I really love that Royal House of Shadows is a collaborative anthology between authors Gena Showalter, Jill Monroe, Jessica Andersen and Nalini Singh. We get a flavor of each author’s voice but through a conjoining storyline. To kick off the series is my favorite author, Gena Showalter, with Lord of the Vampires!

Okay, basic plot of the whole series. In the land of Elden lived a king, queen and their four children. One day the villainous Dark Sorcerer attacks the royal family, conquers their land and through a protective spell their parents casted before their deaths, the children are separated into various lands to stay hidden in safety. Their only connection to each other and their past is the timepiece each holds in their possession. The siblings must reconnect in order to tackle the Dark Sorcerer, avenge their parents and reclaim their rightful kingdom.

As a longtime fan of Showalter’s work, I’d like to think I can discern her writing and author voice by now. This book carries her characteristic gory violent action scenes, tragic character backstories, sizzling love scenes and sweet ending but…it also didn’t feel like a Showalter novel. Namely, I wasn’t moved by the love story of this book as I usually am with her other works.

The beginning of the story dragged. I wasn’t truly interested until the middle to end of the book where I felt action actually started happening. The beginning caught my attention though when Jane receives this mysterious, magical book that leads her to travel to the land of Delfina. Kind of like Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland, except Delfina is shitty, the witches are horrendous and cruel and turn males into sex slaves. One of those male slaves being Nicolai the Vampire (our alpha male hero). Then it dragged a little after the first few chapters before picking up again in the middle-towards-end of the book.

Jane and Nicolai’s Character

I did appreciate Jane’s tragic backstory and how she handled her severe physical injuries. This girl may be named Jane but she’s the furthest thing from plain. She researches paranormal creatures for her job (I wished Showalter showed scenes of her doing this, rather than just dropping in that detail, in order to enrich the world-building aspect). She’s been fighting to recover and regain mobility in her legs after a traumatic car accident leaves her broken in several places. Jane is a fierce fighter! She doesn’t let her ailments keep her down! And she’s clever! Which comes in handy when assisting Nicolai later. It made me consistently cheer on for her character.

Nicolai is a vampire. And his character and backstory are interesting too. Except I felt it wasn’t presented as well as it could be. This story mixes witches and vampires (i.e. thus creating a story about vampires with magical powers). Sounds cool, right? It is! But what the hell are Nicolai’s powers? It seemed a little messy. Like…could he cast illusions? Transport with only a thought? Telepathy? We learn later that Nicolai is so powerful because his main power is to steal others’ powers. However because, for the majority of the book, he couldn’t remember who he was before his enslavement, his character progressed through the story confused about what his abilities were and the extent of them…which means we, as the readers, were confused too when reading from his point of view.

And his vampire side…holy goodness…I guess I just needed to wrap my mind around this world’s “vampires” because Nicolai isn’t your typical blood drinker. No, he’s not like Twilight vampires either. He doesn’t seem much like a vampire to me other than the signature blood drinking. A real bummer! Guess I was expecting more vampires…less witches and magic. I think it would have served better to market Nicolai as a fanged sorcerer instead. I got to learn more about his magical abilities than his vampire side. On several occasions I totally forgot he was supposed to be a vampire.

Their Romance

Jane and Nicolai’s romance in the beginning was boring. Though it does have the cutest, sweetest ending that brought me to tears! This is what threw me off. I am usually taken on an emotional rollercoaster ride when I read one of Showalter’s romance stories. Heart-wrenching tragic backstories and angst, make you hot all over sexy times, and tear-jerking, tender love confessions. It wasn’t the case with Lord of the Vampires.

Before I get into this, it pains me more than you think for me to ever say this about Showalter’s writing because I am a huge fan of her stories. Consider my own shock when I found myself thinking the following things as I read Lord of the Vampires.

Their dialogue had me rolling my eyes on multiple occasions. And I know it’s hard to always write witty lines but damn…I don’t think this book had any…To me that’s unusual of her style.

The vampire transformation scene was okay. Again made me roll my eyes.

The assault and near-rape scenes…disturbed me and not sure if it’s super relevant to the actual plot.

Though I did like Jane’s consideration of Nicolai’s feelings before they made love, being compassionate that he might not be so eager to have sex after years of sexual (and other) abuse during his enslavement. Sure I’ll sound crazy for saying this, but I found it interesting that the story brought up sexual abuse of males. More often than not, we see female characters endure assault, rape and physical abuse and they are the victims who more commonly open up about their experience. I know this is a romance book so the focus isn’t on this topic though I would have liked more discussion on Nicolai’s feelings and trauma from his experience in Delfina. Like I mentioned, all the male slaves in Delfina endured sexual abuse constantly and I wish there was a character that spoke up on their trauma going through all that.

Jane and Nicolai’s love story wasn’t the most memorable one I’ve read by Showalter. I think maybe because the book was shorter than her usual novels that she didn’t let the romance simmer and develop the way I’ve read her do in her other novels? Their romance didn’t move me. Didn’t touch my heart the way it usually does. And believe me when I say, it hurts for me to admit I felt indifferent when reading Lord of the Vampires, considering I’ve always been swept into the whirlwind of emotions each time I read her stuff (just the way I prefer!).

Should you read this book? Well you know my slogan. So YES.

The plot was interesting and creative, however the story telling for this book didn’t seem to capture my attention. Still a fun read! I love the lore. And I hope for more world building throughout the rest of the series because this starter to the series didn’t really set up the world of Elden or Delfina as richly as I’d like. I’m excited to see how the rest of the series goes! I do want to see the siblings reunite and kick the Dark Sorcerer’s ass! And I guess that’s an upside to reading an anthology series with different authors, maybe a different author’s style fits to your liking more. Like a box of mixed chocolates, you know?

Also, Lord of the Vampires reads similar to The Darkest Night: book one of Gena Showalter’s bestselling series The Lords of the Underworld (A saga that is my all-time FAVORITE and I’m obsessed with. Seriously every paranormal romance reader/lover has to read the LOTU series!!).

All Book Reviews for Royal House of Shadows (in series order):

1. Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter
2. Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe
3. Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen
4. Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh