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I tend to nit pick & geek on the details.
Like whoever proof read most of the series, should be fired for gross incompetence.
The last few are okay, mostly with wrong words (there instead of their etc.).Supposedly, they’ve conquered thousands of worlds.
If they come with everything they have, it will be bang, we’re extinct.
Looking at how they operate, though, they will probably escalate slowly.
They seem to want an intact world to eat, not a collection of asteroids.
Other similar works might be Ian Douglas’ Star Carrier series & David Weber’s Empire From the Ashes series, second book.When vampires (& Chris) move at super speeds, their brain functions also have to accelerate to coordinate the body’s movement. To be able to move so fast as to leave a collapsing air bubble behind you when you disappear at one spot & stop at another would need at least an order of magnitude speed increase or more, with an associated increase in neuron firing speeds. The brain takes up 2-3% of our body weight, but uses about 20% of our body’s energy. Jack that up by an order of magnitude & the calorie requirements get surreal. Plus all that energy burn goes to heat output.
It doesn’t mean much if Tanya blurs across a room to get in someone’s face, but sustained combat would be something else entirely. Vampires normally run a bit cool, but in a sparring session between Tanya & Arkady, Arkady was sweating rivers trying to keep up with Tanya. Most of that sweat should be his body trying to keep his brain from frying. Yes the V2 will be repairing damage, but very high body temperatures inhibit & kill viruses, so a vampire (or Chris) would try & keep sustained combat to a minimum. Tanya would be heating up as well, but stronger vamps tolerate the heat buildup better. It might be the reason for vampires lower body temperature, the V2 providing a “temperature buffer” for emergencies. Looking at them in infra red, in combat their body temperature would be considerably higher & their heads would look like light bulbs. Their heart rates should be higher as well (able to be detected) to move blood around cooling the brain. Chris’s fight with the duelist should have had them both near the point of a heat stroke. This would affect weres to a lesser degree, since they don’t move as fast as older vamps. Perhaps in one of the Compendium 3 stories, Dr. Singh is addressing this subject in a side note during practice.I’ve noted Barbiel saying angels don’t have Free Will that mortals are gifted with. If we posit that Yaweh is omnipotent & omniscient & all is going according to his plan, that means he meant for Lucifer to rebel (or ordered him to). If he didn’t & Lucifer rebelled on his own & his angels rebelled with him, then angels DO have free will. Can’t have it both ways.
Want to talk weaknesses?
I got to thinking about how vampires (& Chris) move at super speeds & how their brain functions also have to accelerate to coordinate the body’s movement. To be able to move so fast as to leave a collapsing air bubble behind you when you disappear at one spot & stop at another would need at least an order of magnitude speed increase or more, with an associated increase in neuron firing speeds. The brain takes up 2-3% of our body weigh, but uses about 20% of our body’s energy. Jack that up by an order of magnitude & the calorie requirements get surreal. Plus all that energy burn goes to heat output.
It doesn’t mean much if Tanya blurs across a room to get in someone’s face, but sustained combat would be something else entirely. Vampires normally run a bit cool, but in a sparring session between Tanya & Arkady, Arkady was sweating rivers trying to keep up with Tanya. Most of that sweat should be his body trying to keep his brain from frying. Yes the V2 will be repairing damage, but very high body temperatures inhibit or even kill viruses, so a vampire (or Chris) would try & keep sustained combat to a minimum. Tanya would be heating up as well, but maybe stronger vamps can tolerate the heat buildup better. It might be the reason for vampires lower body temperature, the V2 providing a “temperature buffer” for emergencies. Looking at them in infra red, in combat their body temperature would be considerably higher & their heads would look like light bulbs. Their heart rates should be higher as well (able to be detected) to move blood around cooling the brain. Chris’s fight with the duelist should have had them both near the point of a heat stroke.
This would affect weres to a lesser degree, since they don’t move as fast as older vamps.I agree Creek needs to be dealt with. He’s looked into the abyss too long. I’m frankly amazed Declan & Omega haven’t exposed his actions to the new president or the press. He would have Heinrich Himmler nodding with approval: Imprisonment of US citizens (& children) without due process, trial or representation; involuntary medical experiments; vivisection; murder (development of the centipedes) to name a few. All mandated or tacitly approved by Homeland Security & the office of the president. His crimes are so huge, they would need a necromancer to resurrect him about 50 times, so they could execute him again. Of course bringing him to justice would probably drag a lot of officials & politicians down with him, so they’d probably call Hillary to have him commit “suicide”.
