Bloodlines 2: Reckoning

by Kate Cary

Hardie Grant Egmont. Young Adult, Fantasy, Supernatural. Paperback rrp $16.95

Reviewed by Barbara  Brown 

Reckoning is the story of the heir to Dracula’s bloodline, Quincey Harker. The book begins in November 1917 and finishes just over a year later. But in the world of vampires and early 20^th century England, a lot can happen in a year.

Quincey Harker has turned to become the man his father wanted but Quincey loses the only thing he truly loved and cannot forgive his father for that. He now wants to escape his destiny. But how do you escape something that has never been able to be undone?

Mary Seward is the best friend of Quincey’s true love and is engaged to Quincey’s cousin. Mary is also the one that escaped Quincey’s and her own beloved fiance’s transformations. But how? How could a mere mortal flee from the castle in Transylvania along with a young baby? Quincey believes Mary is the answer to his controlling his lust for blood. He will do anything to get Mary to help him.

After months hiding in her small town, looking after the injured from the battlefields, Mary starts to feel safe… But when her nightmares become reality, she must once more flee from the pursuit of Quincey and his terrifying, yet seductive charm. But is she running into the arms of someone more powerful than Dracula’s heir?

Reckoning is the sequel to Bloodline. I have not read Bloodline and I didn’t need to. Reckoning is a gripping story on its own. There are so many twists that several times I had to re-read snippets to confirm that my guesses were wrong. A brilliant and wonderful twist on the theme of vampires. And to answer the unasked question, I am going to read Bloodline next.