Unquenchable

Prisoner of Blood #2

by David Dvorkin

Transformed into a human being, Richard Venneman risks agonizing death in his quest to become a vampire again. But he can't control the chain of events he started or the beings - humans, vampires, and others - whose lives he has changed. Seeking to transcend their natures, they are all drawn to the experimental machine Venneman needs and fears, with catastrophic results.

Genres: Horror, Vampires

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This might have been a little better if I had read the first volume of the duology, but I doubt it, especially as Dvorkin provided the plot of the first in a series of heavy info dumps. It seems in the first volume, Elizabeth, an ancient vampire, 'converted' a guy named Richard Venneman, who proceeded to turn a few more. At the heart of the story was a professor's experiment with controlled fusion. It seems Venneman was exposed to it and became a super vampire, only able to feed on other vampires. He somehow captured Elizabeth and exposed her, hoping to kill her, but only succeeded in transforming himself back to human and Elizabeth into a super vampire.

The rambling story starts in a ski town in Colorado, where Venneman is hoping to attract another vampire to convert him; this involves sex, and at orgasim, the fatal bite. While he does achieve this, it happens in a bizarre way. It seems that when a vampire takes the blood of another vampire, the former shrinks in size as the body cannibalizes tissue to replace the blood while the latter increases in size. We get a vampire dog tossed into the mix and some pretty visceral scenes to be sure.

Then, Dvorkin takes us to the remaining characters of the drama, each featured in a section, where he chronicles what they have been up to since the first volume. Lots of characters for sure. The main plot is Elizabeth wants to produce a new super vampire mate, but the fusion machine is broken and needs lots of money to fix. Other vampires want to off Elizabeth, but she is simply too strong and now 8 feet tall. Pure pulp, but I only just finished this. The first part, with the vampire dog and such was kinda fun, but the middling part with all the other characters was boring and predictable. The end was a bit a of a surprise, but felt rushed and incomplete. I have read some of Dvorkin's other genre fiction; he wrote quite a bit of science fiction, but nothing that left a lasting impression. Zebra at its worst for sure here. 1.5 bloody stars.

[Jinx · Rating 1 out of 5]

.I struggled to make it through Insatiable (the first installment in the series) but I figured maybe the second would be better. It was not, I DNF at about 30% and even as much of compleationist that I am I won't be going back to finish it.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't read the first one, so it took awhile to get into this one. Very graphic.