Salibi by Oliver Lea & Emily Brown

While on vacation in Jordan, twenty something American Alexis gets turned into a vampire. Lost and confused, she bumps into Anselm, an English vampire who shows her the ropes of her new undead life.

However, who turned Alexis, and why? Was meeting Anselm an accident or something more calculated? The plot unravels to reveal an almost millennia long grudge in this original take on the vampire novel.

This is such a great book. It’s got everything you want from a vampire novel – sexy vampires, blood lust, ancient feuds – but it’s got a new, original take on the genre, and is written in an entertaining, fast paced way.

I loved the character of Alexis. She’s such an interesting person, and I really loved how she’s written. I don’t want to spoil the book, but there are aspects to her character that are fascinating and written in such a great way. I’ve rarely encountered such complex metaphysical possibilities being written about in such a succinct manner.

Anselm is great too. He’s charming and funny and I liked his back story.

The setting of Jordan is a character in itself. The age and history of the area is well described, and I loved the idea of vampires living there for centuries and how it tied into the history of the Middle East.

The moral complexity of the characters went in a more realistic direction than vampire tales usually go, and I enjoyed learning about how the different characters perceived their actions in the greater scheme of things.

While I found this original take on vampires highly entertaining, I’m deducting half a star for conflicting information about Alexis’s sister, a deal made with Anselm that seemed to go nowhere, and the high level of steam. While I liked that the carnal nature of vampires was mentioned, there was just too much of it for my liking.

4.5 stars rounded up.

I award Salibi…