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Area 51 #8
Nosferatu
THE SHADOWS OF HISTORY ARE THEIR HOME.
THE BLOOD OF HUMANS IS THEIR SUSTENANCE.
NOW THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THEM....
It began at the dawn of history, when a darkness rose from deep within an Egyptian tomb. For thousands of years—long before earth was plunged into an intergalactic battle for its survival—four deathless creatures sowed seeds of destruction and chaos. Surviving on the spilled blood of warriors and innocents from ancient Greece to the ashes of Nazi Germany, the creatures have played a role in conflicts great and small. Now, bound by their common ancestry, separated by their own devious ambitions, and armed with mankind's own modern tools of destruction, the deathless ones know that their time has come—and they have been called together by one brilliant leader. His name is Nosferatu. His vision is to become a god on earth. His ultimate weapon will be a Holy Grail, a force that no mortal man can defeat...but his deadliest enemy may be one of his own....
THE BLOOD OF HUMANS IS THEIR SUSTENANCE.
NOW THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THEM....
It began at the dawn of history, when a darkness rose from deep within an Egyptian tomb. For thousands of years—long before earth was plunged into an intergalactic battle for its survival—four deathless creatures sowed seeds of destruction and chaos. Surviving on the spilled blood of warriors and innocents from ancient Greece to the ashes of Nazi Germany, the creatures have played a role in conflicts great and small. Now, bound by their common ancestry, separated by their own devious ambitions, and armed with mankind's own modern tools of destruction, the deathless ones know that their time has come—and they have been called together by one brilliant leader. His name is Nosferatu. His vision is to become a god on earth. His ultimate weapon will be a Holy Grail, a force that no mortal man can defeat...but his deadliest enemy may be one of his own....
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
157 people are currently reading
583 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 4, 2012
his was my first book by Robert Doherty. Afterwards I understood that this book was just one of the series of Area 51. Fortunally it could be read as stand-alone... Well I enjoyed the book but it didn't make me want to order other books. If I found it on a store I would buy it but not order it.
This book starts nicely and gives us an introduction of few elments for the series and the history behind it interested me. I think that is one of the most important things on a book. The background..
We get to know about the aliens Airlia and the story in the past and how they shaped our history. Our main history is Nosferatu and we learn how where they created (bred) just for they could awake and feed on human blood and it turn fed upon the gods. We learn about the love that Nosferatu held with Nekhbet that was sentenced to a living death inside her tube. From this moment on this book turns into a love story (a race to get his love) and the agenda of another one called Vampyr.
The all love story and the sadness of being apart is very well portrayed. We feel like Nosferatu feels (or as the author wanted us to feel).
It is recommend for anyone who life Robert Dohery novels and anyone who likes vampires and want to read a different way of making them.
This book starts nicely and gives us an introduction of few elments for the series and the history behind it interested me. I think that is one of the most important things on a book. The background..
We get to know about the aliens Airlia and the story in the past and how they shaped our history. Our main history is Nosferatu and we learn how where they created (bred) just for they could awake and feed on human blood and it turn fed upon the gods. We learn about the love that Nosferatu held with Nekhbet that was sentenced to a living death inside her tube. From this moment on this book turns into a love story (a race to get his love) and the agenda of another one called Vampyr.
The all love story and the sadness of being apart is very well portrayed. We feel like Nosferatu feels (or as the author wanted us to feel).
