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Vampire Apocalypse #4
Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears
On a cold and stormy evening the small human settlement celebrate their survival. Not all of their number have returned though and it is a bitter-sweet celebration. The festivities are interrupted when an elite force of Carter’s thralls find their hidden home and attack.
The fallout from the nuclear plant is also creeping south with the prevailing winds forcing the humans to abandon their home. While they prepare to leave the weather worsens and they are forced to abandon many of their belonging and trek miles to what they hope will be a better life. Carter now knows where they are, though, and mounts a huge offensive to destroy the human threat and gain possession of the new, vampire-killing ammunition.
Caught between the approaching thrall army, the violent storms and the poisoned air the humans make a desperate journey along the trail of tears.
In California Von Richelieu must re assert his authority over the cabals or lose everything. The small rebel band become more than a nuisance and Von Richelieu puts plans in place to destroy them once and for all.
The clock for the serum’s deadly effects finally winds down and humans die in their thousands. With food scarce and the vampires falling prey to their growing madness the world falls closer to its apocalyptic end.
The fallout from the nuclear plant is also creeping south with the prevailing winds forcing the humans to abandon their home. While they prepare to leave the weather worsens and they are forced to abandon many of their belonging and trek miles to what they hope will be a better life. Carter now knows where they are, though, and mounts a huge offensive to destroy the human threat and gain possession of the new, vampire-killing ammunition.
Caught between the approaching thrall army, the violent storms and the poisoned air the humans make a desperate journey along the trail of tears.
In California Von Richelieu must re assert his authority over the cabals or lose everything. The small rebel band become more than a nuisance and Von Richelieu puts plans in place to destroy them once and for all.
The clock for the serum’s deadly effects finally winds down and humans die in their thousands. With food scarce and the vampires falling prey to their growing madness the world falls closer to its apocalyptic end.
274 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2014
4 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Derek Gunn
33 books83 followersDerek Gunn is the author of the critically acclaimed bestseller, Vampire Apocalypse: A World Torn Asunder - the eBook alone has had over 100,000 downloads and has been described as “a Summer Blockbuster..” ~Gorezone, “An incredibly original piece of fiction “ ~Horror-Web, and “a terrific tale.” ~Apex Science Fiction and Horror Digest.
Three more books have been published in this series, Descent into Chaos and Fallout and a fourth instalment in April 2014, Vampire Apocalypse, Trail of Tears.
In August 2012, Derek self published in eBook editions two novellas (The Diabolical Plan and The Island) and a novel (Crimson Seas) in his historical naval horror fiction series, The HMS Swift Adventures. These have been picked up by his publisher Permuted Press for reissue in 2014 as a single volume in print and eBook.
Derek also has a number of other stand alone novels published, The Estuary (Zombie fiction), The Gatekeeper (Apocalyptic Irish mythology thriller) and Gemini (Espionage thriller).
Derek’s short stories have been included in many anthologies including, from Signet Classics, Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Ghosts: 25 Tales of the Supernatural. The inclusion of his short story “The Third Option” fulfils a his childhood ambition to have a story of his included in an anthology with some of his literary heroes, as this collection also features works by Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Ann Rice, Woody Allen, Charles Dickens, Henry James, Joe Hill, Yvonne Navarro, Rudyard Kipling, Angela Carter and many more.
Derek works as a specialist consultant for a global telecommunications company. He holds a degree in Marketing. He is a member of and a contributing editor for The International Thriller Writers Association and an active member of The Horror Writers Association.
Derek Gunn was born in 1964. He is married with three children and lives in Dublin, Ireland.
Three more books have been published in this series, Descent into Chaos and Fallout and a fourth instalment in April 2014, Vampire Apocalypse, Trail of Tears.
In August 2012, Derek self published in eBook editions two novellas (The Diabolical Plan and The Island) and a novel (Crimson Seas) in his historical naval horror fiction series, The HMS Swift Adventures. These have been picked up by his publisher Permuted Press for reissue in 2014 as a single volume in print and eBook.
