When a terrifying new breed of vampire is sighted outside of the city, Remy prepares to investigate alone. But then he encounters the shockingly warmhearted vampire heiress Xiaodan Song and her infuriatingly arrogant fiancé, vampire lord Zidan Malekh, who may hold the key to defeating the creatures—though he knows associating with them won’t do his reputation any favors. When he’s offered a spot alongside them to find the truth about the mutating virus Rot that’s plaguing the kingdom, Remy faces a choice.
It’s one he’s certain he’ll regret.
But as the three face dangerous hardships during their journey, Remy develops fond and complicated feelings for the couple. He begins to question what he holds true about vampires, as well as the story behind his own family legacy. As the Rot continues to spread across the kingdom, Remy must decide where his loyalties lie: with his father and the kingdom he’s been trained all his life to defend or the vampires who might just be the death of him.
I feel like vampire fantasy is a thing I should know more about. Maybe there just aren’t that many examples? I’ve certainly read some fantasy books that feature vampires. But I feel like Rin Chupeco’s SILVER UNDER NIGHTFALL (book one in their series, REAPER) might be the first proper vampire fantasy novel I’ve read!
This is one of those books that I just kept meaning to get to. It was always one or two books back on my TBR, and then kept getting pushed back & back. Hey, it happens! But now that the second book, COURT OF WANDERERS is coming real soon, I’m glad to have gotten started on this series!
I’m told the book has some similarities to the Netflix “Castlevania” cartoon, and while I spent untold hours mashing buttons for the original NES Castlevania game back in the late 80’s, I haven’t watched the show (yet!) But just a heads up for anyone who likes the show, I’m told this book has at least a somewhat-similar vibe!
Remy Pendergast is an elite vampire hunter, but he’s a bit of an outcast among the other Reapers of Aluria. Remy is the son of a Duke, but rumors persist that Remy himself may be half vampire. These rumors do nothing to endear Remy to his peers.
Remy’s farher is a power-hungry asshole on the verge of death, but he has an almost ironclad grip on everything that Remy does. The relationship between Remy & his father is pretty toxic & disturbing, but it’s clear that Remy feels some sense of duty & obligation to his father.
But a chance encounter one night with an alluring vampire named Song Xiaodan sets a strange new course in Remy’s life in motion. Xiaodan is married to an Extremely Broody vampire lord named Zidan Malekh, and while Zidan & Remy’s first meeting is tense & violent, the couple see something in Remy. They are visiting Aluria in an attempt to broker peace between the vampire & human courts, while also beginning to contend with a new & extremely unkillable breed of vampire that seems to have sprung up out of nowhere.
Remy joins Xiaodan & Zidan on a quest of sorts, as they investigate this new threat. Things get weirder, bloodier, and wayyy sexier from there.
I think SILVER UNDER NIGHTFALL could have been a touch shorter than it was. Overall, I enjoyed the hell out of this book, but there were a handful of sections that lagged a little.
Some of the action sequences in this book are fucking bananas…just a wild, gory, frenetic quality to these scenes that I adored. There’s a lot of brooding & banter, particularly between Remy & Zidan. But the book also feels really emotionally raw at times…these are damaged characters with a lot of unprocessed trauma in their pasts, and things feel…messy & very realistic.
This was a wild ride! Crazy weaponry, weird magic, disgusting monsters…what a treat this book is! Really looking forward to COURT OF WANDERERS!
Grimdark Dad 