I tore through this book like a Master Vampire through a Newbie, In other words: faster than more recent books I’ve read, which, to be honest have been few and far between in the last couple of years.
While I think The Chosen One trope has been played out for now, and the whole perfect mate thing was a little contrived (I would have paired Owen with Holly, for example as I think she was a more interesting character than Julie Shackleford), I really enjoyed the story. Urban fantasy is a genre I haven’t read a lot of, but I definitely see the appeal in having fantasy intrude on the real world. It makes it easier to buy in to compared to a world where none of the geography and/or geopolitics are familiar.
MHI reminded me a lot of the Anita Blake series, except without the sex and glorification of vampires. I love vampires as monsters. I hate them as people. I especially enjoyed the twist on orcs and elves in MHI, and I look forward to reading book two. Hopefully, the characters won’t get a significant power upgrade with each book, because they’re already (at least Owen and Julie) a little too perfect, despite their “flaws.” Still, they have fun personalities, and good characters can make an otherwise average book cross the threshold into good or even great, because, as a reader, I tend to connect more with the characters than with any particular plot details.