Just about everything in my review of the first series applies here
Story:
It's a continuation of the first series though that doesn't mean the plot has gotten any better, if anything it got worse.
The stakes are higher, yet there is a strange and arbitrary time limit to things, but it doesn't get resolved in this one apparently it does in the sequel.
Art:
It's the same as before.
Character:
It's probably even worse, as the spoilers will discuss.
Enjoyment:
There is no real closure from the first series and it requires another series to finish it, I didn't have a good time reading this.
Spoilers:
So the story is worse than the first.
At some point in the first one they just started going
'IT IS THE LAW OF THE ISLAND WE HAVE TO KILL EVERY VAMPIRE' despite the fact their leader IS a vampire, albeit an original one who doesn't go crazy. The sequel acknowledges this and goes 'Oh he'll killhimself later' but its still super bland
I mention this because the starting story, the first 1/3rd of the sequel, is a woman getting infected and her Bf and her running off. There are a few idiotic moments with it, the boyfriend basically goes "ARE YOU OK WHATS WRONG" everytime the GF wants blood, he should be pretty understanding that the vampire lady with glowing eyes going "I NEED BLOOD" wants blood, but he's even intelligent enough to cut himself and let her drink off him at one point.
I find the entire situation silly though with how unbudging this 'LAW OF THE ISLAND' shit is because the protagonist just winds up killing her anyway.
We've done it.
We've had 0 character development. No 'Hey, maybe it is kind of fucked up we just kill EVERYONE who's a vampire when they are just people with an infection'. The first series had a whole village full of them that were polite, farmed crops, and shared a meal with the protagonist...yet here we are.
In the first sequel the protagonist was also willing to be friends with his brother, who was infected, yet it was the brother who decided it wouldn't work.
I guess the protagonist forgot all about that? There have been 0 situations in either series where someone has trusted a non-crazy vampire and it has backfired.
This is a more minor complaint but:
There never seems to be repurcussions for these massive battles they have. The protagonist has had bones broken nonstop, and almost died several times, yet recovers in a week or a month or however long the author wants to give him. The humans have had their village wiped like 3 times at this point in the series yet still manage to have enough soldiers to constantly fight. The vampires lose like 4/5 villages and are still full of numbers with no issue. In fact he's teamed up with somewhat unstable vampires in the past, one that lost its legs and had to be carried on his back, so there is already precident for this.
So a vampire that is mostly sane and wants to live her life with a man she loves = Killed, no exception
A vampire who wants to kill him and actively admits to being ready to betray him but is needed = Keep him around, well after his usefulness runs out. He's a good ole pal!
The second character mentioned is brought up like 10 chapters AFTER the woman is killed, so this would still be fresh in the authors mind. It's unfathomable to me.
Twenty five chapters after killing the woman 'because no exceptions' he's asking one of the vampire leaders to join his side. Then, when said bad guy inevitable dies, he carries him while still alive to his mothers grave.
Yet he had to murder that vampire lady I guess?
How the fuck is anyone alive right now?
The protagonist being such a Gary Stu murder hobo has me hating him intensely and, I haven't finished it yet as of writing this, I hope he dies.
Once again, this part of the series continues the 'I WILL BE YOUR OPPONENT' shtick. You can find my review on the first series as well, basically everything I said there is the same here. 'I'll beat you with my next strike!' or *Sheaths sword, closes eyes, audience gasps as he gets ready to do some edgy katana attack*
Another issue of 'the author forgetting the rules' it's been stated MANY times a vampire can track by blood and scent. Yet a character, who is covered in his own blood, manages to evade a vampire by hiding like 10 feet up in a tree.
The author has introduced 'attacks' that the chief has, their vampire leader.
It doesn't explain what these are at all. The vampires, the original ones especially, need blood to LIVE FOREVER not 'avoid getting really upset sometimes' and they don't explain anything about these attacks. It's just 'The chief is chained up again' and it's brought up out of nowhere.