I see Nathan as more of a decent guy trapped by his loyalty to the president, than an actual bad guy. A bit arrogant at times, but most in positions of authority for any length of time develop that attitude, no matter how good they are. He did, after all, find a way to force the president to release Chris & company.
I’d love to find out the deal with Brock & Afina. Brock is now Alpha of the New England & Mid Atlantic pack? That implies considerably more than one challenge, that covers quite a bit of territory & every major & mid sized city seems to have a pack & alpha. Maybe the stress of whatever happened distorted his judgement when dealing with Declan’s minor infraction.
Here’s a question: Where’s Tanya’s angel sword? Or do only male angels get one? Does heaven need an EEOC?I asked some of these questions (2 & 3) in another thread. Here they are:
1. Where was Elder Tzao when China was being invaded by the Vorsook?
2. Where were Ondrej the Giant while Elder Senka was kicking alien ass in Italy & China? He better have some good excuses.
3. Does Elder Tzao have a witch on her staff?
4. Instead of running & huffing & puffing to keep up with Chris & company, why doesn’t Declan fly? He has full air power now.
5. Do the Fey have angels of their own? If so where the F are they? Extended coffee break?
6. Do the Fey’s action’s kidnapping, murder etc. condemn them to hell?
7. Can Chris bring a priest along & consecrate some ground in Fairy, so Barbiel or the local Fey angel can appear?
8. Dragons aren’t native to Fairy, so where do they come from? Do they collect hoards? Does gold sooth a magical itch or serve a purpose for them?
9. Do the dwarves come from the same world the dragons came from, or yet another one? Are they enemies on their home world?
10. The New York Pack is now the Mid-Atlantic & New England pack. That implies a LOT more than just one challenge to consolidate that much territory. It implies at least 10-15 or more challenges, if packs are in every decent sized city (see the Ashville, NC pack in Fallen Stars). He’d have to take out every Alpha between Bangor, Maine & Richmond, Virginia. WTF happened? Are witches trying to destroy him? Is that why Brock missed what was happening in his own pack? The story says a down turn in business preoccupied him, but the multiple challenges & dealing with a suddenly huge amount of territory & fractious seconds may be more to blame.
11. With Summer beaten up so bad by Omega, will Morrigan consider that to be true defeat & call off the truce she had with Declan?
12. Who hired the Croatian death witch, Macha B or someone else?
13. Is Perun an actual bad guy or one of Macha B’s victims? He & Laban came to get married, it doesn’t seem normal BOTH would suddenly want to rape their prospective wives (Darwinian if nothing else). Did Macha B bind them when they said no to her scheme & force them to do the deed? They were a weak male witch & a non-witch respectively, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her. Him wanting to talk to Declan may imply there is another side to the sordid affair.
14. What about the Vorsook? Are they condemning themselves by killing or enslaving all other species? They seem to be enemies of demons (Demon Divine), how did that happen?Compendium 2 had a story from Tanya’s POV, called Queen For A Night. It was when they went down to Orlando to close a portal.
I’d like a story from one of the elders POV, either Senka or Tzao. What alien thoughts & schemes are bubbling up behind those faces?Had this in the CAECO thread, but it belongs here:
Maybe the Compendium 3 will answer some questions from the books. Like:
1. Where was Elder Tzao when China was being invaded by the Vorsook?
2. Where was Ondrej the Giant while Elder Senka was kicking alien ass in Italy & China? He better have some good excuses.
3. Does Elder Tzao have a witch on her staff?
4. Instead of running & huffing & puffing to keep up with Chris & company, why doesn’t Declan fly? He has full (albeit unrefined) air power now.
5. Do the Fey & Dragons have angels of their own? If so where the F are they? Extended coffee break?
6. Do the Fey’s action’s kidnapping, murder etc. condemn them to hell?
7. Can Chris bring a priest along & consecrate some ground in Fairy, so Barbiel or the local Fey angel can appear? Or does it need a native holy man?
8. Dragons aren’t native to Fairy, so where do they come from? Do they collect hoards? Does gold sooth a magical itch or serve a purpose for them?
9. Do the dwarves come from the same world the dragons came from, or yet another one? Are they enemies on their home world?
10. The New York Pack is now the Mid-Atlantic & New England pack. That implies a LOT more than just one challenge to consolidate that much territory. It implies at least 10-15 or more challenges, if packs are in every major city. WTF happened? Are witches trying to destroy the pack? Is that why Brock missed what was happening in his own pack? The story says a down turn in business preoccupied him, but the multiple challenges & dealing with a suddenly huge amount of territory & fractious seconds may be more to blame.
