Haiku of the Vampire: Book 1 of The Vampire Haiku Chroniclesby Arakaki Soto book review...

Haiku of the Vampire, by Soto, Arakaki.

Welcome to the world of vampires, and Yakuza. A melting pot of east meets west in this glorious introduction to a great franchise.

THE STORY:

When her father loses his status as Japan's most prominent Yakuza mob boss, Misake travels to South Texas as a college student with the hopes of engaging a notorious Latino vampire named Uriel Santana. After a whirlwind courtship, she seduces and manipulates Uriel to turn her into another vampire, and then returns to Japan as an immortal to help her father regain power in Tokyo's criminal underworld.

Poised to reign supreme in Tokyo forever, Misake learns that she is now on the vampire's Most Wanted criminal list for her indiscretions. The governing body in New Orleans dispatches bounty hunter and vampire/warlock hybrid Cyprian Dugas to hunt her down, who happens to be falling for the Japanese bloodsucker. To make matters worse, Queen Mictecacihuatl - the Lady of El Dia de Los Muertos and Goddess creator of Uriel's vampire Latinx coven - feels spurned by Misake's ruse and vows to get revenge by any means necessary.

MY THOUGHTS:

First, the story is well crafted, with interesting and complex characters which I just adore. And the story starts out with a bang. Most start real slow and spends one to two chapters getting started. Not so with Arakaki Soto. It starts off fast and continues with a breathtaking pace that'll make your blood boil, and keeps the reader interested until the end.

Following Misake's journey is so much fun from New Orleans to Japan. And the story is structured really well, and it follows Misake in present-day with her flashbacks of how/why she came to be in New Orleans in the present day. Misake is a badass and I can't wait to read what she does next!

I also found myself becoming such a huge fan of Cyprian. I can't wait to read the second book since I hear it's Cyprian heavy.

The fact that there's terrific description in the action made me feel like I was partaking in the scene. You can tell that Arakaki Soto studied the work behind what she wrote about. And the use of different cultures within the story was a breath of fresh air. Very commendable.

Not a lot was wrong with the read. There are just a few areas which need the attention of a copy edit, but it is easily fixed. There are also grammar edits needed, again not many.

The book has everything you didn't know you wanted. It has love, loyalty, betrayal, action, suspense, gods, and blood. If you are in need of a fast read, then this is for you. It'll keep you intrigued with all the plot twists and complex characters.

For a first time author, the overall story was superb, now for number two in the series!

4/5 STARS