Night Terrors

V-Wars: Chronicles of the Vampire Wars #3

by Jonathan Maberry, James A. Moore III (Editor), John Everson

The war is tearing our world apart. Instead of big armies with tanks in the field, the Vampire War is fought in the streets, neighbor against neighbor, family against family. Anyone can turn at any time. The blood hunger can suddenly appear in the middle of a kiss. The person who sleeps next to you every night could wake up in the dead of night...hungry. So hungry...V-Wars: Night Terrors collects all-new stories from the reporters embedded with the beats (humans) and the bloods (vampires). Each tale explores the nature of terror and peels back another layer of our comfort. Each tale bares our throat to the bite.New York Times Bestseller Jonathan Maberry and his team of front-line storytellers bring you all-new tales of horror and heroism, of pain and delight, of deadly despair and soaring courage. The war between beats and bloods is blazing. Pick a side.

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Audiobook, Fiction, Paranormal, Short Stories, Anthologies

384 pages, Paperback

First published October 6, 2015

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Trace didn't even bother wearing a watch any longer. When I'd asked him why, he told me that once a man's taking his last breaths, he doesn't bother counting them.”

*closes book* Wow that was amazing! Okay Dana, deep breath now. You don't want this review to turn into a garbled fangirling mess now do you? Focus.



I wouldn't recommend reading this right before bed, but I would definitely recommend picking up this amazing collection of interlocking horror stories. This is the first time that I have read an anthology where all the stories are connected and I absolutely loved it. Each author has their own unique voice but they all somehow manage to flawlessly go together as an overall story.

I also loved how the vampires in this are not your garden variety vampires that we are all used to reading about now a days. The vampires in this collection are amazing. There is a huge assortment of completely unique vampires that range from incredible super-humans to traditional to gory monsters and beyond. I always appreciate when authors go outside of the norm, especially when it comes to the paranormal.

There were a couple small moments where it felt like the gore was more for the shock value then necessity, but there were only a couple instances where this stood out for me and overall I felt that the violence/gore was not in excess (although perhaps not for the faint hearted).

My favourite stories (although I loved them all) were The Monster Inside by Scot Nicholson and Love Lost by John Everson.

Overall this is an amazing and original collection of vampire stories, and I would recommend this to all fans of paranormal and/or horror.

Buy, Borrow or Bin Verdict:Buy


Note: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories were wonderful and kept me constantly enthralled. There were no stories that were disappointing . Even the day in the life snippets were enjoyable.

[melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a disclaimer, this may have been more of a difficult read for me personally as I'm not a big fan of anthologies.

But, I am a HUGE fan of Jonathan Maberry. My only previous introduction to the V-Wars world was through the Crimson Queen graphic novel which I loved. However, this fell a bit flat for me and was really difficult to get into.

This is similar to World War Z in it's storytelling method that feels like newscasts/news articles and honestly, just doesn't appeal to me. I think that had each of the installments been clumped together, that might have flowed a bit easier than being broken up amongst each other.

But, this did give me a great chance to test out a few authors before picking up their full novels and I do like the V-Wars world, it just doesn't flow well for me going from different authors and I'd probably prefer it in just one style.

*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley & the Publisher.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as an arc from net galley in exchange for an honest review. The war is tearing our world apart. Instead of big armies with tanks in the field, the vampire war is fought in the streets, neighbour against neighbour, family against family.

Wow.
Absolutely fantastic read.
CNPID.
I loved the story and the characters.
So shocked that that could happen.
Definitely made me jump.
Highly recommended.
Definitely worth more than 5 *.

[John Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

a terrifying collection of stories

[Panos Panagiotidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok but the first two volumes are better

[Monique · Rating 3 out of 5]

The weakest novel out of the first three novels.

This novel felt a little too much like filler as I didn’t understand the purpose of most of the stories. I enjoyed the stories that touched on the new war that was starting up, or the Crimson Queen and how she was rising in power. I also liked old stories that touched on characters from previous stories in the first two novels. However, I found the majority of the stories were just about random acts of violence without progressing the main plot.

The format was awkward. This novel follows the same format as the other two with all the stories broken up into numerous parts. Instead of reading numerous stories together by reading the novel front to back I would jump through pages so I could start and finish one story at a time. This got a bit tedious as the app I was using wasn’t the greatest.

Overall this was an okay collection of vampire stories. They’re violent and bloody, which I think vampire stories should be like. I originally picked this novel up as I’m a huge Jonathan Maberry fan. To die hard fans I’d say yes try it but to anyone who has never read Maberry start with the Dead of Night series or Joe Ledger series.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third anthology of the Vampire Wars so maybe I am getting battle fatigue. This volume was a step down from the first two in my opinion. There were also editing errors which was a little shocking to me since the editor is Jonathan Maberry.

This book is set up similar to the previous with 14 different "correspondents" giving their reports on the V-Wars from all over the world. Between each report there is a short piece from Maberry. I love Maberry's writing but there is really no connections between his short little filler pieces despite some of them having the same title and being labeled as a preceding part.

