Magic, Academies & Vampires

The Vampire Vincent #2

by Benjamin Kerei

Vincent regrets his actions.

He's hurt someone he loves.

And he's not sure he can make it right.

Genres: Fantasy, Humor, Vampires, Magic, Audiobook, Fiction

705 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 17, 2024

Reviews

[William Howe · Rating 5 out of 5]

just…wow

There’s no romance, but there is a sparkly vampire. The author has no compunction about killing off minor characters.

This is awesome.

[Adrian Montanez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic sequel

Throughout 2024, I kept wishing Benjamin Kerei would post on his Amazon page when the next Vincent book would come out. Then, one day, I decided to look again, and it's the day after release. I was so hyped to get back into Vincent's story as much as the world that Kerei has developed.

Not only did this book come out as a sort of stealth release for me, but it also is almost double the length of the last book.

I can't wait for 2026 to get book 3.

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book two

This book opens up opens up the world a bit more, but sets up for the series to go so many different ways. This is a setup book if there ever was one.
I'm not a big fan of vampire stories because personally I think that like dragons vampires should be arrogant and full of themselves.
The author gives a good reason why the MC is hanging on so hard to what humanity he has left. He is still arrogant and full of himself, but keeps from going full evil that would happen if you view people as food and think you are superior to everyone else. Authors tend to forget that about vampires and try to humanize them.
The author does an excellent job of showing just how bad the MC could be if he thought like the other vampires.
I found a few mistakes that I will list on Goodreads. I can't wait for book three to start posting on Royalroad.

7/10 Great story just a bit to many mistakes.

[Horty · Rating 3 out of 5]

It lacked much of the witty banter and humor of the first one.

I would have loved more teacher Vincent. That the first class got time skipped is a crime.

It felt, like the author pulled facts about skills and lore out of his ass, while writing the chapter, not building the facts up fitting for the world and show them to you naturally.

Power level is all over the place and "leveling too fast is bad" does not matter anymore. Old monsters are suddenly not so strong anymore and Vincent learned a lot of magic, but refuses to level, making him not able to stand against the other ancient vampires. Yes, leveling his people instead of himself makes a lot of sense, but why not claim any xp he still has before the big confrontation to give himself an edge? And then the super scary, super strong, super old enemy ancient vampires die anyways. Offscreen...

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good but dense fighting

The conversations are great, and they reach you on a personal level. But the fighting and improving levels takes a humongous amount of the book that -for me- detract from the actual story. YMMV.

I'm missing *something* that, as best as I can define it, is exactly what has been going on in these books - the loss of humanity and especially feelings. It makes me want to read the book 'less', if you understand what I'm saying? I'm less eager to read this than others.
Yet at the same time I want to keep on reading to see if Vincent regains those feelings or not.

So: good series, but I would like to see some progress in the future novels to keep my interest (of course, this is totally up to the writer, not me).

[Dave Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richly textured, Fast paced, and so much heart
( some upsetting content )

Like most of Benjamin Kerei's second book, this one is all over the place emotionally, but this one contains more pathos than the comedy of the first book. Also the stakes go way up and we see the events of book one in a larger context. It goes from sitcom to drama.
For the first half of this book, it seems like everyone is just spinning their wheels, but it clicks into place later. What seems like a Magic-Academy parody at first, is a much bigger book by the end

Heavy Content Warning
One night, without warning a real calamity strikes the town and campus of the magical academy. Thousands of regular, ordinary people die violently. Vincent will all his power can not stop it. Vincent with his kids may not survive it. But while he's running around at his full speed, people are dying. Benjamin Kerei does not linger on the blood, or force the reader to see too much violence. Never the less, it's a sucker punch. I found it hard to take. The scale of the losses is staggering.
It threw a bucket of cold water on the second half of the book

[Tony Hinde · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one a little more than the first — probably because it took itself a more seriously, at least in the second half.

There were moments when I was confused as to Vincent's relative power. At time he seems god-like, at others he's running like a rabbit. And when he was easily trapped in a mind-loop, I just shook my head. After all, we're dealing with sapient beings, not simple programs... right?

[kory christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it

I'm not sure how a book can be this dark, this funny, this hopeful, this uncompromising all at the same time but it pulls it off with flying colors. Vin Diesel and his well known family quote have nothing on this. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read.

It's definitely a lot heavier than the previous book, but it's still a great read. I'm looking forward to the next book.

