Dhampir

Ignore the back of the book. And the tagline on the cover. And the title of the book, if possible. They will give you entirely the wrong impression. Let me try again.

Magiere doesn't know what she is. (Necessary because of the title of the book.) She's been traveling for years with her half-elf partner Leesil, rescuing superstitious villages from the monsters lurking in the night, and now she's ready to find a home and settle down. But their newfound peace will not last. (Part of this shamelessly stolen from the back of the book.) Magiere has come to the attention of a trio of powerful and dangerous vampires, and their machinations will force her and her partner to recall their events from their pasts, events that might be better off show more forgotten...

There, that's fairly good. I loved the book. A good, rollicking story about vampires and hunters and people trying to make a life. Definitely a pageturner. I liked that it reinvents no complex mythology, just sticks to what we all know and love about vampires already. It shows you can write a good story without having to create tons of background. show less

My first reaction to this book is that it is very surprisingly well written. I say surprisingly because most paperback vampire/fantasy novels seem to be low quality. This book was not so. I thought the plot was unique and well thought out, and I liked the depth that was given to the characters on both sides (the "good" and "evil" characters) -- this book is not as black and white as so many other fantasy novels tend to be. In all, I thought it was a good read, and intend to read the sequel next.

Dhampir is about the travels of a half-elf (Leesil), a dog (Chap), and a half-vampire (Magiere). The story begins during their last job. Magiere and Leesil con villages into giving them money in exchange for her hunting services. This involed Leesil disguising himself as a vampire and Magiere pretending to kill him in front of the villagers. Before performing her services, Magiere would convince the town to give her almost every penny they had as payment. After this last job Magiere and Leesil move to Miiska and open a tavern (really just a bar with a faro table). Before arriving, Magiere and Chap fought and killed a vampire, although they mistook him for a crazy villager. When they arrive, the vampires residing in town are out to kill show more Magiere before she can kill them. However, Magiere is done with “killing” vampires. All she wants is to live a quiet life, running her tavern. But all those rumors she and Leesil spent so much time and effort spreading about her hunting skills have finally cought up with her, and no one will let her live quietly. She is a vampire hunter after all.
Magiere was raised in a small village by her aunt. She was hated by the other villagers because her father was thought of as evil even though Magiere never knew him. Magiere is very quiet and keeps her thoughts to herself. On the outside, she is very hard and cold, but deep down, she is very caring. Whenever a vampire threatens her, the half-vampire in her comes out. When this happens she can’t speak or think coherently-its all instinct.
Leesil is Magiere’s half-elf companion. He was born a servant warrior. His past is so sad. The lord that owned his family made sure he was trained to kill-which he did. When he finally escaped, he made his living stealing. After meeting Magiere, they devised a plan to make money together. Even though they’ve worked and lived on the road together for a few years, they barely know anything about the other. They have a mutual agreement to keep their pasts in the past. Leesil’s dog, Chap, is very protective of both Leesil and Magiere. He was given to Leesil as a gift from his mother. Chap has similar fighting and healing abilities as Magiere which baffles Leesil. Chap is so adorable. He is the perfect guard dog. He is also the perfect lapdog.
The three main vampires are Rashed, Ratboy, and Teesha. Teesha’s story was heartbreaking. She had a great and happy life until she was forced to leave her home. I was very conflicted in terms of which side I was rooting for: vampires or Leesil and Magiere. The vampires were the “bad guys” but I liked them. Their pasts were so complicated and full of sorrow that I could not hate them no matter what they did. However, I did not like what they did. Most of the killing that took place in the story was VERY unnecessary. The vampires think Magiere is out to get them when she doesn’t even know they exist. Instead of hiding, leaving, or waiting to see what happens, they attack her before she can attack them. In doing this, they reveal themselves to her and anger her. Now she wants them dead because they threaten the peaceful life she wants. So both sides resort to their natures instead of doing what they want. It’s a whole he-said-she-said type situation.
I liked this book. It wasn’t great. I so badly wanted there to be at least a little bit of romance between Leesil and Magiere. But alas, there was not. The dialogue was very well written and natural. The whole book was pieced together nicely. The characters had in-depth histories and personalities. The final battle scene was very suspenseful. Throughout the first half, I wasn’t exactly turning the pages quickly. Eventually it started to pick up-I was eagerly flipping to find out what happened next. This book is very bloody and violent. But there are funny moments. This husband-wife writing team are not afraid to kill their characters. I enjoyed it and will be reading the next book in the series. show less

Dhampir is a very dark book. Even when Magiere and Leesil play at destroying vampires, the fear of the villagers is so real that the act of destroying the creature must be done in the expected manner. I was instantly caught up in the secrets kept by the characters and how their pasts influenced their current actions. One of the things that I loved about this story was that the reader not only gets to know Magiere and Leesil but the trio of vampires as well. The vampires have such strong personalities and histories, making them much more sympathetic than generic monsters would have been.

It wasn't anything particularly new a fairly standard fantasy novel crossed with a fairly standard vampire hunter novel, but it was still a decent read. Succinct with a quickly moving plot and okay prose.

4.5 stars

Dhampir was quite good. It starts off a little slow, but quickly picked up and became hard to put down. Magiere is a "vampire" hunter. What she is really doing is swindling villages out of their hard-earned cash. She, along with her half-elf partner, Leesil, set up schemes to make is seem as though these villages are being plagued by vampires and she is the only one qualified to rid them of these abominations. The vampire is really Leesil in disguise. After four years of playing this game, Magiere decides she had enough and wants to retire. Leesil is not too thrilled with this at first, but eventually agrees. She purchases a tavern in a town called Miiska and wishes to live out a peaceful existence. Little does she know that show more vampires do exist and some currently reside in Miiska.

What follows is a tale full of action, suspense, intrigue and some behind the scenes machinations. Magiere comes to find out that she is a Dhampir, half mortal, half vampire. She has the natural skills and talents to kill vampires, but it's not something she truly wishes to do. There's a man in the village who seems to know quite a bit about Dhampirs, but is not very forthcoming with the information. I felt for Magiere struggling to figure out what was going on with her, even though it was difficult for me to like her at first because she was a con artist. The vampires did not really appear evil and we do get to learn quite a bit about them. I liked them almost as much as Magiere and Leesil. This is a story that I would recommend. show less

Magiere and her partner Leesil have been providing a valuable service: allaying the fears of superstitious peasants who are afraid of the legends of vampires. They put on a show to convince the locals that the vampire they've been imagining is dead, collect a fee, and move on. They've finally saved up enough money to buy an inn... and now life gets complicated.

Magiere discovers she's half vampire. Leesil just happens to have training as a spy and assassin. His dog Chap appears to have supernatural powers. And they're being dragged into real vampire hunting for once, a nasty and lethal business, and they're not happy about it...

The series begins with a well-imagined world that tweaks some of the classic vampire tropes and sets up the show more longer-term elements of the story. Some of the coincidences of the background look rather conveniently like the game master needed to put the player characters together in the same party, but as the series unfolds they turn out not to be coincidences at all. show less