It is recommend for anyone who life Robert Dohery novels and anyone who likes vampires and want to read a different way of making them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2019
I get the impression that the author was trying to explain how events in our history fit this storyline of the Area 51 series. In this book, he attempts to give us a view of one of the ways the Airlia "developed" humans for Airlia use. The characters discussed in this book are 1/2 Airlia made from "crossbreed" mating/rape of human women which resulted in children who has traits from both sides but have the Airlia virus which gives them a better vitality and a longer lifespan than humans but are not immortal. The only contact with the Grail, which appears to change/ encourage the Airlia virus vitality. These halfbreeds are a food supply for the Airlia who need to keep their blood supplied with the virus since they don't have total access to the Grail, which is not used by everyone. The main halfbreeds in this book are Nosferatu, who was the first made in the initial period of time when the Airlia who had been left behind on Earth, were developing the Egyptian civilization prior to the building of the buildings and monuments at Giza, along with Nekhbet and Vampyr, the second made along with his twin Lilith. There were more sets of two halfbreeds totally 6, one each for the Airlia Gods Rulers, but in the escape from their entombed cells, aided by Donnchadh, 1 of them killed by the Airlia Foo guard which is a machine-driven spider creature, using Airlia technology and the three females recaptured by the Airlia. Both Nosferatu and Vampyr want to rescue their females but are held back by the Watcher who guides them out to watch the punishment rendered and then gives them the means to escape after they both remove their re-generation tubes. Both go separate ways. The experiences they have along the long time periods they are active, are used to explain the rise of certain individuals known to history--King Mineas of Crete, a member of the famous 300, Vlad the Impaler--all versions of titles taken by Vampyr. Nosferatu tries to keep a lower profile, for awhile using the ages to sleep hidden in his tube, only to feed periodically, until he decides it is time to go back to Giza to rescue Nekhbet from the eternal sleep she is confined to. He manages to do this, aided again by a Watcher. He is forced to put Nekhbet back into dormant sleep Eventually he meets up with Asparia's shadow, who spares him by sending him on a quest to China to get Airlia blood from the site where Artad had hidden in the tomb called Quian-Ling. But to get there, he needs to accompany the Guide Leader under Asparia's influence called Alexander the Great, whom he stays with for awhile. When he gets to China, he meets up with Tian Dao Lin, an undead like himself but an offspring of Artad, who has, in turn, created Quarter breeds because he likes to interact and have others around. Tian informs and shows Nosferatu that it is impossible to get to the Airlia in the tomb because of the alarms in place. The two of them are captured for a time period by Artad's active Airlia and put into a deep sleep. One of Tian's Quarter's leaves the area around Quian-Ling and goes West, joining and becoming the leader of the Mongols, becoming know as Genghis Khan for a time period until he fakes his death. He comes back as Ivan the Terrible for a time situating himself in power in Moscow since he couldn't get it in China, undergoing various reincarnations until the present as Adrik. When Nosferatu and Tian are waked by the Airlia in China, they are given the task as scouts to accompany the expedition to kill Asparia's Shadow, but it really was to place a weapon (the ruby Sphere) in place to make Asparia's Shadow declare a truce. The general they accompany is Cing Ho. What I found hilarious about this incident was our author using the rise of the religious war of Jihad in the name of Allah, to explain Asparia's Shadow actions. In the present time, Nosferatu has called a meeting of the 4 main Undead in power and proposes means for them to achieve immortality by gathering all the blood supply available of Airlia blood. His plan includes the 5th Undead Nekhbet. After Vampyr does his predictable attempt to kill all the others, Nekhbet and Nosferatu leave to live their immortal lives, after disposing of Vampyr.