11. With Summer beaten up so bad by Omega, will Morrigan consider that to be true defeat & call off the truce she had with Declan?
12. Who hired the Croatian death witch, Macha B or someone else?
13. Is Perun an actual bad guy or another one of Macha B’s victims? He & Laban came to get married, it doesn’t seem normal BOTH would suddenly want to rape their prospective wives (Darwinian if nothing else). Did Macha B bind them when they said no to her scheme & force them to do the deed? They were a weak male witch & a non-witch respectively, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her. Him wanting to talk to Declan may imply there is another side to the sordid affair.
Thoughts to ponder & hopefully get answers to.Maybe the Compendium 3 will answer some questions from the books. Like:
1. Where was Elder Tzao when China was being invaded by the Vorsook?
2. Where were Ondrej the Giant while Elder Senka was kicking alien ass in Italy & China? He better have some good excuses.
3. Does Elder Tzao have a witch on her staff?
4. Instead of running & huffing & puffing to keep up with Chris & company, why doesn’t Declan fly? He has full air power now.
5. Do the Fey have angels of their own? If so where the F are they? Extended coffee break?
6. Do the Fey’s action’s kidnapping, murder etc. condemn them to hell?
7. Can Chris bring a priest along & consecrate some ground in Fairy, so Barbiel or the local Fey angel can appear?
8. Dragons aren’t native to Fairy, so where do they come from? Do they collect hoards? Does gold sooth a magical itch or serve a purpose for them?
9. Do the dwarves come from the same world the dragons came from, or yet another one? Are they enemies on their home world?
10. The New York Pack is now the Mid-Atlantic & New England pack. That implies a LOT more than just one challenge to consolidate that much territory. It implies at least 10-15 or more challenges, if packs are in every major city. WTF happened? Are witches trying to destroy the pack? Is that why Brock missed what was happening in his own pack? The story says a down turn in business preoccupied him, but the multiple challenges & dealing with a suddenly huge amount of territory & fractious seconds may be more to blame.
11. With Summer beaten up so bad by Omega, will Morrigan consider that to be true defeat & call off the truce she had with Declan?
12. Who hired the Croatian death witch, Macha B or someone else?
13. Is Perun an actual bad guy or one of Macha B’s victims? He & Laban came to get married, it doesn’t seem normal BOTH would suddenly want to rape their prospective wives (Darwinian if nothing else). Did Macha B bind them when they said no to her scheme & force them to do the deed? They were a weak male witch & a non-witch respectively, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her. Him wanting to talk to Declan may imply there is another side to the sordid affair.
Thoughts to ponder & hopefully get answers to.Let’s not forget Declan’s mom being called Neeve (instead of Meave) by Bacha Banfield in Summer Reign. I’ve highlighted lots of errors in all the books in my Kindle. I think the first was Chris imagining a big dog chasing him to get incentive to jump a high wall in the first book, God Touched.
New York isn’t one of the New England states. The New York Pack used to be just that, The New York Pack. It sounds as if Brock has survived more than ONE challenge, if he now is the New England & Mid-Atlantic alpha. Part of his problems may come from being over extended & having the seconds from his original pack & the new additions pushing him. With multiple challenges & a huge pack & territory to deal with it becomes understandable why he missed Stacia getting constantly challenged.
The Matthew & Malcolm issue had me curious also, but there were so many editing mistakes in the first books, I just went with the flow.
In the second or third book the process was detailed by Dr. Singh. The individual being turned is drained of blood over a period of a few days, while being given blood by the vampire. This weakens the prospect’s immune system & allows the Vampire Virus (V2) to take an ever firmer hold of the person being turned. The final stage is where the victim is drained to the point of “death” & given more vampire blood to saturate their system with V2. The victim then either turns or dies. The turn ratio varied from book to book, but I think it was a 50/50 shot at best. The survival/turn ratio may be better with blood from an older vampire (a higher concentration of V2 in their blood) or Tanya’s blood, but she hasn’t turned anyone… yet. “Biting” the prospect may or may not have anything to do with the process. We don’t know if the vampire’s saliva has anything to contribute. So far it’s just drain & give blood.
The Lycan Virus (LV) is more aggressive, but also more lethal. The survival ratio for LV bites also varies from book to book, but I think it was nailed down in Rogue at about a 30% survival/turn rate. The rest died.
