The vampires in The Second Species series do a lot of things—they have wings, they fly, they fall in love, they drink blood, they kill—but they do not sparkle. Since they live and walk among humans, sparkling would be a dead giveaway. Marek even owns a restaurant in New Orleans. But not all is well in their world.
Parts of Shadow Revealed, the eighth book in the series, are a repeat from a previous book in The Second Species series. At first, I thought I was reading the wrong book because these sections were so familiar to me. But the repeated sections are extremely relevant to Shadow Revealed. Reading them again didn’t bother me too much because Mircea Ravagiu had been captured and was imprisoned, one of the things that I’d been waiting to happen throughout this entire series.
Marek’s sister, who Mircea had replaced with another child, has returned to her true family. Mircea had raised Marek’s sister, even marrying her. Unfortunately, she really is in love with Mircea although she knows what he did to her birth family now. She thinks her former husband is dead though until Marek reveals to her that he is in prison.
Marek once again digs deep into the holy books of the vampires. This time, he researches more deeply than he ever has before. While doing so, he makes an astonishing discovery about how some of it has been translated wrong and who the Intamplare, the one foretold to be both their savior and their destroyer, really is. Some of what he discovers causes him to convince his brothers—who might not actually be his brothers— to move up the dates of their weddings.
Something big is brewing. The next book is the last book in this series, and Marek is about to make it known that he is the Intamplare. What will happen when he does that? Could Mircea have a plan for escaping justice up his sleeve?
Intamplare is an aventurieri word. At the end of this book the author has thoughtfully provided a dictionary of the aventurieri words used in this story.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Shadow Revealed is now out of print and has limited availability, but I’m still providing its Amazon link. If you would like a copy of this book and keep checking the link, you might find a copy for sale.
Amazon Link: Shadow Revealed
Recommended Article:
Favorite Sentences:
As far as Marek was concerned, two months was too brief a time for Mircea Ravagiu to languish in the sectiuna’s dungeon.
Exile, a century in Hell, and acclimatization to a new century and a completely alien world hadn’t lessened Marek’s thirst for revenge.
That part of the plan was still a mere musing in the back of his mind, like a prickly sensation struggling to break into a full-blown itch.
Streetwise but Caring did a great deal of good in New Orleans by offering aid to anyone needing it and not merely the underprivileged and homeless.
About the Author:
A writer of French Huguenot extraction, Tony-Paul de Vissage’s first movie memory is of being six years old, viewing the old Universal horror flick, Dracula’s Daughter on television, and being scared sleepless–and that may explain a lifelong interest in vampires.
This was further inspired when the author was kidnapped by a band of transplanted Romanian vampires sightseeing in the South. Having never seen a human who wasn’t frightened of them, they offered to pay the youngster’s way through college if he would become an author and write about vampires in a positive manner. He agreed, was returned to his parents (who were also grateful for the tuition offer since it let them off the hook) and continued to keep in touch with his supernatural mentors.
Though the author didn’t begin writing horror–or any other genre–until after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from a well-known Southern University (and a second in Graphic Art), that one particular interest—and the promise made to his mentors—survived a liberal arts’ education and the scorn of friends and family. Marriage, parenthood, divorce, and a variety of occupations ranging from stage work to doctor’s assistant took precedent over writing for several years, as did moving from one United States coast to another.
Eventually that first story—a short story about the hapless vampire Clan Andriescu—was published. A voracious reader whose personal library has been shipped more than 3,000 miles, Tony-Paul has read hundreds of vampire tales and viewed more than as many movies.
