Heather’s Bookshelf: Vampires of Oxford: Wicked Magic & Wicked Blood
Author: Margot de Klerk
Released: 07/21/21 & 07/08/22
Genre: Urban Fantasy
“Maybe hunters had it all wrong. Maybe the monsters weren’t just the supernaturals. Maybe the monsters were the ones who locked ferals in the basement and experimented on them. Maybe everybody was capable of being a monster.”
“Vampires of Oxford” begins with “Wicked Magic” and continues with “Wicked Blood”. The first story introduces Nathan Delacroix, a young man getting ready to graduate from vampire hunting training. He comes from a family of vampire hunters and he knows what’s expected of him, but life is never as simple as it should be.
Nathan’s drowning in his schoolwork, hunter training, and family drama. But when he happens upon a young girl running away from a couple of men covered in dark magic, he intervenes and soon finds she’s the younger sister of the girl he’s interested in, Cynthia. But she’s not exactly human.
He turns to his best friend Monica to provide magic assistance and to his uncle Adrian (who happens to be a vampire) for advice. He’s not sure he wants to be a hunter and the more he sees of the inner workings of all the magical entities and their counsels, the less sure he becomes. But will he and his friends even make it out alive for his decisions to matter?
Don’t read past if you don’t want spoilers!
Trigger Warning: violence, adult language, sexual situations
Wicked Blood begins a short time after Wicked Magic ends. This time, the story follows Cynthia as she visits a friend and her family in Berlin, Germany. She wants to find her father who keeps sending her mysterious postcards.
But when she arrives in Berlin, she soon finds something is wrong with the supernatural community. Vampires have all but disappeared, witches are living in hiding, and shapeshifters have gone missing. Everywhere she turns in Germany, people lie or tell half-truths.
She soon finds it’s not safe to stay in Berlin, but she’s reluctant to return home with so much up in the air. She turns to old friends, like Nathan and Monica for help. But will it be too late?
Trigger Warning: violence, adult language, sexual situations
Overall, I enjoyed these stories. Nathan was a complex and likable protagonist. His friends were also well-developed with unique personalities, faults, and skills. They also covered many different mythical/magical types of characters making this tale a little more complex than your typical vampire hunting story. It also made Nathan’s relationships with his friends and family much more complex and interesting. Wicked Magic follows Nathan as he learns about himself, those around him, and his place in the world. His evolution seems natural and is important to the story. Oxford as a setting seemed important to the author, but I don’t know if the setting translated through the descriptions. I have actually been to Oxford and there were still portions I couldn’t quite picture. The second book takes place mostly in Berlin. I thought the author did a much better job in describing Berlin including describing the different areas and using the language in a way that felt natural. I found Cynthia to be a little less likable than Nathan as a protagonist. I’m not sure why, other than I found her to be a little too reliant on others (though she even reflects on this herself in the story). I enjoyed that all the new characters introduced in this story were quite complex as well as the development of the relationship between Cynthia and Nathan. The most intriguing character in the second book is Leon, who is much more interesting than he initially appears to be. However, I really did miss many of the characters from the original tale. While some of them were mentioned and others interacted by phone or text, that chemistry was missing. The ending felt complete and I would love to see more tales about Nathan, Cynthia, and their friends.
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
OVERALL REVIEW:
From Oxford to Berlin, supernatural creatures abound in their search for purpose, love, friendship, and life.
Want to learn more about the author?
Check out my interview with Margot de Klerk
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