Eternal Vigilance 2: The Death of Illusions

by Gabrielle Faust

Immanion Press, 2009

Paperback, 284 pages

ISBN: 1904853641

$21.99

Another beautiful piece of cover art should have teenage goths, emos, and creatures of the night itching to get their hands--or claws--on Book Two of the Eternal Vigilance series.

One year on from the original Eternal Vigilance book (reviewed by GUD here), Tynan Llywelyn, an immortal vampire, is battling the Vicinus in an attempt to save his own race, the Phuree, as well as humanity, from the Tyst empire's attempt to gain immortality. Despite being described by the author on her website as "technohorror", this was more of a typical Fantasy battle novel--high on action and thrills but less involved with character than the first book.

Although I didn't find much in the novel that particularly fitted the Horror genre, it works well as Fantasy, particularly for those who don't mind extremely lengthy back story and buildup. Lots of gadgets and deaths certainly make for up for lack of pace--eventually.

I was disappointed by the lack of character development, even though I was expecting a battle novel. If I don't care enough about the characters I won't be invested in whether they live or die, and the story will have difficulty holding my interest.

The Death of Illusions is ambitious, dark and very emo. As a teen I might have liked it more; as an adult, I felt it didn't capture my imagination in the way this author is very much capable of doing. Also, I had some minor niggles, like the overuse of 'undulating'; a lot of typos; and far too much italic use in strange places. These niggles detracted from my ability to read the novel fluidly, as I found them off-putting. However, kudos to Faust for getting tentacles into the story. I did laugh at:

"Blinding pain exploded through the my [sic] torso and I looked down to see a tentacle of blue impaling my body"--page 108

I will still look forward to more from Gabrielle S. Faust in the future--I don't think the Eternal Vigilance novels have seen her reach the best of her potential. One for hardcore vampire fans (and tentacle lovers) only, I think.

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