Vampires as ecowarriors?
Sounds intriguing… So how does that play out?
The plot is full of thriller tropes. A superspy is on a mission that goes
cockeyed. Afterward, he’s on the run
while trying to put together all the pieces to figure out what exactly is going
on. He teams up with the sexy
noncombatant, who helps him (while providing a romantic interest). Wouldn’t you know it, he realizes that there
are two shadowy groups in opposition to his own organization. After much exotic globetrotting, he has a
final showdown, only to realize that the truth still hasn’t been uncovered.
In Earth Thirst,
the superspy is named Silas, & he’s a Greek soldier who is a vampire (here
they are referred to as Arcadians). He’s
been around since the Trojan War, & somehow due to the rejuvenation process
the Arcadians use, he’s missing a lot of his memory (not quite as much as Jason
Bourne, but you get the idea). The sexy
noncombatant is a journalist named Mere, who of course has investigative skills
necessary to put the pieces of the conspiracy together.
So what about that vampire thing? Teppo’s vampires don’t do a lot of vampirey
stuff. There’s a bit of blood drinking, but it’s more like a guy who enjoys a
beer now & then, rather than the alcoholism of most vampires. They can regenerate by being buried in “good
soil”. But most of the time it’s just
used to give certain characters greater than human abilities (speed, strength,
etc).
Oddly enough, the parts of Earth Thirst that work best are the thriller elements. Sure, most of it is bog standard for a post
Bourne thriller, but it was very well done.
Faced paced, great action sequences.
It was compelling and riveting.
What didn’t work as well for me were the vampire
elements. The Arcadians themselves
seemed a bit overpowered. They can walk
in sun, go without drinking blood, have access to untold wealth and top notch
military training. Silas should have
been sympathetic, but I had some difficulty becoming emotionally invested in a
character whose greatest flaw is a bad memory. (And that seemed to be a
convenient reason to withhold information from the reader – what have the
Arcadians been doing for thousands of years?
Why should we think of them sympathetically?)
Would I recommend Earth
Thirst? Yes, with reservations. It’s a lot of fun, but not as innovative as
the blurb may make you think.
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