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ReVamped

J. F. Lewis

Published 2009      388 pages

Summary (from the book jacket)

Eric has lost his strip club, his Mustang, and even Marilyn, the elderly love of his (mortal) life. Even his body was obliterated. In short, they almost got him. But when you're a vampire, "almost" is a very important word. With a little magical help from his friends, Eric is restored to corporeal form, but his treasured Mustang gets caught up in the sorcery and winds up with an unlife of its own. Now, along with "Fang the 'Stang," he's out to save Marilyn from one of Void City's most powerful soul-stealing demons. But salvation comes at a high price, forcing Eric to venture into his own worst nightmare, Vampire High Society, to uncover the truth about the origin of his powers.

At the same time, Eric's ex-girlfriend, Tabitha, has begun to wonder exactly what it was that she admired about those High Society Vampires in the first place. Her quest to find her own place in this deceptively vicious circle may lead her right back to Eric's side -- if her little sister, Rachel, doesn't kill her first. And Eric will need all the help he can get, because it looks like someone is after his soul, too. Blood will flow, fangs will be bared, and the claws will come out, because revenge is never pretty… and Eric has plenty to pass around.

The Review

ReVamped is the second book in the Void City series by fantasy author J.F. Lewis. It continues the adventures of Eric, a hugely powerful vampire with memory problems, and Tabitha his newly made vampire ex-girlfriend. The story is narrated in first person by both Tabitha and Eric - giving readers a balanced perspective of events from two opposing points of view.

ReVamped follows on from exactly where the first novel in this series (Staked) finished. At the start of the story Eric gives readers a quick recap of events so far which should be enough to clue in readers new to the series, so you don’t have to read these books in order. Although it’s worth pointing out that you might want to start with Staked since it is such good fun to read.

Readers who are familiar with Staked will recall that the story ended with Eric being vaporised when his strip club was blown up with blessed shaped C-4 explosive charges. For normal vampires the complete obliteration of their physical form would be enough to end their existence – but not Eric. In this mythology vampires have a classification system for their power and abilities that dictates the pecking order. Vlad class vampires (with abilities akin to a Hammer Horror style Dracula) are usually at the top of the food chain but it is apparent that even if Eric can not remember how he became a vampire he certainly lucked out in the undead lottery by ending up the rarest type of vampire – an Emperor. 

Emperor vampires are apex predators and there are only a handful of them in the whole world. Eric has always stayed away from the older high society vampires who might have been able to tell him more about himself and his abilities – so it is a voyage of discovery for both Eric and the reader as he tests the limits of his Emperor powers. The first test is to get his body back – not an easy task without any ash remains…

ReVamped is a hugely entertaining novel. Written with twisted humour all the characters have original personalities - Eric in particular makes the perfect antidote to some of the nice heroic vampires that litter the pages of urban fantasy novels today. He’s likable, and you can’t help but enjoy his path of destruction though vampire high society, but he still eats people without remorse - and somehow as a reader I’m okay with that.

Jam-packed with magic, mages, demons and vampires – ReVamped meets all of the requirements for even the most demanding urban fantasy fan.  Full of sex and death and vampires and above all fun – what more could you need?

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