[Mrs. Y Reviews] Naliyah (The Vetala Chronicles Book 1) By Shauna Kelley

Naliyah (Book Cover via Amazon.com)

“Uhhhh Vampire books are soooo 2012” how many times have you heard something like this? Essentially the world of writers has decided to become either pro or anti-vampire since the wake of “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” series and “Twilight” series. I think what fueled the negativity further, even though it has nothing to do with vampires was the “Fifty Shades of Gray” series because that had started as fanfic for “Twilight.”

And yet, I am someone who knows what she likes. I like my vampires scary, I want my vampires as realistic as possible, and I want my vampires to have some intrigue. Come and join me, folks, bring your best pocket knife, a map of the unified wars of the world, and let’s get going on an adventure as I review “Naliyah” by Shauna Kelly

Opinion

Vampires are not “So five years ago” not when they are done right. Though nowhere in the book can you call these creatures real vampires, you can say it fits in the genre, and yet, it surpasses it. Stoker initially came out with the traditional take on vampires. This isn’t a vampire. This is a person who has a problem and has to seek out blood to fix it. (I’m not spoiling why so there, neh.)

And yet this book has so much more to it than your classic horror fix. This has more to do with a story of families, religious traditions in families, customs, and deciding to raise a child in one's own way. This has a lot to say about fathers and daughters, and even more to speak on the topic of what it means to find a ‘soul mate.’

I loved this book. I think for those of you who are interested in intrigue and darker senses of topics, you will as well. One thing that is so perfect about this book is it harkens to some Anne Rice feelings in it, but at the same time has a genuine and unique take to a genre that most consider being pointless. This is not a pointless book.

Here are the most positive things about the book.

1.       Shauna knows how to prologue well. Have you ever watched a television show and they give you a piece of something, and that something is brief but only in the first few minutes? Think back to the opening sequence in “Breaking Bad” where we meet our protagonist in his underwear and are transported into his world quickly.

While Shauna didn’t use that exact scene to write this out, what she did was give me a fulfilling little hook in the form of a prologue that set with me beautifully through the story. We who are indie writers and those who love indie books can take a lot away from this approach. It’s unique for a prologue because it’s not the tired info dump of some, but it’s also refreshing because it leaves the reader desperate to know more.

2.       Shauna understands how to write different characters with different and unique perspectives and feelings. The father feels entire to be himself, the daughter as well, even characters that are insignificant feel like themselves. She breathes life into characters that are victim NPC’s just as much as she does her main story characters. And yet, none of them are copycats of each other. There isn’t one character that you say “Why didn’t they just blend these two characters into one?” It’s so wonderful. In fact, it’s so different that this is the first time I realized how much I like the uniqueness of each personality, more than blended characters in a theme. Often with ensemble books, where one character has a cast of characters behind them, you tend to feel that they move like a hive mind might. This isn’t that kind of book.

3.       For those of you who are the grammar sticklers of the world, you’re going to be pleased with this book. I haven’t ever found a book that only had literally 2 spelling issues in an indie publishing ever. Even some of my favorites of the indie darlings have spelling issues from time to time. This book only had 2, and they are almost unnoticeable. The first one was the word “Read” instead of the color “Red” when used to describe someone’s hair. The second was the word “Ware” instead of the word “Are” when trying to say something akin to “We are doing this.” I don’t want to give that full sentence out, I feel it’s important to the plot, so I’m giving an explanation.

But why point it out at all? I think we as indie writers and lovers of the Indie genre can all applaud someone for doing the thing that is so hard for us to do, and that is having a nearly perfect manuscript. It’s pretty much flawless. I didn’t even detect comma problems like we often get in some. Everything was polished as though we were looking at some big publisher novel, which had 12 editors tireless scrubbing this thing for anything trace of a typo. Shauna needs to be commended for that, and frankly, I’d love to see her post how she does it. I think we all could learn from her process.

4.       Probably the biggest takeaway, the pacing, plotting, and structure of this book are chez Magnifique! Oh yes Tish, I used French.

This is a book that reads well, it flows so perfectly, and there are no bumpy problems. I don’t have to stop to look up terms. I never once was frustrated by the second one of opening this book up to read it. I even like that she did a fade-to-black scene instead of the traditional romance of showing the graphical parts to intimacy. No spoilers on that folks, but I adore a tasteful fade-to-black I like that as much as a tasteful erotic fiction.  Let my imagination take me away, I don’t necessarily need the graphics.

This is a wonderful book that ends on a fantastic cliffhanger that leaves me wanting more. I LOVE this book.

Score

I am going to give this nearly perfect book an almost perfect score. 98/100 folks. The only reason it’s not 100, the story ends on a cliffhanger. I don’t get that satisfying end that I want, but I also am okay with it. I can wait, and I will read the next one. I’ll probably reread this one time and time.

To Shauna, bravo madam. I am confident, this book is destined to become an indie darling that we are talking about for years.

But don’t take my word for it alone folks, go get a copy of this book. I’d also like to thank @booktasters for helping me enjoy it!