refugeinabook: VAMPIRE PLAGUES SERIES: “Paris, 1850” by Sebastian Rook

Book Review: Vampire Plagues Series, Paris, 1850 by Sebastian Rook Refuge Review: Vampire Plagues Series

A SPOIL FREE SUMMARY

Professor Adensap is invited to France, the visit a friend, the Vicomte, Dampierre, who found a Mayan artifact and that is currently being kept at the Louvre. Jack, Ben, and Emily go along and discover the disease that hit London is happening in Paris-people are dying of anemia. It seems they didn't manage to banish the vampire demon for good, and once again the trio take up the mantle of fighting him.

OUR RETURNING CHARACTERS

As for Jack's character development, it's mentioned briefly that Jack has had a hard time adapting to his new life, but this isn't dwelt on enough to see the effect of this on his friends. That disappointed me. Although it was fun to watch his awkwardness of being admired by a new character, Dominique. And it was sweet to watch their friendship develop as he learns to appreciate her and the risks she takes for him, a boy she just met. It's really from her presence that we learn more about aspects of his personality.

Ben and Emily return in their same roles, Emily as the translator, and Ben as a leader. When it comes to character development, I suppose it is slightly stagnant. Relationships don't change much within the group, and even though the two apologize to Jack for not believing him about Camazotz there isn't really time to dwell on this, and how it made Jack feel.

Professor Adensnap returns as our mentor. But he is not in this book as much as the last one, to my disappointment.

OUR NEW CHARACTERS

Dampierre “The Vicomte” is the archaeologist who found “the eye”. He seems to be our mentor character, but he doesn't quite replace Adensnap, as our characters don't get to know him that well. Still, he does serve a purpose in the story. He has knowledge about Camazotz, and has an ancient manuscript that may help. His personality is nothing like Adensnap as he thinks himself rather important and even above the rules because of his position.

Dominique is the Vicomte's niece. In the beginning, she seems silly and a little dumb, but her tendency to babble on about unimportant topics are actually quite amusing. And she doesn't stay this two dimensional for long. After Jack saves her life, she becomes infatuated with him. She could have easily been a nuisance, but instead she joins the group in their fight to defeat Camazotz. Her presence at first serves to make Jack uncomfortable, but he soon grows to respect her bravery, and they develop a sweet friendship.

THIS FEELS FAMILIAR...

There are many aspects of the story that feel like a rerun of the first book. The Vicomte as our new version of Adensnap. He has a manuscript that needs translating. You get a feeling of deja vu in that regard. But there are plenty of new elements to keep you interested and in reality, in each book were learn more about Camazotz, and we can't do this without new manuscripts. Obviously, the Vicomte was needed to bring our characters to Paris. In that sense, we have to rinse and repeat regarding this pattern.

AN ODD BEGINNING

The book opens with a dream sequence. We enter Jack's personal thoughts of how he is fed up with Ben, for trying to teach him how to act, and how he misses the freedom he once had but no longer fits in with his old crowd. So when it ends up being a nightmare, with everyone turning into a vampire, this reader was left slightly confused. Was Jack really mad at Ben? Or was this a dream-argument with dream-Ben?
I think it might have served the book better to have had the scene at the docks be real and later, simply reference that Jack has been having nightmares. Or even cut to that later, showing him waking up screaming.

FORSHADOWING

Their is a slight hint at what is to come when Jack dreams, and discovers the bat artifact in his pocket. Also, Jack spots someone in the museum that doesn't seem important, but later comes into play when Jack falls into a trap.

WHAT'S NEW?

What was hinted at in the first book, the importance of the two artifacts, the “bat” and the “crown” are finally revealed. And the bulk of this book focuses on this new information and will eventually lead us to the third book. We learn about Chac, another Mayan idol, who was the enemy of Camazotz.

PACING

The pacing of this book overall, is slightly slower than the last one. Something bad happens that urges our heroes to recognize that Camazotz is alive and well pretty fast, but it's not until we are halfway though the book that we are forced to face a vampire head on. Although, to be fair, we get a precursor to the trouble three chapters before.

A DEATH

When a character dies, there isn't a feeling of sadness for very long. One might critique that aspect as a lack in character development or realism, but I believe Rook spent little time on it so as not to slow the pace of the story down. Although, I do think it would have been nice if some time later in the story was spent mourning him, perhaps with Jack blaming the others for not believing him about the threat, or Emily and Ben for blaming themselves in not believing Jack.

LIVE TO FIGHT ANOTHER DAY

The climax might be not what the reader expects but it didn't bother me, as I had purchased all three books together. We do finally meet Camazotz himself, but our heroes are so outmatched that there is no real fight scene, just a scene where we try to stay alive. I think this is completely acceptable as it showed the power of Camazotz in away that first book did not. Here they are quite outnumbered by the many vampires of Paris, and they have no real way to kill Camazotz.
This book needs to be viewed as what it is, a middle piece; a precursor to book three.

GRAPHIC CONTENT-SPOILERS

There is no more gore than the first book. Two characters we know are killed, but neither are witnessed at the time. A stranger is killed later, and his body is discovered right after. We get a brief description. Also, we overhear Camazotz killing some of his vampires when he gets angry.