December 26, 2020
Having enjoyed various books of Robert Doherty's Area 51 series, I was thrilled to learn that he wrote series of prequel books set in that same world. Area 51: Nosferatu is the first of that prequel series, and I have to admit that Doherty really surprised me with the subject matter: vampires. At first glance, one might question the introduction of vampires into the Area 51 mythology, thinking that vampires have been done to death and don't seem to belong in Doherty's alternate history of the earth. To Doherty's credit, however, the new book does work, providing a new twist on the creation and nature of vampires while melding his Undead characters quite well into human history. The novel opens in the immediate aftermath of the human victory over the Airlia, extraterrestrials who had used and abused mankind for as long as men had walked on two legs. The Eldest among the world's small number of vampires, Nosferatu, knows that the Airlia defeat has finally made conditions right for a new age, an age of the Undead. All he needs is a supply of pure Airlia blood, which can be taken from the frozen dead bodies of three aliens near the top of Mount Everest, in the defeated Airlia mothership orbiting the earth, and in a few other hard-to-reach places. His one true aim is to awaken his beloved Nekhbet, who has passed the millennia in a deep sleep, waiting for the pure Airlia blood she must have in order to leave her protective tomb. Nosferatu's task is complicated by the existence of a rogue vampire named Vampyr, a man bent on destroying the Airlia, mankind, and any fellow vampire who gets in his way.Nosferatu and five other vampires were created before 8000 BC to serve as little more than the food of the gods. Chained inside a tube, they awoke only to feed on cold human blood or to be fed upon by the gods. When the vampires managed to escape, Nekhbet was captured and sentenced to a living death inside her tube. Nosferatu's love for her grows stronger every day they are apart. In this world, vampires are half-Airlia and half-human; they need human blood in order to feed the Airlia half of the blood what it needs to keep them alive. Nosferatu kills only when he has to in order to survive, quite unlike Vampyr. Nosferatu works silently in the background of the world, but Vampyr becomes famous under a guise of names for his savage cruelty: Vlad Tepes is by no means Vampyr's only incarnation in the history of violence on earth. After following these vampires over the course of history, the final chapters describe the inevitable confrontation of the two vampiric forces, closing out quite strongly while setting the stage for the next book. Overall, While the novel doesn't quite build the suspense that characterized the original Area 51 books, the incorporation of the unusual yet really quite beautiful love story between Nosferatu and Nekhbet gives it a personal dimension lacking in Doherty's previous books.
August 2, 2018
I starting reading this after book 7 and I had to put it down and check out some reviews. People were saying it wasn't like the other previous 7 books, but it did explain a bit of meta-plot. If there weren't 11 books at this point I'd probably say things like Vamparism is going a bit far in a Sci-Fi series, or why couldn't a vampire be named something simple like Joe, so this stuff is more tolerable. I had to check out reviews for the next couple of books to really know and I decided to see how far I can make it. This series has potential, within the local solar system, but if it keeps pointing down and back in time I'm probably going to write a horrible review of this author. That being said, this book was released under the pseudonym Robert Doherty. I imagine it was for a reason. This book did not dabble in the "Twilight"-ism of the vampires, but took a more survivalist approach, which in novels is almost like an anti-hero like Venom (Trailer #2) [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLCn8... ]. Whichever, character you may take sides on, Aspacia's shadow, Nosferatu or any other introduced character, this could thicken future plots of the books as this book does take place from roughly after the truce between the two side and does explain the war over thousands of years. As a history guy, I'm not a huge far of the twisting of actual historical figures into this mythos, but otherwise I'd be reading my textbooks. I'm going to keep reading, but if you look into my library and see that I haven't finished the series. You will know why. I just hope that the pace of release is for good reason.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 10, 2023
The author plays around with the infamous Ancient Aliens explanation for all things supernatural in this installment of the series. I found it to be kind of a slog, both because of the writing style, and because I found it very hard to care about either of the two main Undead characters, both of whom came across as villains to me. Also, I sensed that the author got geographically turned around in several chapters. Still, it was fascinating to see his version of the moving and shaking of ancient Egypt and his ideas for the sources of various myths and legends in a few other parts of the world.
May 4, 2017
Compared to the rest of the series, this book was lackluster at best. None of the previous characters made an appearance.
75% of the book was focused on what happened in the past, and none of it had much to do with the main storyline of the series. All of the action took place in the last 5% of the book.
In all honesty, the few important bits of this book could have been weaved into the previous 3 books and nothing would have been lost. If you're reading the series, skip it, as it doesn't really add anything at all to the overall story.
