Knight, E.E.

 

VALENTINE’S EXILE
E.E. Knight
ROC 2006
Hb 323 pages
ISBN# 0-451-46087-1

Cool! From the awesome cover to the surprise ending, this is one cool book! I’m going to have to put the Vampire Earth series on my “Favorites” list because it has everything I need in a good read: action/adventure, great characterization, world-building and description that make you feel like you’re there, a convincing plot with a “wow” factor and new destinations to explore, mystery/suspense with a twist that isn’t too predictable, and relationships between characters that make them more than cardboard cutouts dancing on the page. VALENTINE’S EXILE is fifth in the series—start with WAY OF THE WOLF [review this site] because these books are not stand-alones.

If you have read the previous four and are wondering what this one’s about, I’ll give you only enough to nibble on so as not to spoil your fun—you’re definitely going to want to read this one. David’s “exile” is another one of those cases where false charges have been brought against him—this time by that despicable Martinez who is now a general in Southern Command. Duvalier and Ahn-Kha spring David out of prison, then they’re on the run into the Kurian Zone, this time Kentucky and Ohio. David’s friend William Post is badly injured at the beginning of the book, and asks David to find his wife for him. So begins the mystery of what happens to women who have been disappearing into the KZ. Since David can’t go back to the Ozark Free Territory, he goes on this quest instead. And what he finds made me jump.

Except for a little repetition of plot from previous books, VALENTINE’S EXILE is the perfect read to escape reality for awhile.

Return to Reviews