Title:
Kavachi's Rise
Series:
The Devouring #1
Author:
Mike Kearby
Genre:
Damnation Books
Publisher:
Horror, Thriller
Paperback/Ebook
Words:
56,000
Purchase:
Book
Description:
A Dark
Secret. Thomas Morehart and his sister, Kara are vampyre, not the
undead, but creatures evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to
mimic their prey, man. Then - rescued from a Nazi Prison Camp, Thomas
and Kara are brought to the U.S. and forced to work inside
government-owned mortuaries. Now -betrayed by the government
sixty-seven years later, Thomas and Kara are in a race against time
to transform back to their feral states or risk Exsanguination by
government sanctioned hit squads.
Excerpt:
The soldiers
knew this lieutenant. Knew of him, anyway. Nikolai Borisoff was his
Russian name, but if all the rumors were true, nobody knew his real
name. Others of his kind referred to him as, “Rom
baro,”
the big man. But in the stories he was known simply as the
necromancer hunter.
“Shall we put
him in with the others, sir?” one soldier asked.
Nikolai ignored
the question and squared himself off to stand face-to-face with the
prisoner. He stared into the darkness of the creature’s eyes. “How
do you write yourself?” he asked in Amria.
The creature
stopped rocking. He looked up and opened a dark pit of a mouth. A
word tumbled out: “Death.”
Nikolai frowned,
“But where are the others?”
Death tilted his
head right and left, like a confused animal trying to make sense of
an unfamiliar sound. After several seconds of the head movement, he
parted leathery lips and emitted a rattling laugh.
“Others?”
“Yes, the
others, like yourself.”
“Killed, dead.
All meat.”
“In the
showers?”
“A death they
would have welcomed.”
Nikolai leaned
back. He stared across his left shoulder, down the rows of barracks
where the camp’s prisoners were being assembled. The 48thhad
found only a handful of them, yet intelligence had said there would
be thousands. Reports had indicated as many as twenty thousand. He
turned back to Death.
“Where?” he
asked.
Death lifted his
chin toward the camp entrance. “There,” he whispered. “Only a
short way from the death gate. Toward the sea.”
Nikolai looked
past the gathered prisoners and through the opened gates of the camp.
Pine and aspen lined the road for as far as he could see. He turned
back, questioning, “In the woods?”
“In the
ground.”
Nikolai frowned.
“Can you show me?”
Death shook his
head. “I prefer here. It’s very bad luck to go to that place.”
“Why?”
Death began to
rock again. “It’s a madhouse filled with all kinds of madness.”
Nikolai studied
Death’s face. “Then you’ve been there?”
Death wagged a
finger in Nikolai’s direction. “Oh, I went there once. It might
even have been twice or maybe three times. I can’t be sure, for the
madness takes away one’s sensibility.”
“And your job
there?”
“I helped push
the carts back to this camp.”
“Back? What
had been on the carts before?”
“Creatures.”
“And when you
returned?”
“Shoes…and
pyjamas…and hair.”
“And what of
those who once wore the shoes and pyjamas and hair?”
Death rested his
chin against his knees once more and resumed his monotonous
cantillate. Then, just as quickly, stopped. It looked up at Nikolai.
Its pupils contracted. “Porrajmos!”
Nikolai narrowed
his eyes and pinched his bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger.
His gaze darted back to the front gate and to the forests outside.
“Are you saying violate?”
Death’s face
twisted. He screamed again, “Porrajmos!”
Nikolai shook
his head and released his lip. “To open? To open one’s mouth?”
Death stopped
rocking and stared ahead, rigid. His pupils dilated back to their
dead state. He exhaled a short breath, then pushed his right index
finger into a spot just below his right ear and directly above his
jawbone. He held his finger in the spot for several breaths, as if to
make sure Nikolai understood, then slowly dragged the finger down his
neck to his collarbone.
Nikolai watched,
fascinated at the visual. “Rip open?” he uttered.
Death shook his
head, exasperated, exhaled a rattling breath, and motioned with an
outstretched finger for Nikolai to lean close.
Nikolai stooped
forward and turned an ear toward Death’s mouth.
A gush of
stagnant air rushed from the man’s lips and flowed across Nikolai’s
cheek and nose.
Nikolai jerked
away from the dead gas -- and from the two words that had drifted on
the offensive fumes. He sucked in a quick breath and jerked
the pilotka from
his head.
Death nodded
blindly, as if pleased, and then started rocking again.
Nikolai could
only stare at the living corpse swaying in front of him.
Porrajmos.
Such a simple
word.
And when
translated into Russian, two words: The devouring.
About
the Author:
From
Wikipedia: Mike Kearby (born 1952) is an American novelist and
inventor. Since 2005, Kearby has published ten novels, one graphic
novel, and written two screenplays: (2011) Boston Nightly, with
fellow writer Paul Bright and (2012) The Devouring. Boston Nightly is
scheduled for filming in the spring of 2013.
Kearby
was born in Mineral Wells, Texas, and received a B.S. from North
Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in 1972.
He taught high school English and reading for 10 years and created
""The Collaborative Novella Project"" The project
allows future authors to go through the novel writing process from
idea to published work.
""Ambush
at Mustang Canyon"" was a finalist for the 2008 Spur
Awards.
""A
Hundred Miles to Water"" was awarded the 2011 Will Rogers
Medallion Award for Best Adult Fiction.
“Texas
Tales Illustrated” was awarded the 2012 Will Rogers Medallion Award
for Best YA Non-Fiction.
Review:
Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.
An interesting and unique take on vampires although the plot can be hard to follow and confusing at points.
There is a glut of vampire books on the market right now, especially for young adult novels and romance books. I love vampires and shamelessly enjoy the humanized vampire which is so popular at the moment, but it is refreshing to read about vampires that are more monster than human. The vampires in this book still have a human side, but are creatures that are monsters and downright horrifying, not seductive. I really liked the idea of vampires as creatures that have evolved over thousands of years and the scientific and medical explanations for the vampires were fascinating.
I enjoyed the action in this book and the plot moved along at a good place, but I was confused at a number of points. There was no satisfactory explanation as to why the United States government would stop the vampire blood program even though they had lots of blood stored (it will run out eventually). I also didn’t understand Thomas’ motives for killing drug cartel in Mexico. I understand what he was trying to do, but why the drug cartel in Mexico? I did like the idea of curses, magic, and different vampire types. I am interested to see what happens next.
Rating:
Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that like horror and vampires.
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