The Damned by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie

Release Date: 27th October, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books

Pages: 384pgs

The Story

There is a fine line between love and sacrifice . . .

Antonio would do anything for his beloved fighting partner Jenn. He protects her, even suppresses his vampire cravings to be with her. Together, they defend humanity against the Cursed Ones. But tensions threaten to fracture their hunting team and his loyalty - his love - is called into question.

Jenn, the newly appointed Hunter, aches for revenge against the Cursed Ones who converted her sister. And with an even more sinister power on the rise, she must overcome her personal vendettas to lead her team into battle.

Antonio and Jenn need each other to survive, but evil lurks at every turn. With humanity's fate hanging in the balance, they must face down the darkness . . . or die trying.

The Review

A big thanks to Caroline from Simon & Schuster for sending me a review copy of this book!

THE DAMNED is the sequel to the book The Cursed Ones and if you haven't read my review on the first book, you can read it here. When I read the The Cursed Ones I was a little confused by the premise and all of the points of view displayed throughout the novel, but since I've gotten used to the way it was written, I absolutely LOVED this book compared to its predecessor . From my 3 1/2 star review to a five star review, I was very surprised by how well this book had turned out because THE DAMNED is packed with a whole lot of punch and will shock you to the very bone. For me, the strength of the sequel lies with the heart-stopping action (which was spot on) and the relationships between the characters (which was also spot on). I loved every moment of it - including the high drama elements that were equally as fantastic as the bloody fights - and the series has developed into something so, so good that I thought wasn't even impossible.

Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie do wonderful things in building a great book atmosphere that is ruled by vampires and vampire hunters alone. Oh and some werewolves and witches along the way. THE DAMNED is incredibly believable which makes it even more frightening to witness and I often found myself putting the book down, just to take in everything that these two authors have written. And personally I think without the main character Jenn Leitner, this book would not be what it is. I loved her character more in THE DAMNED, because her human-side personality used to be weak and she wasn't so sure of herself as a hunter. However in THE DAMNED, readers will get to see a whole new side to Jenn. A badass. A girl trying to survive in a broken world. She fights back twice as harder, and with the love of her hunter team and with the love of Antonio, I just found her such a strong female heroine that you will admire far more than the old Jenn you've seen back in The Cursed Ones. She has changed for the better and not to mention that she get's to throw far more PUNCHES compared to the boys, the ones who didn't respect her as much as they should have. Like Jenn, I'm glad to have more of Antonio in this book. Despite his religious ways, I love him as character and I love him for loving Jenn. Sure, you will get frustrated by the way he tries to "stay away" from Jenn - due to him being a vampire - but I love him for that too. Same goes for Holgar, Skye, Eriko, and even the baddies who were well-written.

I won't go into too much detail because there's a lot to go through plot-wise, but if you loved the first book The Cursed Ones or are not sure whether to continue with this series, then please do because from my average star review to a very high star review, if THE DAMNED can surprise me then it will surprise you in many ways. Truly. Quite frankly this has been of the best books I've read in the vampire genre and I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the third book of this non-stop action series! So be sure to check this baby out!

The Rating

5/5 stars