Derek also has a number of other stand alone novels published, The Estuary (Zombie fiction), The Gatekeeper (Apocalyptic Irish mythology thriller) and Gemini (Espionage thriller).
Derek’s short stories have been included in many anthologies including, from Signet Classics, Vampires, Zombies, Werewolves and Ghosts: 25 Tales of the Supernatural. The inclusion of his short story “The Third Option” fulfils a his childhood ambition to have a story of his included in an anthology with some of his literary heroes, as this collection also features works by Bram Stoker, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Ann Rice, Woody Allen, Charles Dickens, Henry James, Joe Hill, Yvonne Navarro, Rudyard Kipling, Angela Carter and many more.
Derek works as a specialist consultant for a global telecommunications company. He holds a degree in Marketing. He is a member of and a contributing editor for The International Thriller Writers Association and an active member of The Horror Writers Association.
Derek Gunn was born in 1964. He is married with three children and lives in Dublin, Ireland.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 9, 2016
It's been awhile since the last entry in the Vampire Apocalypse series. This has been frustrating to fans because it was a cliffhanger ending, keeping us waiting when a new type of vampire is about to menace the world and a nuclear winter is potentially in the offing.
Thankfully, the new entry picks up right where the previous volume ended. A nuclear meltdown has occurred at a nearby nuclear power plant and the human resistance must move, and move quickly, before they're all killed by fallout. As the title implies, this his going to be a horrifying trek with numerous casualties.
Worse, the villainous Von Kruger has become something new due to the mixture of nuclear radiation and magic he was caught in the center of an explosion of. Given sunlight is a form of radiation, I found the change to make a sort of symbolic sense. Throughout the book, we see how Kruger's new status as a daywalker affects both his mind and sanity as well as attracts a host of new followers.
Part of the appeal of the Vampire Apocalypse universe is its myriad caste of characters, all of whom are unique and have interesting roles to play. This volume is no exception and Derek Gunn continues to introduce new ones while maintaining the old ones' growth. The high body counts in his stories keep things exciting and it seems no one is safe but the John Connor-esque resistance leader Harris.
Readers interested in diversity may note Derek Gunn keeps a fairly good mix of ethnicities, sexual preferences, and open gender-roles amongst the resistance's fighters. There's even an important disabled character (who rocks), which is the kind of inclusivity I enjoy in my post-apocalyptic fiction. Too many stories assume the only survivors will be white heterosexual physically-able men and the similarly pale able heterosexual women who love them. Vampire Apocalypse is a great antidote to that.
Derek Gunn tones down some of the elements which irritated me in previous volumes, particularly the fact Harris was always right. Here, it's obvious he's making the right decision but it's something which is neither well-planned or executed. He also makes a mistake which is very human but so obviously wrong that it hurt my enjoyment of the series overall (detailed below).
I'm of mixed feelings regarding the continued focus on the Civil War between the vampires and thralls. For new readers, the vampires of the VampApoc-verse are capable of creating superhumans from the regular populace through methods unknown. These are the thralls. Their name should tell you how the vampires see them. The thralls, under the villainous Carter, have since rebelled in his territory and seized power for themselves. This would be wonderful if not for the fact the thralls are all sociopaths every bit as bad, if not worse, than the vampires themselves.
The conflict between the vampires and the Thralls is entertaining and well-written with the two sides being utterly evil. Watching them destroy one another also let's us know the situation is getting better, even if our heroes are too preoccupied to take much advantage of it. Which brings me to my one major problem with Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears. Something which isn't enough to turn me off the series as is, but deserves to be commented on.
The logistics.
While this may be deliberate in the case of the Thrall vs. Vampire War, it's a bit of an annoyance for our hero Harris to show it. Basically, it seems that a lot of the main characters are ignoring numbers issues for their conflict.
