naturally there's a mysterious, powerful, evil spirit that can't be killed steering the whole operation, but when it comes to Phoenix's personal enemy, enter Steve Adams.
  
  Wow. Adams is such a cool character to read about. The scenes with him in were by far the best. I feel like he should have some epic entrance music on every time he walks in - like Darth Vader. I found him an entertaining villain, well moulded in the way that you hate his character but love his presence. Oh, and, that catchphrase of his is freaking golden.
  
  Then there's Phoenix's 'sidekick', shall we say, Laura. Like in the first book, sometimes Phoenix gets so melodramatic you can't help but thank the gods that she's around. Sometimes I did think she was a bit too damsel-in-distress-y, in the way that she always seemed the first to notice danger, and Phoenix the first to try and help. I really don't mind if she's not as brave as him, but this...? In the beginning I also thought the fact that she was black had to much emphasis. Maybe that's just me, but we really don't need telling what colour her skin is more than once.
  
  The thing with the story in this book is that it's trying so hard to be theatrical that it's not theatrical. Like the characters keep making big deals out of stuff I didn't really consider to be big deals. For example, this whole thing about the room with an exit but no entrance? I didn't find this mysterious or intriguing if I'm honest. My thoughts about the whole thing were pretty much just, But don't most rooms only have one door?
  
  A really stupid part I thought was the part where Phoenix fell of a cliff with a Vampyr. Let me set the scene here. It was a high cliff. There were boulders at the bottom. The Vampyr that fell with him died instantly upon hitting the ground. Phoenix himself is knocked unconscious, before minutes later springing up completely uninjured. No broken bones, no concussion, no nothing. And he's totally fit to fight a huge taloned Vampyr thing and climb all the way back up the cliff afterwards. You have got to be kidding me. He didn't fall on anything different to the vamp! His decent wasn't slower! It just doesn't make sense.
  
  I didn't really understand why the author even decided to bring in vampires in the first place. If we think back to the first book: The main character and his mum are both obsessed with Greek mythology. From Greek decent. Phoenix is named after a mythological creature. Shadow of the Minotaur fitted all this. Cool. Fine. Great. Then in the next book the author decides to bring in creatures from completely different legends. Erm ... why ... exactly?
  
  I did prefer the first book, but I do think this had a more complex storyline which had more depth to it, which was nice to see. Plus the ending was so much better - climatic, logical and satisfying rather than the sudden, easy and random end the previous book had. It's a shame it had to get so much more violent because I had been considering reading it with my little brother, who likes videogames. Now I don't think I can because he gets scared extremely easily, so this book would not be good for him.
  
  Despite everything I've said in this review, this book was enjoyable, and I can't wait to read the finale!
• 
  Sedna Dragon

  Better than the first and scratched that Dracula itch well. The battles and story are gripping and the whole thing flew by fast.
• 
  Madalin

  O noua lume, un nou mit, vampiri. Phoenix isi urmeaza destinul. I-a lipsit acel mister pe care prima carte l-a avut, a doua fiind mai mult o lupta cu timpul, fiecare noapte avand posibilitatea de a fi ultima. Ar putea fi si din cauza ca vampirii sunt un concept mult prea folosit. Totusi, nu m-a dezamagit.
• 
  Vincent

  Vampyr Legion by Alan Gibbons, is the second book in the Legendeer series. Pheonix Graves, a young teenager has a daring job to do. He must stop Vampyrs and Werewolves poised to take over his world. The evil Gamemaster is creating these minions and is about to invade Pheonix' world. Pheonix has to find someway to stop the Gamemaster in this amazing science fiction novel.
  This book was extremely interesting to me because around every turn, there was some kind of danger awaiting Pheonix. The description of the werewolves and vampyrs made these monsters somehow seem realistic. It is a great example of how humans are no longer the dominant predators. Instead, the Vampyrs and werewolfs are. There was lots of action and fighting in this book as the humans have to do everything in their powere to stop the monsters from destroying them. Almost all of the nights inside of the book were filled with action and fighting leading to a very dramatic ending.
  I would recommend this book to anybody who likes a good action book or a good science fiction book. This is extremely intense and in my opinion, is 5 stars out of 5 stars.
• 
  Arely

  This book didn't disappointed me, but it didn't blow my mind either. I can see the story developing around Phoenix's connection to the game. I was a little sad that it didn't include old characters from the previous book. However, the new legend kept me intrigue and provided a fresh setting. I really like the idea that there are many more worlds out there besides the Greek myth world and "our" world. I am just curious why the Game master is so interested in "our" world.
  P.S. I like how Phoenix's and Laura's relationship is developing. And I like Laura's aptitude. She is scared of the game world, but she doesn't want to be left behind by Phoenix because he thinks he needs to protect her. Also, Adams became a new kind of evil in this book. It seems like a very drastic change, but I guess that's what happens when you are the apprentice of the evil game master.
• 
  Anita

  In this story, the second book in the 'Legendeer Trilogy' (Book 1: 'The Shadow Of The Minotaur), sees the protagonist of the story teaming up with Van Helsing's descendants and battling the undead in the myth world of Transylvania. But is it just a myth, or is it a gateway for the (yet, disembodied) Gamesmaster to gain access to the real world when masses of unsuspecting teens begin playing a new computer game that is more real than virtual. One boy against the hordes of hell, who will prevail? This book does not do much more than be the bridge between Book 1 and Book 3, not much flesh here (pun intended) -- but to be fair, I am not all that fond of reading about werewolves, vampires, zombies or other 'creatures' of the night.
• 
  The Styling Librarian

  Vampyr Legion - The Legendeer Trilogy book 2 by Alan Gibbons - interesting story continuation. I found the Cha rafters that were part of the game endearing and hard to not become attached to but with vampires and werewolves running around, it was hard to not distance myself with the expectation that they'd all be killed by the end of the book. Very interesting story. Looking forward to the conclusion!
• 
  Nikhil Shibnauth

  Not as good as the first, yet very enjoyable reading. Darker and more complex than the first though.
• 
  Iris-Anamaria Cristea

  A little bit of horror with vampire theme. One of the best vampire books I've read so far. :)