Valentine's Rising is the fourth book in author E.E. Knight's excellent Vampire Earth series, and I think it is the best one so far. It is available in paperback form, and is the middle novel in this long-running science fiction fantasy/horror series.

The Vampire Earth series is set in the very near future, after the world as we know it has been overrun by an alien race that likes to suck out people's ‘life aura' like a vampire would draw blood. The people of the earth called them vampires, simply for lack of a better term. The main character in this series, David Valentine, is part of a small group of human resistors who travel the country finding ways to fight back against these aliens and give other humans a bit of hope. He's like a cross between Rambo and Robin Hood.

At the end of the last book, Tale of the Thunderbolt, things weren't looking so great for Valentine. This book begins a couple of hours after the last one ended, and he regroups his men and develops a new plan. What they do is act like a company of Quislings (humans who work for the aliens) and spend some time hiding out amongst the enemy in a camp. It is only a matter of time before their true identity is found out, so they use this time to prepare themselves as much as possible and even attempt to do some recruiting for their side.

The first half of this book is all about Valentine and his men in the Quisling camp, and it has a kind of Dirty Dozen feel to it as these guys are working behinds enemy lines. This book offers a lot of insight into the way Quisling officers conduct themselves, which ends up being very important for the series as a whole. Basically, they are like a bunch of Nazis, and the description of their uniforms sounds somewhat like it.

The last half of this book is all action, and that's where it gets crazy. Most of the previous books had a good bit of action in them, but mostly just little skirmishes and duels and nothing quite on the scale as described in this novel. Everything with the plot and characters that has been building for the past three novels comes to a big point in this book, and that's what makes it such great reading. It also gets into a good bit of detail about the Bears, which are the next step up from Wolves and Cats.

I thought this book was much more brutal than the previous three. There is one moment in particular that actually turned my stomach a little, because I didn't think things would play out the way they did. When you read this, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. There's also a scene involving revenge and torture that is quite graphic, but oddly justified considering the circumstances. It involves a freed prisoner getting back at the guards who raped her.

I have really enjoyed reading E. E. Knight's Vampire Earth series, and Valentine's Rising is my favorite out of the first four. I've already got the next one and will begin reading it immediately. At this point, I don't know how many more books the author plans to write before he concludes the series, but I'll keep reading them.

See also:

Book I - Way of the Wolf

Book II - Choice of the Cat

Book III - Tale of the Thunderbolt


Recommended: Yes