I enjoy the tales but there is really no tie-in between the stories. In the previous volumes they did a better job of this with Luther Swan. Not so good in doing so this time.

Also the Crimson Queen hasn't really had much of a role yet. Maybe they are saving this for the last volume which I still plan on reading.

[Severina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The 3rd volume of interconnected stories about the rise of vampires is hit and miss, leaning heavily on the miss end of the equation. The problem this time around is twofold. One, the stories simply don’t mesh. One author is writing about wholesale destruction, cities destroyed, people in hiding… and the other is writing a lighthearted story about the beleaguered human dad of a vampire child who worries about being teased for her braces. There is a massive disconnect here. There’s also the problem of splitting single stories into chapters sandwiched between other single stories, which is just jarring because there’s no need for it. Ultimately, neither the format nor the stories themselves work together. Maberry’s overarching theme is still interesting, but overall the book is jarring.

[R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of stories continuing the theme from the first V-Wars novel. For people new to it, this is a book two, so I'd advise you to start with the original. Maberry is as talented an editor as he is a writer though and if you've enjoyed any of his books at all you'll probably love this one just the same.

This collection continues to tell stories in a world in which something awakened junk DNA in people across the world causing them to become the creatures of legend that Vampires, Werewolves, and other creatures are based on. Pulp fiction at it's finest, but who doesn't like a good vampire/werewolf/commando story or ten?

[RJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cultural and ancestorial identities created many more and thoroughly different vampires. The “Bloods” and the “Beats” continue to wage war throughout the cities of the country. The curious entity was Rancid; who or what was he? The war with the vampires escalated as the vampires organized under the direction of the Crimson Queen. The various stories held my interest and I enjoyed them entirely. The series was not quite what I was expecting but the compilation of stories, authors, and narrators was awesome the way it was all put together. I think the uniqueness of the whole is well worth the high rating.

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

The world building and variety of vampire species is absolutely fascinating. I love how the stories weave together and are told consequentially. But there’s too much wasted plot and graphic language/descriptions. Had to skip certain sections.

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the stories continue to get better with each volume. This volume did the most to advance the vampire war storyline, with more decimation and vampires starting to show their strength.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very good installment. I don't like short stories. And this is a string of short stories, all woven together into one universe. But it works. I'll listen to more.

[Jonathan Ayala · Rating 4 out of 5]

(read through LIBBY APP)

[Nannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

V Wars: Night Terrors, the third book in the V Wars series, was released in October 2015. It probably is not totally necessary to read the first two in the series before Night Terrors but it would help. I did read V Wars first and now Night Terrors. I did not realize I was missing the third book, Blood and Fire so I did get a little confused on one point. Like the original Night Terrors is written by several authors, Lucas Mangum, Jonathan Maberry, Jeremy Robinson, John Everson, Larry Correia, and Tim Waggoner. Each author is responsible for writing one or more of the fifteen different stories that make up the whole.

The premise of the V Wars books is that a piece of dormant human DNA somehow become activated creating vampires and werewolfs. The first book dealt with the original event and its immediate aftermath. V Wars: Night Terrors takes place at least eighteen months or more after the original event. A war has broken out between the “beats” (normal humans) and the “bloods” (vampires). It is not that simple though. It is not just human vs. inhuman. Some humans work with vampires and some vampires with humans. Some are trying to eradicate the others while some are trying to find a way to coexist.

I did enjoy Night Terrors but not as much as the original V Wars. One reason was there was more sex. I thought it was unnecessary for moving the story forward. It just seemed to be gratuitous, like the nudity in Game of Thrones. The other problem I had was the types of vampires. In V Wars, there are vampires, period. There are the beginnings of an introduction to specialization within the species but in Night Terrors it explodes. There were so many different types of vampires with different abilities and exotic names I could not keep them straight. At all. Just mentioning what type of vampire one was did not tell me if it was sun sensitive, extra strong or drank life essence instead of blood. It was just too much to keep track of for me.

I did enjoy what I perceived as social commentary. In one story, “A Day in the Life” part 9, the action centers around the man who produces vampire reality shows. His biggest hit follows female vampires who live in the Hamptons. They discuss whether to have their fangs gold tipped and if chinchilla blood really the best. Think of Real Housewives of wherever gone horribly wrong and you get the idea. He also produced shows that were vampire on vampire violence, even an Amish Vampire, which he admitted was totally scripted.

The production values were perfect. The narration was excellent. I think Stefan Rudnicki sounds like the author Benjamin Percy and had to check the credits to see who it was narrating. Gabrielle de Cuir and Stephen Hoye were fantastic. Jamye Meri Grant was great. The only problem I had was Sunil Malhotra. He has a lovely voice but at times he spoke too softly. I would need to back up, raise the volume and then lower the volume after that particular passage. Overall it was an excellent audiobook. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars overall: Plot 4, Performance 5, Production 5, and Attention holding 4.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review”

[Nathan Tullis · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I received a free copy of this audio book for review. Orignally posted at Audiobookreviewer.com*


I cannot get enough V Wars; I read the comic, listen to the audio books, and I am excited as I wait for the V Wars Board Game coming out December 18. These collections of short stories have been a journey; each installment adding to and progressing the already vast world. It started with a seemingly simple idea that has spread and grown into it’s own entity, it’s own world.

