Bloody Hell

A Dark Urban Fantasy Story (The Legacy of a Vampire Witch, Book 1)

By: Theophilus Monroe

Narrated by: Kelley Hazen

They tried to cut out my heart. But, before I was a vampire, I was a witch. They couldn’t get rid of me that easily.

My name's Mercy Brown, but don't let my name fool you; I'm merciless. It had been almost a century and a half since I last encountered anyone from the Order of the Morning Dawn. They were religious fundamentalists with the dual goal of eliminating vampires and witches. Being both a vampire and a witch, I was the embodiment of everything the Order hates. Their first attempt to eliminate me failed. Thanks to the fact that my mentor in the Craft was also a necromancer. When they burned my heart, they didn’t kill me. They unwittingly completed a spell that tied my existence to the soul of one who took my place in hell.

Now, I’m heartless, literally. Not having a heart has some advantages. It means I’m pretty resilient, especially when it comes to wooden stakes. So long as the soul bound to my existence remained in hell, I was virtually invincible. But, the Order figured it out. They hope to redeem the soul who was damned in my stead. If they do that, I’ll meet the true death for sure.

I have to capture the one damned in my place before the Order manages to liberate him from perdition. If they free him, I will die. I have to go to bloody hell.

©2020 Theophilus Monroe (P)2021 Theophilus Monroe

It has potential...

Well, I needed almost two weeks to think over my review for this book... On the one hand, it was a really nice listen, one that kept me going on without much disappointment or irritation; on the other, I did not feel an urge to listen to the second part immediately after finishing the first... So I'd say it has some potential, but still needs a little bit more of that spark that would grasp me and make me forget about the world around...

There are two things that kind of killed the curiosity in me while listening: one, the vampire lore itself - there is a lot of information on how vampires and their world work, but because there are not many real differences between this book's vampire world and so many others out there, this amount of information felt excessive and slowed the dynamics of the plot. Secondly, I felt rather indifferent to Mercy, the main heroine - I neither liked nor disliked her, her cruelty and mercilessness (so much talked about in the book) didn't move me at all, and she reminded me more of a naive child that hadn't yet been taught how to control emotions and impulses rather than a monster she's supposed (?) to be. I also didn't buy her plans to somehow save her brother and herself...
That said, the plot itself was quite interesting, even with the slower first part, some ideas mentioned in this first installment will probably be developed later on (there's much potential there), also some of the secondary characters are very well written and the ending does make you want to find out what will happen next, even if you don't want to just immediately jump into the next book.
Generally, it's an OK book, and quite a good introduction to the new series, I think.

When it comes to narration, Ms Hazen as always does a great job, saving the book in some weaker moments:) She adds life and energy where they're lacking in writing. It's a great interpretation of the story.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good beginning to this series!

Bloody Hell is the 1st in this series by Theophilus Monroe.
I enjoyed this story and thought it was a good beginning. I love how sassy Mercy, the MC was and look forward to more in this series!
Enjoyable audio narration as well!!

Vampire Witch

I really enjoyed this story and I I thought the narrator did a good job as Mercy. I look forward to seeing her story progress.

Anne Rice Meets True Blood

Bloody Hell is the 1st book in the "Legacy of the Vampire Witch" series by Theophilus Monroe. To me, it felt like modern Anne Rice meets True Blood and I absolutely loved it! The story opens with Mercy dying of consumption. Mal (a witch) comes to her and offers to cure her. They perform a ritual on Samhain that would save her within 3 months. Mercy is visited by the first Vampire, Niko, and turned. Her blood craving was so strong she started feeding off her younger brother. Her father, in turn, tries to kill her but is unsuccessful due to Mal removing her brother's heart and burning it - sending him to hell and also making Mercy unkillable. The caveat - if her brother manages to return or his soul is sent to heaven, Mercy will die a true death. Niko takes Mercy under his wing along with her semi romance interest, Ramon - who is also sired by Niko. The whole story revolves around them trying to stop the Order of the Morning Dawn, a group that wants to destroy vampires and witches, which Mercy is both. Mercy isn't ready to meet her real death and she will do everything to ensure that doesn't happen.

Baskerville Book Reviews

This is just what I needed. I love vampire stories and have since I was a kid. Bloody Hell gets extra points for being creative though. It gives you interesting characters, fuses vampire mythology with actual history so the lore actually makes sense.

Bloody Hell solves a lot of issues with vampires. How do vampires not kill off the human population in a few years? Not all of their bites turn and not all of their bites are lethal. There’s the bonus about them not needing to feed as often, the older they get. Which makes them more sustainable. The way the lore is mixed in with real-world history is smooth.

While I only had a few hours with the characters, they’re pretty few and far between. You get plenty of time to grow familiar with them. I feel attached to these characters after only a short time because they all feel distinct and unique. I want to see how their stories play out in the sequels. Most of the time, by the time I’m done with a book, I can’t even remember half the characters’ names.

The story is read kinda like a diary. See the summary for an example. I’m not overly fond of this storytelling method, but it’s at least done well here. It could be this is the reason I was able to feel like I came to know these characters so quickly.

The story is a rollercoaster of emotions and I really didn’t want it to stop. I will add that most of it is set up for the world. The action doesn’t really behind until the end.

The narrator did a truly fine job of bringing this story to life.

NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.