3.0 out of 5 stars Vampire apocalypse--no sparkles here...
The third and final book in this series almost screams MOVIE! As I read it, I couldn't help but see the cinematic version on the big screen. That said, I liked it well enough. This was not a "touchy, feely" vampire novel; it mainly consisted of scene after scene of completely implausible battles between the small band of human rebels who hadn't been turned or corrupted and the vampires who were in control of the entire planet. The reader must suspend disbelief at the peril this ragtag band endures and escapes!
Starting off where the second one ended, Dr. Eph Goodweather and the motley crew he leads, are trying in vain to figure out how to get Eph's son back (Zach was kidnapped by his mother and taken to the Master) and how to find the Master and destroy him. In between hiding in their various hidden lairs and combating marauding vampires, they acquire a nuclear weapon that lacks a detonator. Meanwhile, Nora and Fet are drawn closer together and the other supporting characters are dealing with their own personal issues. Guided by The Born (aka Mr. Quinlan, an offspring of the Master), they also seek to discover the place of the Master's origin so they can detonate the bomb there, kill the Master, and bring vampire rule to an end. This new world has undergone a lot of changes since humans were subjugated as blood suppliers (type B+ is preferred) and the darkness descended. There are no computers, cell phones or other modern devices, and any humans not in captivity serve the Master or have been corrupted into the various occupations that keep the vampires fed and humans controlled. The main characters survive unbelievable peril as they try to decipher THE LUMEN, an old silver-edged book that tells about the rise of the Ancients and its relation to the Biblical "fall of the angels" battle. Convoluted? Yes, but it all sort of makes sense in a way that another explanation might not. Some have complained about the religious aspect of the epic, but I thought it fit.
Does this ragtag band of fighters save the day and restore the planet to the humans? The narrative moves at a fast pace and reaches a somewhat predictable conclusion. If not wholly satisfying, the reader will at least be glad to have reached the end. I can't imagine reading this book without having read the previous two. I'm not a huge fan of this genre, which I would call futuristic horror, but I did enjoy this alternative "end of the world as we know it" novel with its unique approach: apocalypse by vampire.
