The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire, Book 1

Griffith and Griffith, perhaps best known for their media tie-in work, merge vampires with steampunk in this tale of derring-do and star-crossed romance. In 1870 the vampires rose up and conquered the northern lands of Earth. The northern elites fled south to new colonies, leaving their subjects to the mercy of the predators. By 2020, the world is still divided. Princess Adele of the Equatorian Empire becomes the catalyst of the final human–vampire war when she is lost in vampire territory with only a mysterious adventurer known as the Greyfriar to help her. Set in a future that is comfortably quaint, where brass-plated technology is uninhibited by plausibility and the northern exiles may feel oppressed but the indigenous equatorial peoples never do, this melodramatic tale is fast-paced and entirely unchallenging. (Nov.)