[Kiersten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not as good as the first but still fun

I feel like the end got a little bogged down in minutiae but it was still a popcorn chomping fun time overall.

[Achille B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent lil binge read

Fav quote:
"It's not about being fair. It's about being good. If everyone got what they deserved, it would be very hard to make the world a better place. We should treat people better than they deserve, and hope they become someone deserving of the way we treat them."

Liked it bc the guy that said it is a my way or no way certified crash out

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This killed the momentum of the first book for me, with a jarring start and an unsatisfying ending. The middle bit was where I kept hoping we'd see some massive gains from Vincent. Also... no one seems to appreciate how much time, effort, or resources Vincent is expending on their ungrateful behalf.

Overall, I'd probably read a third book - but I'm ready to never see his hanger-on's or Angelica again. Please get a power-up, Vincent. You're an ancient vampire, Vincent.

+The number of typos in this second book were noticeable and annoying. Please do another pass with an editor on the next one!

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and slow op main character

I have up.around 30% in, it was just boring stupid plot his daughter summons him right after he falls asleep and attacks her and the whole book is him teaching death magic he learned in 10 minutes....and crys about his daughter and masters every new still in seconds. So I have up on the boring snooz fest.

[Aniconomics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers

Another great entry. This volume was considerably more magic focused. The power ceiling was also raised, removing the power fantasy elements the first volume had. It added a lot of much needed tension to the story. This volume was also a lot longer which I appreciate.

Progression wise, the story was excellent. Creating a perfect mana network and core, upgrading his equipment, Increasing his skill levels and magic proficiency, soul strengthening and ascension, a blood strengthening potion, a cursed power ring, speed reading books and absorbing knowledge from enemy vampires. It was all great.

Although, I wish Vincent adsorbed all the ancient vampires. Vampires that have lived for tens of thousands of years likely possess unique or lost knowledge. Seeing just a single one of them being killed off by his allies or banished was a disappointing development. The completionist in me cringed. I think there was 64 ancient vampires? I assume Vincent would eventually confront the Vampire Queen. But I prefer he worked his way towards that confrontation by absorbing all the ancient vampires to strengthen his foundations. Even if at some point it would yield diminishing returns. Vincent is probably the vampire king the queen saw in her dream/vision.

I assume in the next volume. Vincents ex-wife will be introduced. Our boy Vincent needs his wife back.

For possible progression paths. He needs to optimize his physique based on the ancient vampire memories he absorbed. Maybe he can use external resources like different colored blood enhancing potions to increase his stats. He needs to remove the curse from the power ring he was given. Absorbing more ancient vampires will help him further master his racial abilities and maybe discover unique or lost knowledge. He needs to continuously cast necrotic magic until the demon parasites stop enhancing his magic. He can also level up but there's the issue of obtaining unreliable skills. Besides that, he can keep training his magic proficiency and master all his skills. Maybe absorbing ancient vampires with royal bloodlines will cause another evolution. What differentiates the queen from other ancient vampires, besides age and experience?

[Gareth Otton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this series is excellent. A whole family is isekai'd to another world, where the father has been turned into a vampire. He must use his vampire advantages to get strong as quickly as possible to protect his family, but he must do so in a way that does not make him a monster in the process.

When these last two books focus on this core concept, the story is great, and I really care about what's happening. The problem is that they don't focus on this premise nearly enough.

The main character is a massive Gary Stu. His ability to learn anything almost instantly and gain power so fast has left him in a position where he basically has the power to achieve his primary goal pretty quickly if he really wanted to. Therefore, the story needs to invent other reasons why the main character is not acting on the core premise, and all of those reasons fall flat to this reader.

The story doesn't do much to provide a reason to care about anything outside of the core premise driving this series. Therefore, anything that's not directly related to that doesn't hold my interest. A better structured series would have set everything up so that the challenges the main character has to overcome are challenges that lead towards progression of the main character and his meaningful goals, and not meaningless sidequests that exist to pad time between movement on the primary goal.

One thing I have learnt over the years is that my mind can only absorb information that I care about. When it comes to stories, I only really care about things that are meaningful to that story. By definition, sidequests have little to no meaning to a story beyond their conclusion, and without any meaning, there is no reason to care, and therefore, my mind switches off.

All this adds up to a story that loses all momentum and has me checking out as a reader. I'm giving it a 2-star review for enjoyment, and I'll award an extra star to account for any subjective issues I have with this kind of story.

