Review of No Truce With The Vampires: Those Who Wake

[Patrícia Gomes]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "No Truce With The Vampires: Those Who Wake" by Martyn Rhys Vaughan.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Do you know when you need a good book to escape into and forget about reality? That’s precisely the feeling I was hoping for with No Truce With The Vampires: Those Who Wake by Martyn Rhys Vaughan, and I must say I was not disappointed. This book is the sequel to the first book, which is always extremely exciting due to the possibility of finding new plot twists and understandings regarding the first book.

In the first book, Charles Gray, a human police officer, is entrusted with a weird and sinister case. Charles is a human living in a world dominated by vampires, which is already scary to say the least, but the most frightening part is that he has to investigate the murder of one vampire, who was murdered in such a cruel and astonishing manner that not even Charles or Serafina, his partner, understand how any human or even another vampire could do such a thing.

In this second book, after understanding that there is a third force wanting to rule the world, the vampires and humans, especially a resistance group created to overshadow the vampire domination, have no alternative but to join forces and go to war with this new force, the Old Gods. Through the minds of two vampires, the reader understands a bit more about their fears and ambitions, regulating what used to be an enemy conjecture and turning it into a joint force to combat the Old Gods. But what are they really dealing with? After all, what we don’t know is what we fear the most.

I have to say that what I loved the most about this book was the representation of vampires. Don’t get me wrong, I love how there is space for vampires in 21st-century television series and movies, but they are often romanticized or even humanized to make us create a deeper connection with them. However, when the figure of vampires was created, they were not our friends, to say the least. Martyn Rhys Vaughan managed to describe the cruelty and raw demeanor of vampires, who have to be feared rather than being likable. The world-building is also a strong point of this book, as there is no room for any reader to imagine something different than what the author wanted, which is remarkable and hard to achieve.

However, without meaning to be contradictory, even though I loved the description of the vampires and their scary skills and personalities, the truth is that the book had space to create a better understanding of these mythological creatures, as the first book is heavily dense on Charles as a human, and with this second book, there was room for a deeper connection with the vampires if that was the author’s intention.

Despite this little downside, I didn’t encounter any errors in this book and believe it was professionally edited. I give the book 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good dystopian reading experience or is, like some of us, obsessed with the idea of vampires. However, due to the strong language and sometimes graphic content, I would be careful with this recommendation if this could present any sort of trigger to anyone.

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No Truce With The Vampires: Those Who Wake
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[Kibet Hillary]

My curiosity is piqued to know who the Old Gods were and whether they were defeated by the coalition of humans and vampires. I am glad that the author not only had an amazing plot but also a captivating narration. The novel sounds thrilling, and I look forward to reading it. Many thanks for the review, @Patrícia Gomes.

[NetMassimo]

I had a good impression reading the review of the first book, as a thriller adventure in a world ruled by vampires seemed intriguing and made me curious about the plot. Despite the little downside you mentioned, I'm inclined to try this series because, overall, this sequel seems good as well. Thank you for your great review!