⭐⭐⭐⭐
As you can probably imagine from its title, ‘Vampire Hunters’ is always going to be straying into ‘Buffy the vampire slayer’ territory and it would be all too easy for this to be a cheap and nasty copy of that iconic series.
But no worries there!
Trudie Collins dives into the story with great confidence, introducing her characters and their training-dedicated, near-monastic lifestyle while setting up the necessary conditions for conflicts and romance. I will add that all the characters in this story are lovingly created, none more so than the rigid, authoritarian JD.
The author has created a fascinating little universe around an extended family (the vampire hunters). However, the majority of events and action happens totally within that self-enclosed bubble, with, to be honest, very little of the outside world impinging on it. On top of that, the actual vampires are a simple background of non-entities who every so often line themselves up for disposal as if they are straight out of an old Bruce Lee flick. So, rather than a full-on vampire hunting extravaganza, this might be seen as a bit more like a very interesting family drama with lowered life expectancies.
My overall impression is that this feels like a book of two halves. The first half was a little slow and perhaps even a bit repetitive; an over-extended Rocky training montage but with swords. As it is, the deliberate way in which the characters and relationships are explored and developed is just a little too self-indulgent.
The second half was where it all started to move together, events picked up pace and I really wanted to know what was going to happen.
All said and done, there is fantastic clarity of environment, super detailing of characters – good characters too - and an ending which I think will satisfy most readers. But cutting it a bit shorter might have made it as sharp as the hunters’ swords.