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

I really like this author's work. Even though he is a fantasy writer I have to wonder if he has any background in philosophy. In each of his books he has written in a way that made me think more about life. I find that really exciting. Finding truths about life in the weirdest places, in this case in a fantasy book dealing with vampires.

The nugget of life advice I got. The MC talked about a friend of his who had an analogy about life. He said it was like being in line for the guillotine. You can move up or down the line but what nobody could do was leave the line. Smoke a couple of cigarettes you move up in line. Take a 30 minute walk on your lunch break, move back in line. He said the smartest people find something that makes them happy and content in line while trying to stay in line as long as possible. So when they get to the front of the line, the have no regrets.

This story starts with Vincent drinking blood from his daughter His daughter used the portal spell to call him to her and it couldn't of been at a worse time. He was at his weakest and asleep so the demon inside woke up first. By the time he heard her voice it was almost too late. He was able to save her life but it would take months for her to get better. He ends up getting a job as a professor at the magic school so he can fit in and be there for his daughter. There is a good chunk of this book that deals with everything he needs to do to help his daughter.

Once his daughter wakes up he has to deal with her fear of him and her trauma. The story ends with the school under attack by other ancient vampires. Vincent needs to help everyone escape, especially his family. He doesn't really care about anyone else, being a vampire he can't, but his daughter would hate him if he didn't do everything he could, so that is what he is going to do.

[Wisdom Ofiebor · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half of this book checked every box on what you might consider a fast paced dark academia book, which by it self was very well done. but to me that's where positives of the second book end, in fact it would have been preferable if if the second half wasn't added and was instead refined further and released as a book 3.

The second half of the book was basically a drag, for reasons I can't articulate properly I didn't enjoy it at all. if there is one thing I didn't like in particular though was that the author refused to let Vincent to level up, that action alone would have significantly made the reading experience that much better but for what ever reason the author didn't do that. I mean sure Vincent grew stronger in other ways, but it was ways that didn't immediately solve the problems that he was facing, sure other characters grew stronger, but I'm not invested in their growth only the growth of the main character, magic was introduced but that also quickly became worthless as well with the treat they face becoming more deadly. All the while Vincent had done enough good deeds for 50 levels and stats that would help him.

Another thing I didn't like was his daughter. I found her very very annoying and a second concept I don't appreciate is how how the story tries to paint everything black or white. in that sense I find Luke's sense of morality the right one and Kathrine being extremely naive.

[BookManiac · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 read, I honestly enjoyed it more than the first book.

A great combination of the series' classic humor (The Mandalorian references, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Undead Fight Club, sparkling vampires, and more...) along with a deep dive into magic, the Abyss, and perhaps most importantly, character relationships.

The series imho is at its best when it balances its humor with the seriousness of Vincent losing his humanity while still trying to do good in the world, and I think this book nailed that balance. Exploring his relationships with his daughter, children, familiars, students... And that ending was just amazing, it was the perfect ending point for a character arc that also promised a lot more to come.

Of course, there was also plenty of awesome action, magical and physical combat, skills, levelling up, and all that LitRPG glory that we fans adore and love. This especially picks up in the book's third act as the stakes ramp up massively, setting up what seems like a major threat for the next book while also providing plenty of tension in this one.

Overall, a fantastic read, and I cannot wait for Book 3. I need it ASAP.

[Dániel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the first Vincent book, and while I also loved the second one, it was more of a 4.3* than a 5* to me.

I still liked most things, but after I finished, I was left with a feeling of pointlessness, if that makes sense. In the previous book, MC was destroying ancient evils dreaded throughout the kingdom and making decisions that affected the whole country. Here, the final bosses drop out of the clear sky, they are from a faction we never heard of, and they are the most expendable, least important parts of that faction. It both felt like a downgrade and felt sort-of random. No real foreshadowing or setup, they just randomly appeared. Same with the solution we get in the big bossfight at the end. It just randomly happens out of nowhere, and that's it.

The book was still amazing, and I especially appreciate the details we're getting about the magic system, but the whole "lightning bolt from blue sky" approach to plots left a bit of a bad aftertaste. I'll still listen to the next one on the day it's released.

[Jennifer King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fantastic!

