First Impressions/Cover Rant: THE DAMNED (Vampires)

THIS POST CONTAINS VERY, VERY LIGHT SPOILERS. THE KIND THAT COULD BE FOUND ON BOOK FLAPS. 


A note on the title: I don't consider it profane because context. They're books about slaying vampires in an attempt to save the world and stuff. So, yeah.

Damned is the second book in the Crusade series by Nancy Holder and some other lady whose name I'll never be able to spell.

I read the first book nearing on a year ago, more on a whim than anything else. I literally got the book on a whim, too.

Here's what happened:

Borders was closing (this was several years ago, obviously). I was very sad, but the same time happy. BECAUSE CLEARANCE SALES, YO. So in gallivanting around the store looking for enticing reads, my mom shoved this dark-looking book in my hands.

I was like, "lol okie" and took it, but never got around to actually reading it until last Spring for some reason. While it certainly wasn't the best book ever, it wasn't bad, either. It was quite entertaining, kept me captivated, and all that stuff. I thought it was a standalone, too. 

Kind of an important fact there. 

But when I finished it, I was like, "... There's totes sequel lol." SO I looked the series up, turns out there were TWO sequels (making a trilogy, because no body makes those anymore). 

I told myself I'd order the sequel, Damned, when I had the money to spare. 

I finally got the money spare a long time later, and ordered the book for 15 cents plus 4 bucks shipping. Total bargain. 

But I got the ugly not-nice cover that makes it look like some shoddy romance novel (which it's not! I mean, there's romance, but it's not the main focus, obviously. Vampires.)

At first I thought this was the only cover, and was like, "UGH FINE IT WONT MATCH BUT I WANNA READ IT AND ITS CHEAP."

Then I found out

THERE'S THE COVER THAT MATCHES MY COPY OF CRUSADE. ETERNAL RAGE COMMENCE. 

IN FINDING THAT, though, I found this, too: Will help me avoid future mistakes. 

Hopefully. 

 Don't try clicking that to look in side. It's just the GOOD covers are, like, not on google images, really. That was the best one of that cover there was. The not-good cover features Jenn and Antonio. Cuz the first one totally had Jenn, the second Antonio lololol nobody saw why the third one has them both lolololol BUT SERIOUSLY.

I want my Vanquished copy to have fire and a broken fence and look like the proper dark, mysterious, and action-packed book it probably is.

Oh, and there's this alternate-country title to Crusade:

I guess they were too lazy to change the background design when the book was initially released, ergo my copy of the book being renamed Crusa- THAT ONE EVEN SAYS 'A CRUSADE NOVEL'. So maybe my copy'd cover came first and the people with the cool covers jacked the cool cover and left us with shoddy romance-novel-looking covers.

Ahem.


But anyway, Damned.


I just started it today, after finishing Russian Roulette by Anthony Horowitz. I'm 92 pages in, and DDDAAAAANNNGGGG (no pun intended). The only other sequel I've read that's hit the ground running as hard as Damned did was Severed Tower.

And Severed Tower is Severed Tower. 'Nuff said.


But seriously, I really enjoyed those 92 pages, and while I'm not going to say any spoilers...

I feel I should give general overview of the series considering this is a rant about the SECOND book.

Overview BEGIN!

Six years ago vampires decided to say hi and subjugate humanity. Like ANGELFALL, but with vampires and more characters.

These vampires are the real deal: Superhuman physical abilities, red eyes, fangs, allergic to holy water, crosses, decapitation, incineration, stakes-in-the-heart, the sun... those kind of vampires.

The cool, legit kind. They even poof into dust when they die.

The story follows a team of vampire hunters from Salamanca, Spain. The team consists of...

A monk, a werewolf, a witch, a butthole, a vampire, a samurai, and a notspecial.

The monk is old, the vampire is old but looks young (see: not-good Damned cover), and the rest are your run-of-the-mill teenagers.

And by run-of-the-mill I mean incredibly diverse.

Seriously, I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but the character cast is incredibly diverse. I won't say where everyone's from, but they're from everywhere. It's really neat.


So with Damned being the second book, one could expect stuff to have already happened. And yes, it did happen. In the first book, Crusade/The Cursed Ones. Damned hits the ground running and within the 92 pages I've read it takes the stakes and puts them on top of mount Everest.


Good start to what's hopefully a really good sequel. It's certainly turning out to look that way.





Why did I wait this long to read this book.


-MechEngie