The thralls are rebelling against the vampires and attempting to seize power but they have no means of replenishing their numbers when they lose someone since they're created by vampires. I'd like to see at least one thrall recognize this or, perhaps, actually maintain some basic human feeling. Seeing some thralls defect to the human resistance would bring an interesting dynamic to the story.
Von Kruger is destroying his own vampire hordes by creating his daywalkers via the "hit and miss" philosophy of bathing them in nuclear fire--which is fine, since they comment on how stupid this is. However, the big problem is the elephant in the room of human demographics.
This volume, Harris decides to stop warning the vampires of the fact their serum is killing humans in the pens. Bluntly, given his own group is only a few thousand at most, this is the worst act of genocide in the series. If the vampires don't notice and stop the massive deaths, then humanity is going to go extinct irregardless of whether Harris' group survives or not. It's an utterly irresponsible act which removes all sympathy I have for the lead character.
Despite this, I enjoyed Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears. It is a dark series which touches on issues like survival and genuinely hard choices like "do you abandon the dying to guarantee the survival of the living?" The fact the resistance is more concerned with surviving than killing their foes is a telltale sign this series is likely to get bleaker before it gets better. Which, honestly, I'm all for. Though, I hope the resistance kills Carter or Von Kruger soon. Those guys are ****s.
8/10
Thankfully, the new entry picks up right where the previous volume ended. A nuclear meltdown has occurred at a nearby nuclear power plant and the human resistance must move, and move quickly, before they're all killed by fallout. As the title implies, this his going to be a horrifying trek with numerous casualties.
Worse, the villainous Von Kruger has become something new due to the mixture of nuclear radiation and magic he was caught in the center of an explosion of. Given sunlight is a form of radiation, I found the change to make a sort of symbolic sense. Throughout the book, we see how Kruger's new status as a daywalker affects both his mind and sanity as well as attracts a host of new followers.
Part of the appeal of the Vampire Apocalypse universe is its myriad caste of characters, all of whom are unique and have interesting roles to play. This volume is no exception and Derek Gunn continues to introduce new ones while maintaining the old ones' growth. The high body counts in his stories keep things exciting and it seems no one is safe but the John Connor-esque resistance leader Harris.
Readers interested in diversity may note Derek Gunn keeps a fairly good mix of ethnicities, sexual preferences, and open gender-roles amongst the resistance's fighters. There's even an important disabled character (who rocks), which is the kind of inclusivity I enjoy in my post-apocalyptic fiction. Too many stories assume the only survivors will be white heterosexual physically-able men and the similarly pale able heterosexual women who love them. Vampire Apocalypse is a great antidote to that.
Derek Gunn tones down some of the elements which irritated me in previous volumes, particularly the fact Harris was always right. Here, it's obvious he's making the right decision but it's something which is neither well-planned or executed. He also makes a mistake which is very human but so obviously wrong that it hurt my enjoyment of the series overall (detailed below).
I'm of mixed feelings regarding the continued focus on the Civil War between the vampires and thralls. For new readers, the vampires of the VampApoc-verse are capable of creating superhumans from the regular populace through methods unknown. These are the thralls. Their name should tell you how the vampires see them. The thralls, under the villainous Carter, have since rebelled in his territory and seized power for themselves. This would be wonderful if not for the fact the thralls are all sociopaths every bit as bad, if not worse, than the vampires themselves.
The conflict between the vampires and the Thralls is entertaining and well-written with the two sides being utterly evil. Watching them destroy one another also let's us know the situation is getting better, even if our heroes are too preoccupied to take much advantage of it. Which brings me to my one major problem with Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears. Something which isn't enough to turn me off the series as is, but deserves to be commented on.
The logistics.
While this may be deliberate in the case of the Thrall vs. Vampire War, it's a bit of an annoyance for our hero Harris to show it. Basically, it seems that a lot of the main characters are ignoring numbers issues for their conflict.
The thralls are rebelling against the vampires and attempting to seize power but they have no means of replenishing their numbers when they lose someone since they're created by vampires. I'd like to see at least one thrall recognize this or, perhaps, actually maintain some basic human feeling. Seeing some thralls defect to the human resistance would bring an interesting dynamic to the story.
