Book Review: Blood Oath

Three short sentences on the front cover prompted me to pick up Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth: The Ultimate Secret. The Ultimate Agent. The President’s Vampire. I knew I’d buy the book after I read the first page. It didn't hurt that I have an interest in the Balkans. But aside from that, I really liked how chapter one used a secondary character’s reaction to the vampire to introduce him.

Farnsworth used many different perspectives to tell the story and I liked how he let the reader know the antagonists and significant secondary characters’ goals, fears, and wants.

Most of the action scenes were done well. However, there were some grisly parts.

My primary critique is that the human protagonist was introduced as a complainer which tainted my view of him through the rest of the novel.

Blood Oath is a good, imaginative book.

Historical Novel Society 2011 Convention

I had the great opportunity to attend the Historical Novel Society Conference in San Diego last weekend.

While the panels were interesting, what made the experience so fabulous was everyone being so friendly. No matter where I was, sitting at a meal, walking down a hallway or waiting outside the agent's pitching room, everyone was eager to engage in conversation. I heard fascinating stories about outlaws, princesses, kings, nuns, the arts, adventures, mysteries, romances, the Civil War, The War of the Roses, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, the American West and so many more.

I also learned a lot about the business side of writing--especially the significant and unknown effect of e-books on the writing industry. Even though Bookscan isn't tallying e-book sales yet, there are indications that e-books now make up 30% of the market for books sold and for fiction up to 50%. During the final breakfast, I also had the opportunity to meet fellow members of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Historical Novel Society. And even though I had signed up late to the conference, meaning I had no scheduled agent pitch sessions, Kris did an amazing job in managing the no-shows allowing me to meet with three wonderful agents.

Thank you HNS for holding such a fun and interesting event.