Midnight: Century of the Vampires

by Ami Blackwelder

The world is no longer the way we remember. Few are even still alive to recall the days when midnight didn’t mean cowered away and hidden. Out of sight became our only way to survive since the Century Vampires. If you want to live, trust no one.

By 2125 the world had been overthrown by monsters dubbed Century Vampires. Some kind of mutation in the human genome gave rise to the first ones, or so the scientists suspected. Vamps spent the first one hundred years of their existence growing in number–some born, some turned–all deadly. They wreaked havoc for the past eighty-three years.

Vampires ruled the Earth now...

Century Vampires have only one rule: There are no rules.

Genres: Paranormal

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 27, 2012

About the author

M.Black is the author of ELECTRIC WORLD, EXOTIQA WORLD, SIM WORLD, GRAPH WORLD, QUANTUM STATE and more. She writes Dystopian Thrillers and can be found at http://MBlackDystopianThrillers.blogs...


Ami Blackwelder write Paranormal stories with a side of apocalypse. Elves, angels, vampires, zombies, mermaids, shifters. Found here: http://amiblackwelder.blogspot.com

Rebecca May is her pen name for The Day the Flowers Died, a World War II romanc.e

Reviews

[Katy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book Info: Genre: Paranormal Dystopia
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Can’t recommend it

Disclosure: I received an ARC copy of this novella in e-book form from the author in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: The world is no longer the way we remember. Few are even still alive to recall the days when midnight didn’t mean cowered away & hidden. Out of sight became our only way to survive since the...Century Vampires. If you want to live, trust no one.

Additional Information: “Midnight:Century of the Vampires” is part 1 of 3 of this series.

The series is continued in “Midnight: Rise of the Underground”.

My Thoughts: I had hoped to be able to read and review this for the author prior to its release at the end of October, but was unable to do so. My apologies for the delay in this review.

And my deepest apologies, but I could not finish this book. The part I read seemed to have been carefully proofread, as there were no obvious spelling errors or the like, but the way things were worded was just … painful. First off, a scene opens in a cave where apparently the main characters are trying to ambush some vampires – and they’re yelling back and forth to each other. They’ve known each other for two years, but while on the run from a vampire, Mark suddenly asks Aura how it was she found the place where they’ve been living together for two years – not very good priorities, if you ask me. And descriptions like:

“Twin vampires dove like vultures over the tree as they landed on Mark and Aura... Aura didn’t have time to admire Mark’s robust frame, chiseled features and rounded arms. She had to keep focused on the blood sucker trying to rip off her head.... She had to keep the fangs from entering her chalk-white skin, from squirting its venom inside her veins, from draining all of her blood... The vamp didn’t give her an inch to move. His two legs teetered on either side of her, knees kicked into her ribs. His arms braced him above her as his fangs dripped of desire, desire for her blood, for her death.”

It seems like every opportunity to remark on something completely unrelated to the scene at hand is taken. Also, vampires are said to do things like “throw their fangs” at necks... ?? Did anyone else see vampire dentures in their brains?

I’ve read a few other books by this author, and had mixed results, but nothing truly bad until this one. I have to wonder if maybe this book wasn’t rushed out too quickly. It felt to me like it could use some content editing, both to get rid of things like the description “arms limbs” and to smooth out the story flow.

[Jennifer Holzapfel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad vampire story. Aura and Mark live in an old church and hunt vamps during the day. There is something wrong with Aura and Mark has no idea.

[Brooke Banks · Rating 1 out of 5]

FYI: I received a copy through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program in order to give an honest review. I haven’t read any of the author’s other work.

Hit or Miss? Midnight didn't even get up to the plate.

Recommend: Not in its current state. (Dec. 20th, 2012) Maybe with severe revisions.

Basically:
This really felt like an incomplete, rushed rough draft and no, not because it was short novella either. There were lots of typos in my copy for some reason. Mostly words with double l's missing an l. Of course, while typos are distracting they are minor and easily correctable. This novella as more critical issues with believability and logical follow through. There's potential but if this is going to be the story's final form, then I can't in good conscious recommend it. I honestly didn't enjoy it, though I might have if things were fixed/changed. I was thinking of not rating this as it really does feel incomplete but I’m suppose to review the copy I have. For now, it is what it is.

