Generation V - Review

Title:   Generation V   

Author:  M. L. Brennan

Series: American Vampire #1

Synopsis: “Fortitude Scott’s life is a mess.  A degree in film theory has left him with zero marketable skills, his job revolves around pouring coffee, his roommate hasn’t paid rent in four months, and he’s also a vampire.  Well, sort of.  He’s still mostly human.

          “But when a new vampire comes into his family’s territory and young girls start going missing, Fort can’t ignore his heritage anymore.  His mother and his older, stronger siblings think he’s crazy for wanting to get involved.  So it’s up to Fort to take action, with the assistance of Suzume Hollis, a dangerous and sexy shape-shifter.  Fort is determined to find a way to out-smart the deadly vamp, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

          “But without having matured into full vampirehood and with Suzume ready to split if things get too risky, Fort’s rescue mission might just kill him…”

Review:  My love of reading comes from both of my parents.  My choice of genres comes from my Dad.  My brother and I shared a bedroom when we were young; and one of my earliest memories is of Dad sitting between our beds, and reading to us aloud from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Recently I have gotten Dad hooked on the urban fantasy genre.  He reads Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Briggs, Charlaine Harris (he loves True Blood), and Kim Harrison.  One of his biggest complaints however, is that the best urban fantasy is about women.  He says that too many of the urban fantasy novels have female main characters, where are the urban fantasy novels with male main characters.  Well, I’ve got one for you Dad.  And you should read the books I’ve listed below as well. 

          This novel was great.  I picked up Generation V on a whim.  I hadn’t heard anything about it.  I just happened to see the second book in the series on the shelf at Barnes and Noble, and after realizing it was the second in a series I decided to buy Generation V first.  I read it in a little bit more than two days, but in my defense I had to work.  I get 30 minutes for lunch at work every day and I always read while eating my lunch.  Today I was almost done with Generation V when I realized it was time to go back to work.  I seriously did not want to go and had to force myself; promising that I would finish it as soon as I got home from work today.

Fort is an awesome character and Brennan has fleshed him out well.  In fact Brennan has fleshed out his secondary characters, and the world within the novel, so well that I want to know more about them too.  Fort’s struggle with his job and his boss is something that many people can relate to, as are his struggles with his family and personal relationships.  Your family does not have to be a family of blood drinking vampires for you to understand how forced the conversation at dinner can be, or how hard it is to say no to a request to show up for dinner with the family; and your girlfriend doesn’t have to be a cheating whore for you to understand what it’s like to be confused and hurt by the opposite sex.  The kitsune are a fun and interesting race that don’t show up in very many other urban fantasy novels.  I enjoyed Suzume’s interactions with Fort and learning about her family.  I was sucked into the world that Brennan has built in Generation V immediately when I started reading and was on the edge of my seat during Fort’s final showdown with Luca. 

As soon as my fiancé and I have had dinner (homemade gluten free deep dish pizza tonight) I’m going to Barnes and Noble to buy the next book in this series, Iron Night. 

Generation V.  Read it.  It’s awesome! 

Publisher:  ROC

ISBN: 978-0451418401

For more urban fantasy featuring a male hero:

Iron Night (American Vampire #2) by M.L. Brennan

The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher