Review: Tainted Blood, Tainted Night by E.S. Moore

Posted December 22, 2012 by Joshua Burns in Josh, Reviews, Urban Fantasy / 1 Comment

Review: Tainted Blood, Tainted Night by E.S. Moore
Tainted Blood, Tainted Night by E.S. Moore
Series: Kat Redding #2
Published by Kensington
Published on: July 3rd 2012
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
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Kat Redding is a vampire with a job to do, wiping out the vamps and werewolves who prey on Pureblood humans. Suddenly Kat, also known as Lady Death, has competition, and it's causing problems. Vampire houses and werewolf clans alike are blaming her for a spate of gruesome murders, and Kat needs to figure out who's really responsible before she becomes the next target. On the hunt, she forms an uneasy alliance with both the Luna Cult and a powerful rogue werewolf. But the truths Kat's uncovering - about her enemies and her few remaining confidantes - are far from comforting. And when the chance comes to leave her life of vengeance behind, Kat must decide whether her real motive lies in protecting the innocent, or sating her own fierce hungers.



Tainted Blood, Tainted Night gets right to the gore. Our protagonist, Kat Redding, could not have a more indicative name, for it seems the one thing this book accomplishes best is redden her and the surroundings.

This is not to say that the character development is not present. Tainted Blood, Tainted Night‘s character development boils down to progressively handicapping Kat – primarily physically, although there is a bit mentally – reminding one most of 2008’s The Wrestler, a film where Mickey Rourke, an already pummeled man, undergoes the very extremes of physical and emotional punishment.

Of course, TBTN exhibits a wee bit of a cartoonish vibe. Any protagonist who totes both a firearm and a sword cannot help invoking anime but here it is alone, without the heartwarming dismissals of logic or the nudity for nudity’s sake.

The plot, as previously indicated, operates in such a way as to isolate Kat and, therefore, was not so difficult for me a first time reader in this series to come in and appreciate the inner demons, first and foremost the one living in the basement of Kat’s house, tended to by her “roommate” Ethan.

TBTN, in addition, to its A plot aka maim, cripple, punish Kat (it’s not that bad) also nurtures an intriguing B plot dealing with salvation in a country town. Unfortunately the B plot is constructed so as to spill over into the next book, which is pretty disappointing, but, at least, the tease at the end, two whole chapters, does not leave you hanging too bad.

All in all, TBTN amounts to a pass. The world and the characters are deployed in cliched manners (fair criticism would be my sudden introduction to the series) and not to mention the romance flat lines with the exception of one whisp of a moment.

Books in this series:


Recommended: For those splatter gore stepchilds
Like this, like that: Monster Hunter International series by Larry Correia and the Dark Brethren series by Tracey O’Hara



Josh

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Reviews UF/PR novels with an eye for weres of all kinds.

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