Specifically:

I had a hard time buying that these vamps took over the world. The author tried to explain it but two people in the book alone took out plenty of vamps in this novella not only with bombs but in hand to hand combat. Really, humans must have sucked fighting back, which doesn't match up with how humans are now. With all the wars and conflicts going on now for pointless reasons yet humans don't blow up half the planet trying to kill these vamps? Pffffffffffftttt. These vampires came off as extremely weak.

Now vampires are a staple monster yet are so varied from tale to tale. There were a few things explained in the story and even more in the appendix. However, there were some things I felt were missing. I had the standard vamp image in my mind, which made certain word choices garring. Word choices for phrases like "Two vampires dove like vultures over the tree as they landed on Mark and Aura.", and "as he threw his fangs towards her neck". If these vamps actually have wings or flying ability or if their fangs are longer than usual or if their jaws unhinge like a pythons then that needs to be spelled out clearly. Those are the only ways I can think to make the use of dove and threw in this context work. Yet nothing was mentioned and in the pictures I couldn't see any of these adaptations, just the standard looking vamp.

If these vamps had wings and fang changes, I would think that's pretty cool. Definitely not something that's out there currently. One thing I always figured was that vampires would have adaptations to make using their fangs more viable. If those are your weapons and how you feed, wouldn't you need to make it so you can use your fangs better? A jaw that unhinges like a python or a viper would be so helpful. Sure, super strength and seductive powers are cool, but I'd like to some common sense advantages too. Sadly, either the word connotations just aren't working for my mental picture or it was communicated poorly.

I get what the author was doing and why in regards to having Mark ask questions about the past to clarify it for readers. This is common in writing but in this story it was obvious and clumsy. I mean Mark has been around two years. At this point, he's just plain stupid and dense for not asking firmer questions, demanding answers, putting the pieces together and figuring it out. Hell, * I * got it so what's his problem?

I feel the time passing was used to make it so the romance is settled and it's not like they are just having sex; they are in love, these banded together last heroes of the human race. Otherwise, them being together so long just doesn't seem to work. If Mark in generally being in the dark about things and asking questions is going to work, then they'd have to have just meet within the last couple of months OR they need to have the past filled in another way with Mark knowing something so the long time frame works.

Seriously, though Mark comes off like Homer Simpson at times, which really annoyed me. He literally asks "Why'd we do that?" after they jump in the river, yet mere sentences before that he asks if they are going to the river and smiles after he asks because he knew the answer was yes. Clearly, he already knew so then making him ask to point out the "lose their scent in the river" trick to the reader just comes off so, so badly. Besides, going through a river to make a pursuer lose their scent isn't some really obscure knowledge. Hunters and trackers and hell, anyone who's read or watched certain entertainment would know this tactic. Even if they didn't know it would work on vamps, I bet some people would at least try it out. Not a very good example of Aura's secret vampire knowledge.

Since this is a novella, that’s basically it and unfortunately there’s nothing good I can say about it right now.

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Midnight: Century of Vampires by Ami Blackwelder is the first novella in the Century of Vampires Trilogy. It centres on Aura and Mark, two survivors fighting to keep it that way.

It's the year 2125 and vampires have taken over the world. They rule from 6pm to 6am and the only "safe" way to fight is bombing them as they sleep. No one is sure how vampires came to be, but some suspect there was a mutation to the human genome. Survivors are forced to hold down fort in abandoned buildings in small groups, hiding the twelve hours vampires hunt.

Our two protagonists have pretty similar backstories (as do all the survivors). Aura's mother was killed 5 years previously and her brother was taken and never seen again. She never knew her father. Mark's parents were killed when he was ten and his sister killed five years later.

The vampires of this world are more like the original vampires literature used to create than the ones around nowadays, in that they are dangerous killers. They sleep like bats, living in caves and hanging from the ceiling. They only become "beautiful" and "celestial" at midnight, appearing hollow skinned and creature-like before then. Their flesh rots on their bones and their eyes glow red.

Scattered throughout are a few illustrations, which are nice enough. Full-coloured illustrations for those interested.

