To be honest, I’m getting tired of recommending vampire books.  I had this series for a while, meaning to read it, because I’d heard it spoken highly of and I know people who are friends of Barb and J.C.’s.  Then I met them at the Rainforest Writer’s Retreat, run by our mutual friend, Patrick Swenson.  I like them.  So I picked up the first book, DAMPHIR.  I proceeded to read the first four in series (six books, I think), and the only reason I’ve stopped is because I have to read something else I have a deadline for relating to my writer’s reading group that’s studying bestsellers.  At least I get to go off and read something I like (George R.R. Martin).   But I already have the next book in the series, and it is burning a hole in my shelf.

Given that my love for these books isn’t the vampire bit (I really am tired of vampires), I had to sit back and think about the attraction in the books, which are page-turners, and series-turners. I burned right through from book to book – put one down, pick up the next.   So, it’s not the vampires.  It’s not the line by line writing, which is good, but largely an invisible style, so I wouldn’t be reading the book for the sentences (like a Neil Stephenson).  The main characters, Leesil, Magiere, Chap, and Wynn, are all larger than life and they all have depth and back-story.  There villainy is multi-layered.  The information feed is good.  The world is detailed.  And that combination makes the books a real escape – I go there in the way I fell into books and stories as a kid.