Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Vampire Chronicles - Die Verbindung

The writing style made this a lot worse than it needed to be. I could not get over the fact that this book does not seem to know the words “man” or “woman” and instead always said “male” or “female”. It took me out of the moment ever time. But also generally, the writing style is a lot to be desired.
The romance was mediocre. It was supposed to be a slow burn but it was not very slow at all. Sure, no insta-love, but nothing that I would name slow burn. The development was weird and while I did like them together, it was missing some depth and essence.
The book also tried to do some world building and politics next to its romance but that fell flat completely. I did not care and I am not sure the book cared either. It should have let itself be a tacky vampire romance and not make it more complicated than it needed to be.

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creativelifeofliz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This book was a really interesting take on the vampire romance. I liked that they were fully equal partners and were both there to help each other work through things.

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kingrosereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

Queer vampire romance in a modern world where humans and vampires coexist.

Haruka is a pureblood vampire from an ancient line with an imposing and intoxicating aura. Nino is also a pureblood vampire, but from a newer bloodline. The vampiric world also includes first, second, and third generation vampires as well as lower vampires that are closer to being human than vampire. Haruka and Nino are tasked with overseeing an archaic bonding ceremony when they befriend one another and begin researching vampire bonds together. They fall in love while overcoming building political tension, a kidnapping attempt, and aristocratic expectation.

The world building leaves much to be desired. I’m not really sure of the difference between pureblood and individual generational vampires. I’m also unsure of the vampire-human dynamic. Also, what is an aura? How can a vampire wield it? What other powers exist? Are bloodlines weakening because vampires feed from humans or have children with them? Or both? If it’s important to keep bloodlines pure, then no one is forcing hetero bonds (which I’m happy about, but doesn’t make sense for the vibe I get off the ruling class).

Also, there’s no real conflict building up. Other than Gael attacking Haruka twice, nothing’s brought up again. There’s some minimal background foreshadowing about political upheaval and another Great Vanishing, but nothing else. No plot just info dumping, and it’s not even relevant or good info.

I’m not sure if both Niko and Haruka are overly and ethereally beautiful or if that’s how they see each other or it’s just Haruka’s aura, but I’m a little over the “overly gorgeous” couples in romances. Both of them being wealthy aristocrats was also a bit meh for me. I love them as individuals, but enough rich people are happy.

The entire book is written in third person present tense. It took a while for me to realize what was bothering about the reading, and it was the style of writing. It was just off putting and a little irritating. Niko and Haruka were the only things keeping me going cause I thought they were cute enough to stay just interested in finishing the book. But I’m not going to continue the series. There’s just not much here.

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nutm3g's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

After finishing Lore & Lust two words come to mind from the experience, entertained and underwhelmed. It was hyped up to me and I honestly feel like there was a lot missing in world-building, plot, character/character development, and dialogue. I do enjoy the idea Karla had in mind, but it just seemed lacking. While I have yet to read the next two books in this series, it did feel as if all three books could have easily been combined and edited into one solid stand alone. I was really disappointed to not love this.

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whatthefridge's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The worldbuilding takes some getting used to. These vampires are more akin to Fae in that they live long and can give birth. And apparently drinking human blood is bad for them, so they get their nourishment from other vampires.

So the story is about these two century-old purebred vampires mutually pining for one another. It’s done really well too! No verbal constipation. They actually talk things out!! The main tension is they’re both just dancing around each other having intense feelings and being like “no, he’s/I’m traumatized and I’d rather not ruin our friendship.”

My two niggles are:
1) the present tense is a bit jarring
2) the ending gets a bit too mushy, and the thing with Yuna gets left up in the air.

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redbookpanda's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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