Title: Blood Oath
Author: Christopher Farnsworth
Narrator: Bronson Pinchot
Genre: Paranormal, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, Horror, Thriller
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Audiobook: 10h 24m
Series: Book 1 in Nathaniel Cade
Rating: 4-stars: Excellent!
For the past 5 years, I have been listening to audiobooks alongside my regular reading. It started as a productive way to pass time on the elliptical or treadmill at gym, then moved into a way keep reading during my walks to grad school. Now that I commute to work for about 2 hours a day, I use that time to listen to audiobooks.
Blood Oath is completely different to any book I have read before. I would describe it as a crossover between a political thriller and urban fantasy, which is an original take on the over saturated vampire genre. Twilight, this is not. Zach Barrows works for the United States Government. He is an up and coming politician, until he gets into the President’s bad books for fooling around with his daughter. Zach is then given the “punishment” of working as liaison to Nathanial Cade, a secret agent sworn to protect the president, who also happens to be a vampire.
I loved the combination of politics and vampires, it somehow grounds the myth in reality and allows you to see how these creatures could exist in our world. Cade battles a terrorist croup who also happen to be Werewolves, and has to protect the president from would-be-assassins, who also happen to be raised from the dead. Cade also has a longterm feud with another ancient vampire. This villain, Dr. Johann Konrad, is truly creepy. He reminds me of The Master from Buffy. He is an intelligent, refined, disturbing sociopath who has done terrible things throughout his life (i.e, helping the Nazis). Although Zach starts the book hating the position, seeing it as a punishment, he starts to learn that this is not the case. It’s nice to watch how his friendship with Cade grow, and to experience the difference between the 200-year old vampire and the 25 year old politico.
I listened to this as an audiobook because the third book in the series won an Audie Award. This was an excellent audiobook, the narrator differentiates between characters extremely well, in particular, bringing life to the main trio and the bad guy. The book is mostly told from Zach’s perspective, who is a hilarious narrator because he is completely out of his depth. My final thoughts about this book is that it was funny, had interesting historical elements, and integrated fantasy with political in a believable and intriguing way.
I highly recommend the audiobook!
Emma Kristensen 