Review - The Vrykolakas Deviation

The Vrykolakas Deviation

by Sherri Lackey

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BLURB:

Keeva lives her life on the run, changing identities and personas. She is running from monsters she has never seen - vrykolakes, vampire creatures her father, Sandor, has told her stories about all her life. She had almost convinced herself that these monsters had all died in a volcano eruption on the island of Strongili long ago.

But when a vrykolakas named Severin kills Mandy, her best friend, she discovers the vrykolakes are alive and well. Keeva knows about Severin from her father’s stories, and her first impulse is to kill him and rid the world of the evil vrykolakas. She feels drawn to him however, and takes him prisoner. She hopes to better understand the vrykolakes and perhaps better understand herself. She is over two thousand years old. She doesn't know who or what she is, but she wants to find out. In order to do that, she has to discover her past. Severin might be the place to start looking for a connection to the past. Or, he could be the worst mistake Keeva has ever made.

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 My review:

I was looking forward to starting this.  It sounded like an interesting new type of and twist on vampires.  And it was.  Keeva and her father, Sandor, are a type of immortal.  But not vampires.  Severin is a vrykolakes, which is a form of vampire but is more about draining life essences than blood. 

Keeva manages to capture Severin one night while he is attacking her friend Mandy.  In a twist Keeva manages to stop him and reverse the process, which saves Mandy but turns her into a being similar to Keeva in power and abilities.

After keeping Severin captive for a time and repeatedly draining his power to keep him trapped her feelings about the situation begin to change.  Until one night she lets him go free.  At this point we meet her father, Sandor,  when she calls him to come and talk about what is going on.

Of course this is not the last we see of Severin, we hear from him again when Keeva moves to where her father is living.  He needs her help but Sandor has no trust for him in either words or actions based on their history.   Here is where the story really gets interesting, we learn about what happened in the ancient past.  Why Sandor and Severin do not get along.  Why Sandor and Keeva are a different type of being than a vampire.  And have quite a few myths and legends that give a time and location basis for the events that transpired. 

After we learn about the past it comes time to see if Keeva trusts Severin and is willing to help him with his battle with old relations of all of them.  If Sandor and Severin can make up over the past that they had no control over.  And what happened to Mandy and how is she coping with her changes.

The story is very well thought out and while it does cover quite a bit of time in  both present and remembering the past it does not get confusing.  I thought though that the beginning first person narration was a bit awkward.  I know it is supposed to be working as a journal but I didnt think it had a good flow.  But when we move to third and the stories of the past I thought it flowed smoothly. 

The range of characters was interesting and all had a good background and enough detail to make them important and worth reading about.  You want to find out what happens.  And see if they can overcome their differences and work together against a common enemy.

Check this out if you like mythology mixed in your stories.  And like tales about vampires that are not just your traditional blood suckers.