In the thirteenth century, William, heir to the Earl of Mercia, was attacked and turned into a vampire. For 750 years, Will has spent his life in the shadows. Until he met Eloise.

Together, Will and Eloise must destroy an ancient evil that has led them to Marland Abbey, where Will’s ancestors lived and Eloise attends school. Here they uncover the truth about the four vampire kings, Will’s past, and an uncertain future.

But the mysterious sorcerer, Wyndham, is still hunting Will and using Eloise as bait. To protect the girl he loves, Will goes in search of answers—but does that mean walking right into the enemy’s trap?

Characters: We are continuing the story of the vampire Will as he is looking deeper into his past as well as current day to figure out why exactly Wyndham is out to kill him. We mostly focus on Will and Eloise again, very little of Wyndham, he is still to be seen as he is using his magic to use others to spy on the them.

Plot: All of their stories, Will, Eloise and Wyndham have started to come to a head. Will must find the answers in the secrets hidden in Marland Abbey before harm is done to him or Eloise. He has no idea why the sorcerer is trying to kill him and now that he has Eloise. He will do anything to keep her.

Originality: Vampires, lets face it are nothing new to literature, and perhaps getting harder to put a unique twist on their stories. But KJ Wignall brings something different to his stories that are reminiscent of the older styles of literature. They are atmospheric and bring in the setting of the buildings and history of generations and a little different twist of having a sorcerer as the villain instead of another creature, or vampire.

Writing: As I said before the writing represents a very precise atmosphere to the story. As our MC is a vampire it takes place at night. It’s quiet, dark and gives that feeling of something always watching you behind the shadows. There is not a lot of fast paced or action packed scenes. Most of this book, the second in a series could be referenced as an info dump. We get a lot more history of Will, his heritage and again the setting of the school and underground tunnels of the Abby.

Krista’s Rating: What drove this story for me was learning more about Wyndham and Will’s pasts. The interweaving storylines of their families and their history is intriguing. As Wyndham is acting by using others’ bodies to spy on Will we still have so much to learn about him. We just get these little bits and pieces of his story and I love it! I was hoping for a little bit if a faster pace and more events happening in this second book, but I love the feeling I get while reading these books, it takes me to a whole different time and world, dark and menacing. Magic, ghosts and vampires in this one!