The Vampire Queen's Rebellious Pet

By: KuroKoneko Kamen

Narrated by: Chris Boykin

Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s the year 2221. Zombie hunter Thane Maverick lives in a post-apocalyptic dystopian world ruled by vampires, where humans have been enslaved and are treated as livestock. The vampires have formed a matriarchal society where they are ruled over by dominatrix vampire queens, who reign over walled cities scattered across the globe. Two hundred years ago, a virus was unleashed upon the Earth that turned every living organism (humans, animals, and insects) into zombies or zombified creatures, except for children under the age of 13.

The vampires emerged from the shadows of myth and legend to come to humanity’s rescue and offered the human children protection from the zombies. They appeared to be saviors at first, but in reality, they captured the children and enslaved them. Thane lives freely in an underground human village where they have to occasionally enter the nearby abandoned city in order to get supplies. During these dangerous missions, Thane and his fellow hunters are forced to engage zombies and zombified creatures in a battle for survival.

This is Thane’s life until he is captured by the vampire noble, Lord Azazel, and taken to a slave market to be sold. The vampire princess, Morana Kuronuma, purchases Thane and his friends: bookworm sage, tomboyish Ezra; jokester Falcor; and narcissist Adrien. At first, Thane thinks the sadistic, haughty princess is just like the rest of the vampires. But he slowly discovers that there’s more to Morana than first meets the eye.

Morana wears a mask of cruelty in order to blend in with her fellow vampires, and hide the fact she is actually half-human and half-vampire, and has a kind heart. Her sisters, Gorria, Laverna, and Jezebel, frequently send assassins to try and take Morana’s life due to the fact that she’s first in line to the throne of Red Moon City. Morana knows that if the vampires discover her weakness, she’ll be eaten alive.

Thane agrees to be Morana’s "pet" in order to protect his friends. But he won’t submit to her that easily. Submission is against his cocky nature. Will Morana be able to tame her rebellious pet?

©2021 KuroKoneko Kamen (P)2022 KuroKoneko Kamen

enjoyed it

📖 Story comment: A well developed dystopian world full of traditional and non traditional characters. Descriptions are thorough and detailed, painting vivid scenes, the story has a good pace and flows along nicely.

I enjoyed Morana's hybrid vampirism traits, her desire for knowledge and aversion for blood made her an interesting character. I liked Thane, but given he's a strong alpha personality, his acceptance of things early on was a little passive for what I expected, I would have preferred more rebellion and testing of boundaries in the early stages of his relationship [aka captivity] with Morana.

There is a lot of story in this book, each chapter is quite long (running anywhere between 30 and 70 minutes), and some chapters are broken up into 2 parts so I did find myself going back to the beginning of a chapter if I had to leave off mid way through for any length of time.
Given its length, I was not expecting this to be the first of a possible series and look forward to the next instalment.

🎧 Narrator comment: Chris Boykin is a new narrator for me and overall he's done a good job on the narration. He has good timing and expression, and different voices for the many characters in this world. With more experience under his belt he'll be a narrator I'll definitely watch out for.

If I'm being nit-picky constructive (not critical) on the narration, there were occasions when the dialog felt a little stilted or flat and I would have liked a little more emotion in some of the "high action" narrative, but these were only for brief periods and it's nothing more experience wont improve. I also sometimes lost track of what was inner monolog (it would be good if there was a slight change in 'tone' to differentiate when this is happening) overall though, I think he's done well bringing this book to life.

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⚠ I received a complimentary copy of this book at my request - it has in no way influenced my review.
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📌 Where does it fall on my personal scale? 7
• 1 not my thing • 2 didn't like the narration • 3 didn't keep my attention • 4 was good, but once was enough • 5 enjoyed it • 6 will listen again if i'm in the mood for the narrator • 7 goes on the "re-listen" list [4⭐] • 8 kept me up past bed-time [4.5⭐] • 9 recommended to family/friends [4.75⭐] • 10 own it in all formats [5⭐] • 11 keep a copy with me at all times [5⭐]
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review

I enjoyed listening to the story. it was well written and the narrator was awesome with different voices for different characters.

The Vampire Queen's Rebellious Pet

Thane works hard to fight for his village but one fateful day the vampires come for them. Now Thane and those who are left from the village must face so many other dangers. When a vampire princess takes them as her personal blood slaves things become even more chaotic. Secrets and emotions come in abundance and sides are chosen. All too soon Thane is in anew world with new enemies and few friends.

This is an interesting take on vampires and zombies. I enjoyed the world and character building. Thane and Morana’s relationship continues to evolve all the way to the end of the story. It was interesting to see all the rules of the vampire world and all the court intrigue that happens. There are a few twists and turns to this story that keep the listener interested and guessing. The story is fast paced with strong characters and a good plotline. Narrator Chris Boykin does a good job of bringing this world and its characters to life.

unexpected allies and lovers

Adrian was such a two faced boot licker. He made me furious. I admired Thane's ingenuity and tenacity. Morana's sisters reminded me of Cinderella's evil step sisters only more lethal. Some really intense scenes had me on the edge of my seat rooting for good against evil. This has a stunning movie like ending, and it sounds like the following book will be even more compelling. Can't wait. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job bringing the characters and story to life.

apocalypse of a different time !!

This story will take you by storm ! Keep up with Thane, he will shock you along with Vampire Queen...you will truly enjoy this book. It will keep you enraptured through the end. !!

Love this book

Omg please tell me there’s more! I can’t wait to listen to the other book! I’m hooked!!! Chris Boykin did an excellent job at narrating

loved it! need more soon please!

I loved the story, the characters (and their developments), the unexpected twists, and beyond eager for more!!!