Two girls on the road to self-destruction. A village upon the brink of collapse. A past which refuses to die.
The beginning of an epic four-part horror serial.
Have you ever had a friend you’d die for? One you’d kill for?
At seventeen-years-old, Jennifer should have the world at her feet. Instead, she’s an ex-heroin addict living in a council estate with Tony, her boyfriend and former dealer. Shunned by her family and friends, she dreams of something greater than she’s been given.
Beautiful and strange, Ebony has moved in across the street. She’s just lost the one person in her lonely existence to cancer. She’s also a centuries-old vampire, struggling to cope with murderous outbursts and the desire to be something more.
When these two lost souls meet, an unusual friendship begins.
But with the news of Morris, Tony’s sadistic best friend and drug-dealing partner, being released from prison, Jennifer knows it’s only a matter of time before his path of vengeance leads to her and Ebony, too.
With a cast of memorable characters, a village full of secrets, and a gripping story, The Fragile Things is a layered tale of friendship, hope, survival and what it truly means to be human.
******
The Fragile Things is the new horror serial from V. Shaw, author of The Lady of Chains and Other Stories.
Part Two to be released June. Part Three & Four to be confirmed.
"When I have to fight the formatting to actually follow the text, quality of writing and target audience become secondary concerns."
Reviewer: Reader for Bookangel.
The story of a heroin addict who meets a vampire who has moved in across the road, while trying to avoid her drug dealing boyfriends nightmare associate Morris and pull the parts of her life together.
This book had good reviews, and I had high hopes for it, particularly since the author's other collection Lady of Chains was well-received. Unfortunately disappointment is painful. I will explain why in a minute.
First impressions are not promising - a blank page with "One" written on it. This is a trend through the book, with each Part and Chapter Heading on its own page. Rather unusually the Table of Contents at the front is not clickable on my Kindle, but the Kindle ToC works perfectly so this is not a show stopper. While it is a stylistic, the huge bolded words in the middle of text do not help clarity: it is probably supposed to feel disjointed and otherworldly but it jerked me right out of the story.
This is a pet peeve, so I may be being unfair, but after the original Malkavian sourcebook for Vampire, every time I see this it makes me suspect the author does not trust their prose to convey the right impression without the text tricks.
This book says it is the first in a four part serial, which is correct. The main characters don't meet until chapter five out of nine. It is the first part of a single story split into four parts, which means it ends in media res. Out of the plot described at the top, its gets as far as the drug addict meeting the vampire. Morris remains unseen, and she has not even started putting her life together. Sadly I don't care enough about any of these characters to read the next book.
This is a curious cross between MisLit and horror, with a gratuitous sexual assault scene that would have made me throw a paperback at the wall. There is a lot of swearing, and while it is supposed to grasp the despondency of life on a sink estate it fails to grasp its vibrancy or desperation. While the book promises this will show up in part II, I'm not sticking around for that long.
The sad truth is that this vampire horror left me bored.
Now I will make myself really unpopular - I'm giving this two stars. When I have to fight the formatting to actually follow the text, quality of writing and target audience become secondary concerns. Rating:2
