Early Review - A Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer (Vamp City # 1)

There is something different about 27 year old Quinn Lennox. As a scientist who works for the Nation Institutes of Health, she can see shimmers and her clothing changes colors. She tries really hard to avoid any and all shimmers but when her brother Zack goes looking for his friend Lily, they fall into an alternative reality Washington, D.C.

This DC is called Vamp City and it appears that the residents (vampires) are stuck in the late 19th century when the city was founded. It is a city that was originally designed in 1870 by Phineas Blackstone, a sorcerer, who created the city just for vampires.

Some vampires are able to cross over into the 21st century and retrieve items they need like food, bathing material, and clothing. They even have a life within DC that they can feel comfortable with. But, as the sunlight slowly grows in strength, that avenue is slowly closing locking the vampires into a nightmarish situation where survival is in question.

Vamp City is a city filled with vampires who feed on the emotions of humans. It’s a place where humans are nothing more than slaves to the masters. Innocent people are being sucked into this alternative dimension via the shimmers and end up in slave auctions or meals for the vampires. There doesn’t appear to be any escape for those who end up here. The vampires are not all shiny and walk in the light, nor do they immediately fall in love with their human prey.

Vamp City’s magic is slowly deteriorating and if a sorcerer isn’t found soon, then the city will be flooded with sunlight and kill every vampire within the city. For Quinn, she may or may not be the one person who may have the ability to fix this problem. Yet, it seems that she actually may need the help of the original Blackstone family and her brother Zach in order to succeed. 

Even though Quinn is supposedly the heroine of this story, I found her slightly weak, boring, and irritating at times. Her ability to see into an alternative world while different doesn't make her strong, confident, or even likable. Her ability to stumble and bumble her way into escaping from Vamp City is only due to the up and down emotional rollercoaster known as Arturo Mazzo, a 600 year old vampire who demands to be called Master and saves her ass on more than one occasion when traders capture her and come close to raping her.

Yet, Quinn is not a Mary Sue when it comes to saving her brother or fighting back and escaping Vamp City with Zach in tow. She realizes that there is something different about her, and yet she has no clue that she may be the one person able to save Vamp City from imploding upon itself. 

So, even though Quinn has an interesting ability, I'm asking myself if Quinn was the real hero of this book or not. It seems awfully suspicious that her powers only come to bear when Zach is around. Another question I, as well as many other readers have is why would you want to save Vamp City from being totally destroyed after what you witnessed there? 

I found Arturo, who is portrayed to be an Italian vampire, to be more sadistic than compassionate and I don't much care for a character that pretty much lies about everything to get what he wants. The only thing different about Arturo is that he is an emo vampire who feeds off of fear. Okay, so, he does help Quinn, at times, but he also has a major agenda in saving Vampire City from destruction and he doesn't care who he uses.

I liked the setting for the story of 19th century Washington, D.C. and hope we will get a chance to learn more in the next installment. Vamp City is a dark fantasy story where rape and death is a commonality. Male Humans are forced to fight each other in a gladiator setting where the winner stays alive, and the loser ends up dead. The women are forced into beds by their vampire masters where they are raped and bled. Some humans find themselves as Slava’s or immortals if they stay for a set period of time. Others are just used and tossed away like cattle to the slaughter.

I’m not sure what I feel about the ending at the moment. It was not what I would have imagined it to be. There are so many questions I need to ask the author if she would avail them to me in a future interview.

Obviously this was the first book in the series thus the world building was a little more imaginative than say a second book. I can only hope the next installment answers a few of my left over questions especially about Quinn and Zach’s abilities.

Author: Pamela Palmer
Title: A Blood Seduction
Publisher: Avon
Releases: May 29, 2012