Recommendsday Review - Red Moon Rising

Today's Recommendsday Reading is Red Moon Rising by Billie Sue Mosiman.

Synopsis:

Della Cambian was a senior in high school when she fell prey to the family curse of vampirism.  Like her mother, father, and brother, Dell was suddenly struck by the mutated form of a rare blood disease, porphyria.  As she passed into death, only the aid of Mentor - the vampire elder sworn to save the "souls" of as many of his fellow sufferers as he could - and Dell's own will might keep her from transforming into a Predator or a Craven.


First, she must fight free of the Predator's seductive lure, the call of the Hunter who embraced power for power's sake and killing for the life-giving blood it brought.  Fleeing the Predator, she might still succumb to pity and despair - the Craven's primary weapons - and end her days as a sickly creature, shunning light and the life of the everyday world.


With the aid of Mentor and her family, Dell struggled back toward the light, desperate to become - and remain - a Natural, a vampire who passed for human and lived by human rules.  But many pitfalls awaited Dell even as a Natural - from the threat of discovery to the ever-present disastrous possibility of giving into her vampiric cravings.


And even as Dell tentatively returned to the human world, Charles Upton, billionaire industrialist, fought his own battle with mortality.  At the age of sixty-eight, he was dying of the original form of porphyria.  Grasping desperately for any hope of survival, Upton turned to the vampire legends, ready to use his vast resources to search out the truth behind the myths.  Should his quest prove successful, it would unleash an evil beyond even that of the Predators upon an unsuspecting world and endanger every Natural who walked the face of the Earth...

Stupendous!  The vampire theory is unique and refreshing.  The storyline is pumped full of action, and the synopsis from the back cover sums up the novel completely.  I was taken by surprise when I picked this one up and I eagerly seek to get my hands on the second and third installments to the series: Malachi's Moon and Craven Moon.  The covers may look like they sprung straight from the cheese era of the 80s, but do not be fooled.  Like a whirlwind, the story zips off the pages, the world is detailed and picturesque, characters all have a level of depth; it felt almost plausible.  The books are out of print I believe, but there are still ways to get your hands on the used copies.  Definitely worth the effort, enjoy!

Rating: 4.5/5

~Helena