75% of the book was focused on what happened in the past, and none of it had much to do with the main storyline of the series. All of the action took place in the last 5% of the book.
In all honesty, the few important bits of this book could have been weaved into the previous 3 books and nothing would have been lost. If you're reading the series, skip it, as it doesn't really add anything at all to the overall story.
December 7, 2022
I expected a bit more silliness from something called Area 51: Nosferatu, but what I got was alien vampires pulling Forest Gump antics through history. I'm not being entirely fair to this book given that I've skipped the previous installments in this series, but, since this is mainly a prequel, I didn't have any trouble following along. Honestly, it wasn't bad, and I'll probably check out some of the other entries in the series, but it might be taking its ridiculous premise slightly too seriously.
January 30, 2019
I remember reading Mayer's Area 51 series and really liking it. I also remember that, when I read the series, the general consensus seemed to be to skip Nosferatu because it really wasn't a continuation of the story. Boy, I really wish I would have listened to that consensus now.
Nosferatu is basically a rehashing of the entire Area 51 mythos from the perspective of... Nosferatu! You guessed it, he's a vampire. He witnessed/took part in lots of history's more pivotal moments and is, in fact, a pretty nice guy once you get past the whole drinking-human-blood thing. Not at all like that shithead Vampyr, he's a real shit head.
If it wasn't for my stubbornness about finishing books, I wouldn't have forced myself to finish this one. Thank god it was short.
Nosferatu is basically a rehashing of the entire Area 51 mythos from the perspective of... Nosferatu! You guessed it, he's a vampire. He witnessed/took part in lots of history's more pivotal moments and is, in fact, a pretty nice guy once you get past the whole drinking-human-blood thing. Not at all like that shithead Vampyr, he's a real shit head.
If it wasn't for my stubbornness about finishing books, I wouldn't have forced myself to finish this one. Thank god it was short.
October 12, 2018
Very Different. Very Good.
Not what I was expecting, but still an excellent read. I've read all this author's books in order to this point. It looks like I'll be reading them all.
Not what I was expecting, but still an excellent read. I've read all this author's books in order to this point. It looks like I'll be reading them all.
February 28, 2019
This was interesting seeing them go through their lives and what was going on with them. I'm curious as to how things are going to play out.
Read
November 20, 2019Not his best work. Seemed too...forced.
April 4, 2020
Ugh. Gave up after 100 pages.
May 22, 2021
More like an introduction than a book
This book felt like an introduction to a new arc just to continue the series, not my favorite. I almost did not finish it
This book felt like an introduction to a new arc just to continue the series, not my favorite. I almost did not finish it
February 12, 2022
A sudden departure and I didn't quite get to grips with the characters in this one.curious about the next book.
April 21, 2023
I really enjoyed the break from the rest of the series to read about these four characters.
September 27, 2014
While technically this is the 8th novel in the Area 51 series, the actual series ended with book number 7 and this one serves more to fill in some of the background of the overall story arc. It also works hard to provide the history of vampires on our planet and how many of the legends surrounding them (including Dracula) got started.
None of the major characters of the first seven books are included here although several are mentioned in passing and several of the major events of the main series are also referred to. I don't thing that a reader would particularly enjoy reading this one though if they haven't read the first seven books because it does assume a reader will know about Area 51, the mother ships, bouncers, and especially the two alien factions from the other novels.
I did enjoy the historical tour through the ages and witnessing the vampire evolution presented in this novel. However, the story elements didn't grab me all that much. Most of the book was filled with descriptive passages and very little dialogue. There is one more novel in this "series" and I will certainly read that as well, but I think readers can be well satisfied if they never get around to the last two books.
None of the major characters of the first seven books are included here although several are mentioned in passing and several of the major events of the main series are also referred to. I don't thing that a reader would particularly enjoy reading this one though if they haven't read the first seven books because it does assume a reader will know about Area 51, the mother ships, bouncers, and especially the two alien factions from the other novels.
I did enjoy the historical tour through the ages and witnessing the vampire evolution presented in this novel. However, the story elements didn't grab me all that much. Most of the book was filled with descriptive passages and very little dialogue. There is one more novel in this "series" and I will certainly read that as well, but I think readers can be well satisfied if they never get around to the last two books.
September 17, 2016
This was quite a different book from the other Area 51 novels. It was essentially a vampire story set in the Area 51 universe. Since I love vampires, and sci fi, for me it worked great! But, I could see this being too much of a departure for pure sci fi fans. I thought it was very creative to combine the Airlia mythos with vampire legend. I really enjoyed the Nosferatu character and he made a great addition to the Area 51 list of characters. However, I found the character name choices to be annoying, specifically Nosferatu and Vampyr. Just seemed lame to me, and there was no reason why the author couldn't have used new vampire names for these characters (other than to have a book title that popped). Now I'm super curious where the next book in the series will go.
November 15, 2012
The eighth book of the Area 51 series. With the completion of the main storyline ending with book seven of the series, this book is really a self-contained novel that tells the story of a third race of beings, the hybrid offspring of Airlia and Humans, whom history chose to call Vampires. It begins towards the First Dynasty of Egypt, the reign of the gods, and ends not long after the events of the first seven books of the series. Definitely an enjoyable read for anyone that read the original storyline, as it fills in some info.
September 28, 2016
Giving this a 3 more for personal preference than quality. First, I have no interest in vampire mythology which this whole book is based on. Second, it is a side story to everything else previously in this series. I'm guessing it was ideas that didn't make it into the main series so it is all collected in this book. There were a couple of hints dropped about it in the main series. Third, after the prologue, 70% of the story is flashback, all about what these "vampires" lived through parallel to the rest of the story but since I'm not interested in vampire characters I didn't really care.
October 7, 2020
I absolutely did not expect such an amazing book. Upon seeing the title I automatically assumed it would be cheesy and austere but I was very wrong. This book beautifully intertwines vampires, ancient Egypt, and an endearing romance with a beautiful storyline that spans centuries; integrating real history effectively into the created world. I will definitely be rereading this.
November 2, 2011
Great series, each book is well written and for me was a page turner. Am not an avid reader, but once in awhile will come across a series that I cannot wait to get to the next book. This series was one of them.
March 24, 2013
This was different to the other books in the Area 51 series. All the original central characters do not appear.
Saying that, I did enjoy the book even though its basically a vampire story. Will continue reading the series though.
Saying that, I did enjoy the book even though its basically a vampire story. Will continue reading the series though.
December 26, 2013
An interesting new take on vampires. Very well written too, but didn't quite manage to hook me enough for a 5-star rating. I do recommend it though, as it is an interesting, cleverly-plotted, enjoyable read.
April 8, 2015
Since the main story is done I really don't care about Nosferatu and what he did during the alien wars. Interesting at points but it seemed like a desperate attempt at connecting some myths in legends to these halfbreeds.
Read
January 20, 2016This was the most disappointing book of the Area 51 SciFi series, for me. In this book we learn vampires are actually alien-human hybrids created by aliens mating with humans. Ironically, despite the title, Area 51 does not appear as part of the story.
June 30, 2019
I have enjoyed every Bob Mayer book I've read up to this point - this book, however, is one I wish I had never bought. I probably won't even finish reading it. Unless you like books about blood-drinking vampires, don't buy this one. It's a waste of money.
Read
April 16, 2012New twist on vampires...but have to admit that one of my favorite explanations for them is they started with Judas when he betrayed Christ.
July 25, 2012
Very interesting read...hard to stop.
September 17, 2013
A most intriguing tale. The ending was unexpected and yet the saga continues. There are so what if's in my mind with every book of Bob's I read. Excellent.
February 21, 2013
Interesting take on vampires and their history. Giving insight into the history of the aliens. Up next: Legend
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews