Scott G. Mariani: Uprising

In Scott G. Mariani's debut novel into the paranormal genre he has created the Federation, an overseeing rule of Vampire, however, not all Vampires have accepted the rules (never harm a human, never fall in love with a human and never turn a human) and are prepared to do anything to turn things back to the old ways.

Alex Bishop is the top agent for The Federation in London, she knows the importance in keeping the Humans in the dark about vampire's existence and adhering to the laws of the Federation but Alex feels that there are more forces at work against the Federation even though her boss and the higher up Vampires believe it is nothing. Alex is certain that there is going to be a movement of vampire traditionalist. Joel Solomon is has a secret, he believes in vampires and has since he was very young when he witnessed he family murdered by one. Joel has put that image behind him but when a teenager recounts a gruesome murder that involves drinking of blood, Joel knows that he cannot ignore the existence of vampires any more. Alex and Joel have the same mission but different ideas of how it should end, Joel would prefer to see all vampires destroyed.

I am a big fan of Mariani's Ben Hope series and when I found out that he had written a vampire based one I knew that I had to pick it up. I think that Mariani has written an interesting story, but I do not think that it adds anything extremely new into the genre (and maybe at parts a little cliche but this did not distract me from enjoying this book). There were some interesting concept for example vampires able to take a pill that would allow them to go out during the day or a special chemical that would destroy a vampire with just a small tough. I appreciated that Mariani kept vampires true to their roots or being the evil creature and the need for human blood to survive. I understand that there are changes with the Vampire Federation being created but I think that Alex gets a little too much joy out of her job of scaring, hunting and killing to say that vampires are civilized creatures (though I'm sure that the Federation would disagree on that point).

I think that Mariani really excelled when he created the characters in this book for both good guys and bad and this lead to the over all believability of the book. The characters seemed so real that the world that Mariani created made me think that it could be real. I liked Alex as a character, yes in this book the female lead is the strong kickass type, but I did not find her annoying and I think that Mariani was able to have a strong lead female character (and be the kickass type) and not be the annoying character that I have found in many books in this genre. I think he found the right balance between strong female lead, kickassness and strong personality. I really enjoy learning about vampire's past when I read these types of books and I am glad that Mariani took some time to share parts of hers. I'm looking forward to see how much Alex can grow as a character and how her past will shape her future.

Joel is also an interesting characters and I found that enjoyed his parts more than Alex's chapters. I liked he rediscovery of vampires and that it was not something that he had made up when he was a child. I find that for Joel this novel was a coming of age one for him as he discovers his true calling in life and how he was not really doing what he was meant to as a detective.

I'm not sure how this book is classified at book store I know some people have stated that it is a horror book, I would not classify it this way. There are some detail that may be seen in a horror novel, but the whole book does not fit within that genre. I think Dark paranormal light might be the best way to describe this book (not sure if that makes sense or not though) I think that If you are looking for a good vampire read then pick this one up. It had the right mix of action, suspense, mystery and romance for those who enjoy this genre. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series

Enjoy!!

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