The Rift Walker (Vampire Empire #2) by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith
Urban Fantasy
Paperback
September 6, 2011
Prometheus Books

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: “Fine, I was brooding. It’s not like you don’t.”

“Mine’s inherent in my romantic nature. Cloaks and castles.”

“That’s it. You are forbidden to look at anymore cheap books about yourself.”

Note:There are some mild spoilers from book one in here.

At the end of book one, The Greyfriar, Adele is back with her family in Equatoria, recovering from her experiences with Prince Cesare and being held captive at his vampire holding in London. Adele also learned the identity of the elusive Greyfriar and found herself rethinking many of her own personal prejudices. The Greyfriar has retreated to his own estate and they both are doing their best to forget each other. With an unavoidable war brewing between the vampires and the humans; they know there can never be anything between them.

At the beginning of The Rift Walker, Adele is trying her best to delay her wedding to the obnoxious American, Senator Miles Clark, who wants her crown and her country for himself. She has fallen for the mysterious Greyfriar despite learning who he really is and finds herself unable to forget about him. When Adele learns of a plan by her father and the Senator to use humans as fodder in their war against the vampires, Adele attempts to call off the wedding only to learn it is being held in two weeks regardless of her feelings. While Adele is trying to come to terms with her upcoming nuptials, Greyfriar learns her life is in danger and races to her rescue, effectively spiriting her away from her own wedding. As these two avoid her army and her “husband” they set in motion a chain of events that are staggering in the chaos they release.

The Rift Walker is an splendid continuation to the spellbinding magic of The Greyfriar. Filled with mind boggling political intrigue, betrayal, deception, magic and a healthy dose of romance-you will be once again swept away by this burgeoning epic saga. While The Greyfrair was a brilliant set up for this gothic, horrific, end of the world adventure in which vampires and humans work their way towards a war to end all wars; The Rift Walker expands this world while focusing on deeper development and commitment of the characters; especially our heroine Adele. Adele is a young woman who has matured in the past 3 months. Set to become the next Empress of Equatoia, she has grown into her expected role while settling comfortably into her own skin of expectations and values. If we we not sure before, we are sure now that Adele will be no one’s pawn again. Greyfriar is a solid commanding presence in the book though he takes a backseat to Adele in here. This is Adele’s story 100 percent. I love that while everyone in Adele’s life only sees parts of her (in relation to how they can benefit from her) Greyfriar sees the whole her; good and bad, and loves her regardless . Even knowing that there cannot be a happy ending for them. While the romance plays a heavier role in here then in book one, it continues to co exists comfortably with the main storyline rather then attempting to overshadow it.

The secondary characters are just as important and strongly defined as our protagonists. Rather then simply extending the storyline, they expand and lift it. Senator Clark, along with Flay, General Anhalt, and Mamoru all excel in their scenes and gift us with additional explanations and clues to the roles they are playing and will play in the third and final installment of this series. Additional characters are introduced that leave you shuddering at some introductions and laughing at others. Adele uses her intelligence and political savvy to garner herself additional allies to help her in her quest for her throne and to use as a shield against her husband’s and father’s political agendas.

“Let the senator come to me when we reach Bunia.”

Greyfriar started. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not afraid of him.”

“No, I shouldn’t think you would be,” Msiri laughed in complicity and clapped his hands together. He murmured to himself, “This will be an auspicious reunion. There may have to be cake.”

Multiple storylines and subplots run parallel and intertwine with some staggering revelations. Greyfriar is finding it harder and harder to maintain his anonymity while his brother Cesare has found humans who support his vampire agenda. Adele is learning who can and who can not be trusted as the net surrounding them all tightens. Everyone has their own agenda and I look forward to seeing how it all plays out in the end. Not that it is all doom and gloom though. There are quite a few humorous scenes and dialogue in here that engages the reader.

“You ate my food!” Jaga glared at Gareth. “And you try to kill me in front of my son! What sort of monster are you?”

Mr and Ms. Griffith have achieved a perfect balance of dark and light in this series. Enough angst and suspense to keep you glued to the pages while cleverly interjected humorous scenes keeps you from despairing that the outcomes will be anything but wanted.

As we race towards the end, we are once again given a clean viable ending to the main conflict with just enough left to chance to transition us seamlessly into the next book; title to be announced. Once again, Clay and Susan Griffith has managed to astound and captivate me with this series and I am both elated and saddened for the third and last book. The Vampire Empire series remains at the top of my must read list in Urban Fantasy.

RATING: A+

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