I found out about The Vampire and his Star Weaver through a clever bit of independent marketing from its author. She created separate posts for each of the vampire factions in the book. Whichever one the viewer encountered first would dictate which team they were on. The assignment for each team was to go recruit more members. So, if this is your introduction to the book or its marketing, welcome to Team Mentem. Since I thought it was such a fun idea, I signed up for updates on the book, and volunteered right away when I saw she needed ARC readers.

The Vampire and his Star Weaver by Devon Atwood officially releases this Wednesday, May 13th! It will be available through all your favorite book retailers, including Bookshop.org and can be preordered now.

Summary:

Sage is looking forward to graduation. It’s been enough stress and she just wants to move on to the next phase of her life. Her mother has lined up an internship, and Sage’s path forward looks well-paved. While she may not be thrilled about the industry, it’ll give her a comfortable future. At least she’ll have time for her hobbies. Then, those well-crafted plans all come into question when the ground flashes with illumination beneath her feet, connecting her to a handsome stranger.

On its own, that’s enough of a complication, but the man isn’t even human. Through a series of demonstrations, he manages to convince her that he really is a vampire and not simply delusional. In fact, all five of the brothers in his cohort are vampires, though of different strains. They each have their own forms of power and of feeding. All of them have a fated mate somewhere in the world that they are attempting to find. Sage is his.

Unfortunately, this revelation breaks her cover. There are other powerful entities who don’t want vampires to find their mates, because that leads to more vampires. Therefore, Sage is now in imminent danger. Though they’ll do the best they can to protect her, even the vampires don’t understand the level of threat. Thankfully, she’s beginning to uncover impressive abilities of her own that may guide them toward a solution.

My Thoughts:

My original interest in this book stemmed from its different vampire factions, and I liked the way they were done. The various families and the powers they possess all take their inspiration from worldwide mythology. It was a great way to bridge the differences of the many legends while including more of them. The main focus is Silas. His “Sanguis” type is based on the tales of blood-drinking vampires that are most widely represented in modern media. His cohort brothers have other means of feeding themselves, for instance on human thoughts or emotions. It was fun to see not only how they gained sustenance, but also how they could use these talents to their advantage and solve problems.

I also really enjoyed watching the progression of Sage’s disbelief in the beginning. In the same moment that she finds out vampires exist, she discovers one of them is her fated mate. This information understandably overwhelms her, leaving her afraid and distrustful. Silas has the task of both convincing and reassuring her. It’s a delicate balance keeping that realistic without it becoming a slog that takes up too much of the book, and Atwood handled it perfectly. The relationship progression is similar, though slightly accelerated by the fated mates trope. Once the spark ignites, there’s a lot of heat between the two characters. There are a number of open door scenes, starting earlier in the book than I would have expected. The author did a great job of making it still feel natural, and executed well on the scenes themselves.

However, there were parts where I struggled. All of the characters were too distractable, prone to noticing details they find incredibly suspicious, and then deciding not to probe further. This happened repeatedly and was very frustrating to watch. Another round of revisions with a good developmental editor likely could have fixed this. Even if one or two characters still had the trait, it would have been fine. Unfortunately, it happened so frequently with so many different characters that it felt like a means of inflating the book’s length. Nearly every instance broke my immersion as a reader.

The Vampire and his Star Weaver has been dubbed the first book of a new series called the Cosmic Ley Series. I’m very curious where the next book is going to pick up. To me, the ending of this one was very satisfying with how well the ends tied up and conflicts resolved. My guess is that each subsequent novel of the series will follow another one of the cohort brothers and him finding his respective mate. Atwood also has quite a few other completed projects under her belt, and more on the way after this one. This is the first of her books that I’ve read, and there’s a good chance I’ll be picking up more in the future.

Content Warnings: Blood, Graphic Depictions of Sexual Content, Graphic Depiction of Violence & Injury, SA, Kidnapping, Isolation, Emotional Neglect, Profanity, Eugenics

After I Finished The Vampire and his Star Weaver

When I finished The Vampire and his Star Weaver, I dove right into another book. Technically this one isn’t an ARC because it’s post-publication. The copy I received to review is a translation into English. It’s been out for a couple of years now, but the author is hoping to find more English-speaking readers in North America. The Nerd Fam is helping to accomplish that, and I’d like to give them a big thank you for the eARC.

My next review will be for Demonic Cage by Adèle Dan.