Review courtesy of All Things Urban FantasyParts of J. F. Lewis’s follow-up to his urban fantasy debut, STAKED, are crazy good (the humor, the pacing, the world building), other parts are crazy frustrating, for example the bit of bait and switch when it comes to cover art. A woman is featured on the cover, and even though there are a number of chapters told from the perspective of Tabitha, the main protagonist in REVAMPED is Eric. I knew this going in, but I can imagine a lot of readers feeling duped.I only had one real problem with REVAMPED, but it’s a biggie. It was the struggle to find redeemable qualities about the main characters in order to care about them. First off, everyone is a giant whore. Eric is a scumbag (with occasional moments of opportunistic compassion). He is truly in love with a woman who he’s had to watch grow old because she didn’t want to become a vampire with him, but he has a girlfriend (Tabitha) who he neglects, and he’s sleeping with her sister (Rachel) on the side. I found myself giving him a pass on his total lack of morality because he was funny and he told everyone upfront that he was an unrepentant bastard.I found it much harder to give a pass to his on/off girlfriend Tabitha. She goes from sleeping with a fat, old vampire in exchange for a luxury apartment, to shacking up with Eric’s best friend in said luxury apartment, to essentially begging Eric (on her knees) to take her back even though she can literally smell her sister on him. To make things worse, Tabitha and Rachel know that Eric is sleeping with both of them and instead of kicking him to the curb, they compete over him. Rachel even tells Eric when he and Tabitha are heading to bed that he has to screw her twice for every one time he screws Tabitha. Classy.Parts of REVAMPED were really funny, the political posturing between all the vampires in Void City was endlessly entertaining, and I’m crazy curious to find out about Eric’s unique vampire origins, but I couldn’t stand how pathetic the female characters were, so much so that I’m not sure I’ll be buying the third book in the Void City series, CROSSED, when it releases on January 25, 2011Sexual Content: Several non graphic sex scenes Another terrific book. Smart, kept me guessing, and a cool car. A lot of vampire books seem to follow a formula, this one doesn't. Eric is a complete original. Tabitha is shallow, and written a bit shallowly, but her occasional insights are interesting and she's a good contrast to Eric. Most questions about Rachel are finally answered. I'm still very eager to find out more about Talbot. These books are a great mix of dark and humor, the characters are vivid and the story is intriguing.
What do You think about ReVamped (2009)?
This book was as great as the first one. I am looking forward to reading the next book.
—treeable
Loved it even more than Staked. I can't wait for the next in the series. Bring it on!
—Quinn
Pretty good read...I'll be buying Crossed when it come out.
—Bekkie
Good story and funny. I really loved Fang, so cute!!
—allaboutpinknm