I did find this book a little confusing, nothing is really explained and it just felt a little rushed. I don't know if questions will be answered in later parts though. I still found the story interesting. It's not really anything new, but then it doesn't have to be. I fully intend on reading the next two parts and (as novellas) they'll be quick enough reads.

One final issue, if you buy the kindle version, do NOT read the book club questions at the end as they hold definite spoilers- though reading them I found a few points predictable, especially if you're familiar at all with this genre.

If you like dystopian worlds, dangerous vampires and young adult books why not give this a try?

Disclaimer: I was sent this book by the author. This is not a sponsored review. All opinions are 100% my own.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short novella was just "OK" for me. In part because I am not a fan of books that are chopped into short segments. I don't mind novellas that provide a back-story to a novel, but as far as I can see, this was not one of those.

The book is set in the future where vampires not only exist, but humans are very much aware of them and openly hunted each night. Humans are food, and at the stroke of midnight, no one is safe. Vampires hunt them in their homes, on the streets, and nowhere is truly safe. The police, military, anyone professionally trained to keep order no longer exist as the were the first to be killed. With minimal food and supplies at hand, society is now more like a dystopian world where humans struggle day to day to survive. Aura and Mark are two humans who have lost their families to the vampires, and fight to exterminate as many as possible during the day when vampires are at rest. Outside of themselves, the only other interaction they have is with the scientists who supply them vampire repellent. A foul smelling concoction that masks their scent and deters vampires from searching their hideout more thoroughly. However, something is just not quite right with those scientists, and Aura seems to be hiding something from Mark.

Again, it is a very short story that seems to set the premise for a longer one given the secrecy of the scientists and Aura's interactions with them, but it ends too early to give much more than that hint. And frankly, it all seems so hopeless. Aura and Mark try to eliminate as many as possible during the day, but there are just too many, and vampires can turn humans so just what can the surviving humans do. That is not to say that the series could not be entertaining, but I'm just not one of those that enjoys this type of story in short clips. If you're a fan of zombie books, this one kind of reminds me of those, but with vampires.

[Nancy (The Avid Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.

Aura met Mark two years ago and they have been together ever since. Mark and Aura live in a world where the vampires have taken over the world. They started with the people at the top of the line. Like the people who were in charge of the country and whose job it was too serve and protect the humans. They destroyed them for the most part but they would take thousands upon thousands and put them on like little farms and treat them and use them like humans use and treat animals. You know like cows, chickens, pigs ect.... Humans are their food their way of surviving and now the vamps have taken over the world. There are a few like Aura and Mark who have survived and fight the vamps almost every day just to stay alive or not to become one of their animals locked up so that the vamps can feed from them.

Mark is the only human that she trust and she is the only human that he trusts as well. Aura has other friends she has met since the vamps have taken over whom she can trust as well. Aura and Mark go visit these friends every few months or so to get supplies from them that they can't get anywhere else. These people care a lot for Aura and except Mark to keep her safe from the vamps.

I loved reading Midnight: Century of the Vampires. I loved the world that the author has created for the vamps and the fact that they are so very different than most vampires that you normally read about. I can't wait to read more about Aura, Mark, Aura's friends that live in the underground and all of the vamps too. Midnight: Century of the Vampires may be a short read but it has so much depth in it that you would think it was a full length novel. I only had one problem with it and that was because it was short.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was so short that it's nearly an excerpt itself. I can see the potential for a captivating storyline, but there is just no substance to this first segment. It almost feels like we are reading the rough draft for this series.

With that said, there are some interesting points.

The vampires in this series are nothing like the vampires we've been reading about in the last decade, but they closer resemble the originals; blood thirsty monsters that rule the nights and sleep in caves like bats. You don't want to be caught out after dark.

All the remaining human survivors are in hiding and spend their days scavenging for supplies. There is a small group of scientists that have developed a vampire repellant, and they help our two main characters out with supplies. The humans all seem to have the same back story, families were killed by vampires and they are the lone survivors. You can tell there is more to the story, as I believe something is up with Aura's strange 'flu' and the curious group of scientists, as well as the 'familiar' mature vampire.

I am interested in the story and will probably read the remaining series, as short as they are it shouldn't take too long.