Von Kruger is destroying his own vampire hordes by creating his daywalkers via the "hit and miss" philosophy of bathing them in nuclear fire--which is fine, since they comment on how stupid this is. However, the big problem is the elephant in the room of human demographics.
This volume, Harris decides to stop warning the vampires of the fact their serum is killing humans in the pens. Bluntly, given his own group is only a few thousand at most, this is the worst act of genocide in the series. If the vampires don't notice and stop the massive deaths, then humanity is going to go extinct irregardless of whether Harris' group survives or not. It's an utterly irresponsible act which removes all sympathy I have for the lead character.
Despite this, I enjoyed Vampire Apocalypse: Trail of Tears. It is a dark series which touches on issues like survival and genuinely hard choices like "do you abandon the dying to guarantee the survival of the living?" The fact the resistance is more concerned with surviving than killing their foes is a telltale sign this series is likely to get bleaker before it gets better. Which, honestly, I'm all for. Though, I hope the resistance kills Carter or Von Kruger soon. Those guys are ****s.
8/10
May 26, 2014
At last, the Vampire Apocalypse continues... It took some pages to get reacquainted with familiar characters, and I would have wished for a short retrospective introduction to jog my memory. However, it was easy to get back into the VA universe and enjoy the new plot.
As the cover suggests, there is a lot of fighting action to be found in this book. But while this fourth installment is brimming with action, it does not neglect in-depth character development. In large parts, the story focuses on the vampires and deals with intrigues, alliances and fights between the vampire cabals and their thrall armies. It is fascinating to follow the struggle of the ancient vampires to cope with the modern world, and while I admire their dignity and cunning, I wonder how long they will be able to hold their stand.
The author adds a new twist allowing vampires to endure sunlight - a fascinating concept which opens a whole new world of possibilities to the outcome of the fight between humans and vampires.
My minor points criticism are the cover, which is too generic for my taste, and only a handful of errors in an otherwise flawless and captivating work.
While the book does end with a cliffhanger, I am more thrilled than disappointed to know there will be more, and hopefully we don't have to wait that long again.
As the cover suggests, there is a lot of fighting action to be found in this book. But while this fourth installment is brimming with action, it does not neglect in-depth character development. In large parts, the story focuses on the vampires and deals with intrigues, alliances and fights between the vampire cabals and their thrall armies. It is fascinating to follow the struggle of the ancient vampires to cope with the modern world, and while I admire their dignity and cunning, I wonder how long they will be able to hold their stand.
The author adds a new twist allowing vampires to endure sunlight - a fascinating concept which opens a whole new world of possibilities to the outcome of the fight between humans and vampires.
My minor points criticism are the cover, which is too generic for my taste, and only a handful of errors in an otherwise flawless and captivating work.
While the book does end with a cliffhanger, I am more thrilled than disappointed to know there will be more, and hopefully we don't have to wait that long again.
September 18, 2014
received this book for free through goodreads first reads
ow lets sart with the fact that i love reading all about vampires.
this book was something else, kept me entralled with the story and now i so want to find all te other books.
thanks for the chance at reading this amazing story
ow lets sart with the fact that i love reading all about vampires.
this book was something else, kept me entralled with the story and now i so want to find all te other books.
thanks for the chance at reading this amazing story
September 2, 2016
Why has ths series of Books not been made into a TV Series yet? Read this in a day, can't wait for the next installment!!
June 24, 2015
Seems like a long wait for this book, but was worth it. I hope the next one comes quicker because the action was none stop and I'm right back into the story again. Apocalyptic survival stories are always a favourite with me, but this one is a little different because it's not just the human race being threatened, but in fighting between the vampires and thralls hungry for power too. The book ended leaving me eager for the next, being as the humans have only just began there run for safety. You would want to read these books in order, and I can highly recommend them.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews