Uprising by Sean McCabe
Series Name: Vampire Federation
Volume Number: 1
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, Thriller, Urban, Vampires
Intended Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Signet/ Penguin
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
ISBN: 978-0-451-41306-2
Rating: 2/5
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Description from the Book
A gruesome ritual murder has stained the Oxfordshire countryside. It’s the first incident in a chain of events awaking Detective Inspector Joel Solomon to his worst nightmare—and it’s a dreadful omen of things to come. Because Joel has a secret: He believes in vampires.
Alex Bishop is an agent of the Vampire Intelligence Agency. She’s been tasked with enforcing the laws of the global Vampire Federation and hunting rogue members of her race. A tough job made tougher when the Federation comes under attack by Traditionalist vampires. They have a stake in old-school terror—and in an uprising as violent as it is widespread.
Now Alex and Joel find themselves in a deadly war between the living and the Undead—and against a horrifying tradition given new life by the blood of the innocent.
Personal & Info
Vampire Federation is a duology. For those interested in the second volume, it’s The Cross. As of right now, I have no plans to read or review the second volume.
Content Warnings
-Violence
-kidnapping and consumption of a baby
Characters
Alex Bishop is the female main character. She is a Vampire Intelligence Agency enforcer. Her job is to travel the world and threaten or execute vampires breaking Federation rules or risking exposure. Alex is approximately one hundred and thirteen years-old as a vampire, and doesn’t completely agree with how the Federation runs things.
Joel Solomon is the male main character. He is a Detective Inspector with a tragic childhood vampire experience. Joel is the spitting image of Alex’s lover from her human life, possibly even a reincarnation.
Kate Hawthorne is the seventeen-year-old daughter of Gillian Hawthorn and her solicitor husband. She lives next door to Dec Maddon, and she has a crush on him.
Dec Maddon is Kate Hawthorne’s neighbor and close friend. Gillian Hawthorne does not think much of him or his family. Dec has a crush on Kate and sometimes doesn’t see clearly because of his feelings.
Harry Rumble is the chief of the London branch of the Vampire Intelligence Agency. He is Alex’s boss, and he reports to the Ruling Council of the Federation.
Xavier Garrett is Harry Rumble’s assistant. He hates Alex Bishop and doesn’t even try to hide it.
Gabriel Stone is the main villain of the novel, and leading General of the anti-Federation group, also referred to as “Trads” or Traditionalists. He reports to a group of ancient vampires to give reports and receive orders.
Lilith is Gabriel’s sister. She’s the one vampire in his group he seems to care about most, even though she can be a bit of a loose cannon. Her combat specialty is swordsmanship.
Seymour Finch is Gabriel Stone’s butler or personal assistant. He is not human nor a vampire.
Jeremy Lonsdale is a multimillionaire politician serving office as a cabinet minister. He is tangled up in the wrong crowd and in over his head with no way out.
Story & Thoughts
I like the setting. It’s relatively modern, so cell phones and most technologies we’re familiar with in current day exist. Vampires have adapted to the modern world by inventing medications that serve their needs, which makes sense. They have three drugs they use regularly: Nosferol, Solazal, and Vambloc.
Nosferol is a poison the Federation uses to execute rogue vampires and those who break the rules. It’s not pleasant. It basically makes all the blood vessels explode and turns the vampire inside out, resulting in a very painful and bloody death.
Solazal, the most necessary drug to blend with society, allows vampires to walk in the sun. They have to take it every twelve hours to keep it in their systems. It seems like Federation registered vampires normally operate during typical human business hours thanks to Solazal.
Vambloc, probably equally important, if not more so, is a short term memory eraser. It allows vampires to feed from humans without risk of exposure. It also prevents humans from changing after a feed.
All this, along with the premise of the story, seems promising. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into it. I struggled the whole way through.
The chapters are very short, sometimes only two pages. They change by time of day and perspective to tell the story. Early on, it feels like it’s jumping around way too much. I got used to it eventually, but it was jarring for a while to only get a few pages of content from a character before jumping to another.
I’ve seen the book tagged as fast-paced, but it didn’t feel like that to me. A lot of ground was being covered with a lot of characters, but I didn’t feel like the story was actually moving until about halfway through. Even then, I just couldn’t click with it.
I like the overarching story well enough, but maybe I just don’t resonate with how it’s told. If I already had the second book, I would probably read it, but I’m not interested enough to put in the effort to get it. I enjoyed the book enough not to abandon it, but I did consider doing so a few times.