Last Blood

Now on its fifth book, Painter’s House of Comarré series has lost much of its momentum and thrill. Paradise City, New Florida, in 2067 is home to powerful clans of vampires and the part-human comarré who serve them. Chrysabelle is one comarré who dares to defy her masters. Brainwashed by a fae spell, the vampire Mal has lost his love for Chrysabelle and is tempted to return to his evil ways; Chrysabelle misses him all the more because she’s pregnant with his child. The vampire Tatiana—Mal’s ex and Chrysabelle’s enemy—has been reunited with her long-lost daughter Lilith, now an incredibly powerful super-vampire who’s sociopathic even by vampire standards. Meanwhile, someone has turned the mayor into a vampire. Despite all of these plot twists, the story has surprisingly little urgency. Even the shifting alliances among Chrysabelle, Mal, and Tatiana feel anticlimactic. While not for the uninitiated, longtime readers will be pleased that this installment ties up many of the series’ loose ends. (July)