Frightful Friday is a weekly meme in which I feature a particularly scary or chilling book that I’ve read that week.This week’s featured book is the audio book production of V Wars: A Chronicle of Vampire Wars edited by Jonathan Maberry:
- Listening Length: 18 hours and 33 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
- Release Date: October 10, 2012
- Source: Publisher
The phenomenon, eventually referred to as the V Wars, begins on a scientific expedition to Antarctica. A bacteria, buried under the ice for a millennia, is unknowingly exhumed. The “junk” DNA of victim, also laying dormant, is suddenly activated and they are transformed into creatures that served as the true basis of such supernatural creatures as werewolves or vampires. Their ethnic background determines just what type of werewolf or vampire they come, whether they can roam the streets in the daytime, whether or not they drink blood or consume human flesh, etc. I won’t spoil anything but going into great detail about each of the stories other than say that there won’t be any sparkling vampires or werewolves with glistening abs making an appearance.
This anthology, made up of stories written by a host of authors including Nancy Holder, Yvonne Navarro, James A. Moore, Gregory Frost, John Everson, Keith R. A. DeCandido, and Scott Nicholson, and of course, Jonathan Maberry. Each author’s story is a different viewpoint on the V-event…the one event that served as the commencement of the V Wars: a battle between the supernatural species and the human race. What is truly compelling and stunning about this anthology is how each of the stories managed to weave together around one event without really having anything to do with one another.
Additionally, the flow of this anthology isn’t linear, the stories alternate. One might believe this would cause a confusing, jumbled mess of prose, but each author’s clear voice makes each of the contributions wholly unique, almost as if you are reading completely different books rather than one volume all together. That said, this format does not detract from the overall flow of the book. There is sufficient flow and transition in each of the stories that is easy to pick up where you last left off.
As mentioned, I listened to the audio book production of this anthology.Typically, I would comment on the production of one narrator. Well, in this anthology there are nine…yes nine…narrators, including Stefan Rudnicki, John Rubinstein, Gabrielle de Cuir, Roxanne Hernandez, Lisa Renee Pitts, Arte Johnson, Cassandra Campbell, Wil Wheaton (!!) and Grover Garner. In my humble opinion, audio is the format best suited for this anthology. Each narrator’s voice is incredibly unique and discernible making it easy to separate each unique contribution on its own.
I could continue to rave about just how much I adored this audio, but I must resist. That said, know that this will top my “Best of 2012” audio books list! Highly, highly recommended.
2 Responses to Frightful Friday: V Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry