Review: Revamp

Revamp

by Beck Sherman (Twitter | Website | Revamp's Facebook)
Series: Standalone
Published: March 31st, 2012
Pages: 439 (Paperback)
Genre: Adult Paranormal & Horror
Source: Read to Review program
Goodreads | Amazon

FOR THREE DAYS, IT WAS DARK.

News reporters scrambled. This was the biggest story to come along in weeks. They called it a blackout.

The last one was in New York City in 2003, but this one was different, special, because the grids in six major cities across the country had been fried, kaput, see-you-next-Sunday. Everyone with some jurisdiction blamed each other, and when there was no one left to blame, terrorism rode in on its gallant steed.

It was the media’s fault. They were so busy stuffing fanatical Muslims with a penchant for Allah and decapitations down the American citizen’s throat, that they never saw it coming. I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on them.

They were partially right. It was terror after all, but a whole new kind. And when the lights came back on, things had changed.

The dark had brought us visitors.

I’m a vampire person. I love reading about the undead in any and all forms, but vampires are my favorite. While there is only so much originality an author can infuse into his take of vampire lore, he can create fresh and exciting worlds by mixing up other facets of his book. This is exactly what Beck Sherman did in his novel Revamp.
 
I loved the world Sherman created in Revamp – it was thrilling, full of fear and uncertainty, and gruesome. There were a few aspects of the plot that I didn’t completely buy in to, such as what happens with Emma on the plane, but overall I thought Sherman did a wonderful job establishing a vampire run society and illustrating what these people were going through. Curiosity of the events that led to this reality and the atmosphere are what kept me interested through this long novel.

Revamp takes vampire lore back to good old days of Dracula and Queen of the Damned, where vampires were feared and brutal predators. While I expected violence from the synopsis, I didn’t think there would be as much gore and terror as there was. Sherman’s writing is so vivid and detailed that I could picture everything that was happening really well, making Revamp that much more intense for me. There are some truly gruesome scenes in this that I will not be forgetting any time soon, but this aspect of the book reminded me of why I love vampires and horror.

My biggest complaint with Revamp is the writing style. Sherman provides readers with back stories and flashbacks of the various characters, allowing for greater character development but throwing off the pacing of the novel. We know a lot about the characters from these anecdotes and can easily see or understand their outlook, making it easy to connect with them; but the shifts from the past to the present disconnected me from the story line and threw off my flow. Some of these flashbacks are pretty long and took away from the gravity or the urgency of whatever was happening in the present. It was easy to get lost and I didn’t find myself as caught up in the main storyline as I would have liked. But on the other hand, this way of writing allowed for multiple story lines to stand on their own and develop before ultimately converging and creating a well detailed and more thorough picture of this new world.

Revamp is a long and intense book that isn’t always easy to get through. I almost put this one down because it took me a few days and a few tries to be fully engrossed, but once the pace picked up a bit I was hooked. With smart, strong, and self-reliant characters, Revamp is an interesting and new addition to the vampire genre. I would recommend it to fans of horror who don’t mind complex stories.

Rating: 3/5 stars
It's an interesting and gruesome take on vampire and dystopian fiction.

Advisory: Because of the amount of violence and gore, this might be better suited for more mature audiences.

*Thanks to Shut Up and Read's Read It & Reap program for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review*