There are so very many different types of vampires in these stories, all specific to one’s ancestry. The tales told within match the broad scope of the vampires themselves, covering many different aspects of human, and now vampire, life. They are all intriguing; luring you in, each story individually, with a distinct perspective in relation to the Vampire Wars, and a unique story to be told. Most of them kept me very interested. Which is impressive for an anthology, as jumping from one writing style to an entirely different one can sometimes take me out of the story. This did not, thanks in large to the editor.

As editor, contributor, and creator of the V Wars franchise, Jonathan Maberry shows us all yet again he is an expert in storytelling. The editing was exceptionally done. He brought together individual stories and writing styles in a way the kept the momentum throughout and the story cohesive. Blending black-op thrillers, horror, political intrigue, and drug wars with vampires seems a daunting task in my eyes. My hat is off.

Just as well done was the narration. With veterans like Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle de Cuir at the helm it was really no surprise. Every reader delivered a great performance that matched the setting and characteristics of each tale. The sounds were crisp and clean with no background noise. The talented folks at Skyboat Media and Blackstone deliver yet again.

There is definitely something to like for most people between these pages. The ingredients of these chronicles are blended perfectly. It’s almost as good and The Hippo’s frosting.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jonathan Maberry is back as editor and co-author of V-Wars: Night Terrors (IDW), the third installment of vampire and werewolf stories that began with V-Wars: A Chronicle of the Vampire Wars in 2013. In the original volume, Maberry commenced with the premise that a dormant bacteria was unleashed with global ramifications. And, as with the first and second volumes, Maberry is joined again by leading authors of horror and science fiction, creating an ongoing and ever-expanding tapestry of stories about the Beats (humans) and Bloods (vampires).

Maberry opens this collection with college professor turned advising consultant Luther Swann and reporter Yuki Nitobe, but then moves onto other colorful characters as he alternates his chapters with those of his guest authors, who usually provide a two-part story. It is an efficient and effective narrative structure that solicits an exploration of .....

Please read my full review at my blog at Fanboy Comics: http://www.fanboycomics.net/index.php...

[Wendy Bocock · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this edition of V-Wars felt kind of like a place holder. I liked it, but not as much as the others. My reasoning can be summed up in two words: not enough. Not enough of some of my favorites - Marko and his son, Matt Kovac, John Lei (the hopping ghost), etc. Also, I missed Mooney Lopez, who didn't show up in this installment at all. It did make me look forward to the next one, and hope that the wait isn't too long.
Another issue with this installment: While all three of the V-Wars books are published by IDW, the first two are hardcover (and in the first one, even the paper stock used feels like a higher quality than most books), the third one is a trade paperback, instead of a hard cover, which disappointed me.
Overall, though, I love this series, and I love the different types of vampires that some of my favorite authors have come up with. The creativity is amazing!

[Seth Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this is not the first book in the V Wars series that does not matter. I've never read any other works based off of this series by Jonathan Maberry, and I was fine. The collected writers in this volume provide you with more than enough background information in fun and exciting ways that you can start at page 1 and be fully up to speed. This book collects an amazing batch of talented writers. Larry Correia, James Moore, Tim Waggoneer, and Jonathan Maberry are just some of the impressive authors lending tales to this anthology. A great read for fans of these writers, or people that enjoy inventive vampire stories.

[tyto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first introduction to the V-Wars universe, and this is a good collection of inter-related short stories. The stories are broken up and interspersed among each other, which didn't make for the best reading experience. I wish that the entire story could have been grouped together instead of split across the whole book. Overall, this was a good collection. There were a few stories that I didn't care for, but the V-Wars universe as a whole is compelling and a unique twist on the vampire genre.

[David Vinther · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series, and look forward to the next book. I'm eager to see how Jonathan Maberry and the writers he's assembled tie all of these disparate stories together. Not that I want the series to come to a conclusion anytime soon, because it's very interesting and a lot of fun.

[LaTonya Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just Okay

Volume 3 was not as strong as 1 and 2. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was excellent! I can't put my finger on it but this volume felt more disjointed than the other two. The ending was a complete disappointment for me, it just wasn't memorable.

[WendyB · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book and series. Night Terrors is the 3rd book in a series that should be read in order.

[Todd Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let the V Wars continue! I think I'm about vampired out for a while...but please keep the fresh blood coming. I could definitely use another cupcake!

[Steve Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the stories. recommended if you enjoyed the first two.

[Joe]

Excellent grouping of stories! All very well written accounts of the V-Wars from the viewpoints of people (and not people!) on both sides of the conflict.

[Latoya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ewww factor 5! LOL

[Aleece · Rating 5 out of 5]

some great stories from the first and second book came back which is cool. all in all great book

[Juliette · Rating 4 out of 5]

There needs to be more anthologies like this where the shorts stand alone, but also link into one another.