Lord of the Vampires

By: Gena Showalter

Narrated by: Genvieve Bevier

Once upon a time… the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs - and time is running out.

Nicolai the Vampire was renowned for his virility, but in a twist of fate “The Dark Seducer” had become a sex slave in the kingdom of Delfina - stripped of his precious timepiece and his memory. All that remained was a primal need for freedom, revenge - and the only woman who could help him.

In her dreams, a wanton vampire called to Jane Parker, drawing her to his dark sexuality and his magical realm. But for a human, all was not a fairy tale in Delfina. Jane was the key to Nicolai’s memory… but exploiting her meant dooming the only mortal he craved.

This is the first book in Royal House of Shadows. The Quartet features new books from some of the biggest names in paranormal fantasy romance: Gena Showalter, Jill Monroe, Jessica Andersen, and Nalini Singh. Listen to a new book in the series every month, from now through November.©2011 Gena Showalter (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Can I give the Narrator a zero star?

I LOVE Gena Showalter. She is one of my favorite authors. I thought the story had potential but the narrator was just AWFUL!!! I read other reviews and thought, "it's Gena I have to give it a try". Wow! I was so wrong. I probably would have loved this book in print. I don't like to give negative reviews but this narrator should consider another line of work.
DON'T WASTE YOUR CREDIT!

Disappointing

Narrator read male lead like Frankenstein.
Heroine was obsessive, needs psychiatric help.
Very insecure and pathetic.

It was okay.

I was all set for an enticing story with some eroticism. What I got was a narrator that made the supposedly sexy vampire sound like he was remedial with his mouth filled with rocks!
Honestly, I don't think I can say anything else about the story. I was so put off by the narrator that I honestly slept through most of the book.

The Narrator Ruined this Book!

The narrator completely ruined this book. She was horrible and I had to force myself to finish the book. She made the male characters sound like dumb, zombie robots. I can't believe the directors/producers let this terrible narration out the door. I will never listed to another book narrated by Genvieve Bevier.

I love Gena Showalter, but this is not one of her best works. She made Nicolai talk in very short phrases in the first half of the book, which made him very "me Tarzan, you Jane" in his speech pattern. This book could have been great is she fixed Nicolai's conversation patterns and the book had a narrator with some talent. Save your credits on this one and buy the book, if you want to read it.

Returning

Couldn’t get very far. The narrator was awful and the story just fell flat. Really? You are finally getting rescued and you want sex first? Ridiculous.

awful

primative vampire. caveman lust with not any build up. first book listen to from gena showalker. not sure I want to hear antother after this.

Not worth it.

I LOVE Gena Showalter, but this book was terrible. The plot was boring and the characters were flat. The author didn't give me any reason to care about the characters or plot. I listened to the entire book, but it never got better. The narrator did an awful job reading the male lead's dialogue. It was a cross between Tarzan, a caveman, and Eeyore. I hope this book doesn't put anyone off from reading or listening to other books by Gena Showalter. The Lords of the Underworld is fantastic.

It’s bad

I’m usually a huge fan of Gena Showalter but this is just bad. There were times I was open mouthed at how terrible it was. Both main characters are unforgivably stupid. I was embarrassed as a woman at how pathetic Jane was and how she was used and manipulated by a sociopath who barely spoke past one word grunts.

Spoiler?

There was a time in the book where she was kidnapped by ogres who behaved EXACTLY like main guy. Couple word, caveman-like sentences of how they wanted to do her. The only difference was that they were ugly.

Caveman or robot?

I'm a huge fan of Gena Showalter but this book was awfully written. Makes Nikolai sound like a primitive caveman with limited speech capabilities. To top it off, the narrator just added to the disagreeable experience that was this audiobook. She tried too hard for the male characters. Her voice is not meant for male characters.

Couldn't get through the first chapter

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I keep forgetting I can't stand the Romance genre's formulaic stupidity. My fault. I read a review, or blurb and mistakenly think it sounds interesting. And it might have been if it wasn't for the god-awful writing.

Has Lord of the Vampires turned you off from other books in this genre?

Absolutley.

Did Genvieve Bevier do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I have no idea if it got any better. They were so flat and stereotypical from the very start; just sounded like very other one-dimensional Romance character. I do remember the hero was chained up and "oiled" all the time and the (non-vampire) heroine got sexually aroused by the blood stains on something. That sort of stood out.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Lord of the Vampires?

I can't answer that because I couldn't get past the first scene.

Any additional comments?

This, if nothing else, should serve to remind me how much I dislike this genre. And I love vampires and good vampire books. I like erotica. I've *written* erotica and vampire stories. I just cannot stand Harlequin books.