"Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder" Derek Gunn

Reviewed by Kylee Pierce for Amateur de Livre March/2008


An Enthralling Vampire Novel

As you might gather from the title, “Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder” by Derek Gunn is about humans trying to defeated a society of vampires and their thralls. Thralls are “humans who have been bitten, but not yet crossed over, and whose inhuman lusts make daylight as terrifying as night.” This book will capture the interest of any reader who enjoys occult/fantasy/vampire genres. I was hooked from the Prologue.

One of my favorite parts was the humans attempt to get supplies and survivors from the Vampire city. Their timing needs to be perfect, while the vampires are at the end of their shift and (hopefully) tired. “Group Nero, spread out across the green, used the trees for cover. The darkness was still dense enough to cover their approach, but the first tendrils of dawn were already beginning to make their presence felt on the horizon.”

My only issue with this book is the author should decide if his protagonist is named John Harris (like on the back of the book) or Peter Harris (as he’s called in the book itself). This book was a very thrilling read. I could only read it during the day though; it gave me a nightmare the first night. I will be looking for more by Derek Gunn in the future.

from the back:
"The war is over and the Vampires have won. The drying up of the world's oil resources leads to the fabled End of Days. Technology stagnates and communities grow ever more insular. With communication between cities lost and attention turned inward, the vampires rise from the shadows where they have survived for centuries and sweep across the globe. By the time word spreads it is far too late and Vampires enslave humanity and keep them in walled cities to breed. The Vampires are masters of the darkness but maintain control by day through the use of Thralls--humans who have been bitten but have not yet crossed over, and whose inhuman lusts make daylight as terrifying as night. In the midst of chaos, a small band of rebels lead a terrified existence, but their survival is threatened by the Vampire's new scanning procedures. John Harris is an ordinary man. Young and reckless, he is frustrated with the group's stagnation and pushes for one more daring mission. His recklessness has exposed the group--but it has also increased the size of their community. Now, as circumstances force them to take the offensive, and accompanied by a small group of professional Vampire assassins, John will make one last stand for humanity's survival in the Vampire Apocalypse."