This is a wonderful book. There's a good plot Great action! It feels like a real world. You never know what's going to happen next, not just because the author just randomly decided to do something but because there's greater plots and empires and actions that are happening throughout the world that cause the main character to have to stop and deal with them. I really enjoyed this book. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series. I would tell more of the plot but it would really take away from the book for you. I apologize for any spelling errors. I'm writing this review with voice to text mainly to help the author out because a book this good should be promoted whenever possible.

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit of a downer…

My policy is to give 5 stars to authors due to the binary system that is actually created by the star rating process. Anything less than five stars hurts an author’s bottom line and I would like authors to be able to continue to write even if their second book in a series isn’t quite as good as the first. This first book Vampire Vincent book made me laugh and I was eager to see what hijinks would ensue as the series continued. The first half of magic, academies & vampires had the same energy as the first book but the last half felt rushed, forced, and more than a bit depressing. I hope the next book starts and ends in a better place.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Initially, I was Livid about the way that the author began this book.
It was an unpleasant Curve Ball for the readers who enjoyed the last book of the series.

I am gradually beginning to forgive the writer as I progress further into the story.
The story telling is still superb, but the first few pages were an awful, dirty trick. :-)

Update: This book/series might be the most rational and intelligently written piece of fiction that I have ever encountered. Many authors are for some reason adverse to creating characters with practical/rational motivations. This protagonist is a breath of fresh air.

FINAL ADDENDUM: The ending was not my cup of tea, but it was a good book. I will say no more than that. :-)

[Ribbon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vincent finally reunites with his daughter, who he hasn't seen since she was eleven. He promptly nearly kills her, setting a whole book's worth of guilt in the first chapter.

The academy elements are neat. Vincent teaches Occult Studies a runs a club for necromancers. The school has a dungeon, which links to the Abyss, which is just okay.

A bit past the halfway mark, there's an extended action sequence that lasts over two hours of audiobook. I was bored to tears. Later action scenes are better but my engagement never fully recovered.

Content Warning: So many Harry Potter references. If you're trying to cleanse your life of that franchise, avoid this book.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved three-fourths of this book. This book did not feel as playful as the first in the series. I did not like the last chapter. I object (foot stomp!) to the my monster subplot! I love the conversations and layers of characters which are revealed when Vincent interacts with people, especially "his people." He does care about or appreciates each of his people in different ways; sometimes in very clinical ways, sometimes in more emotional ways. I especially love the care shown to Amelia or Gorgath; the evolution of their characters makes me want to happy clap. I look forward to the next book in this excellent series.

[Peter Kallos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining, but very fast paced. Just action after action after action. No room to breathe. I was hoping from the description that there would be some slice-of-life type breaks but not really.

As of the end of the second book, we still don't know much about the world that 4 family members were transported to.

I'll be reading any subsequent novels as I do enjoy them, but the series is not what I hoped it would be.

[MOHAMMED · Rating 4 out of 5]

great story

I truly enjoyed the story. However, to much self loathing. Depreciation. He is been doing alit of good without even considering it. Even the system at one point told him he will not level up until he realizes the good deed he does. For everyone and himself. And the ungrateful people that he had to tolerate are unbelievable. That was the tough part of the story that I really don’t appreciate.

[Sisse Marianne Bertelsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As opposed to the first book, which is pretty short, this baby sits at over 600 pages. I feel like about 200 of them could have been cut. The amount of details about magic theory simply ends up being too much for me. That being said, I still loved it!
I wasn’t crazy about the ending, but I won’t get into that because, spoilers. I will definitely read the next book to see where things go.

For the author/publisher: please please please do more proofreading/get a better proofreader 🙏

[Urhierefe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the romance kind of vampire

I love this series, we'll probably get book three by 2027 though.

Also I wish Vincent does get progress a bit, I love that he wants his companions to be able to unalive him incase of the unfortunate but at this point everyone can do that. I believe he should be able to gain a bit of personal strength sometime in this series though, I've always wondered what a good progression fantasy vampire would look like.

[Scott H Mesmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply outstanding

A simply outstanding book. Wasn't sure how he would continue the series but this was just a great follow up and I am relieved. It's a lot of responsibility and difficult as an author to continue a series, well he met the challenge and wrote a terrific sequel.

[Devan · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty good

First of all the cover is awesome. It took me awhile to notice the book Vincent is reading.

I liked the book overall. Just was felt torn about the direction of the plot at times. Like Vincent being unable to level and the twist with Shade. Overall I think it will make the story better. I just won’t get to experience that in this book unfortunately.