Sunset (Pact Arcanum) [Kindle Edition]

Sunset is an amazingly detailed look into the society of meta-humans living hidden in North America. I usually don't enjoy vampire books, but this one is an exception. There are three races in the hidden society Nightwalkers, Daywalkers, and Sentinels. Nightwalkers are the typical vampires, Daywalkers are vampires that have been cleansed of their demonic taint and reclaimed their souls, and Sentinels are the soldiers that are genetically designed to kill vampires. Daywalkers are a fairly new race, but Nightwalkers and Sentinels have been at war for thousands and thousands of years. In North America however there has been a truce reached between the three races and they now live in relative harmony.

When a terrorist threatens to nuke L.A. Nick, a Daywalker, reveals himself and exposes the hidden society to the world. Arshad Ahsanuddin has created an intricate political structure involving all three races. The vampire society is divided into houses that all have alliances and enemies as well as Nightwalkers hating Daywalkers and Sentinels killing all vampires regardless (outside of the alliance). The story is action filled and intense. This book is fantastic and I cannot wait to read book two and book three (this summer hopefully).

Much more SF than vampire story, this novel is centred around a political intrigue which is complex without being frustratingly intricate. There are no subplots and the characters form a large but limited cast.
The setting created by Mr Ahsanudding is original and inventive, giving an unexpected twist to the vampire subgenre by adding the element of global political intrigue to it, the latter being hardly original in adventure novels but unheard of (as far as I know) in vampire fiction.

I freely admit that as a non religious person I did not care (actually I loathed) the mystical/religious element that is so relevant to the book but I also admit it fits snugly in the setting chosen by the author.
Neither was I thrilled by the relevance of telepathy as I deem it to be too easy a device to push the story forward.

A writing which is not particularly beautiful in itself but is always fluid and professional contributes to the creation of a vast literary machine astutely devised to stir violent emotions in its readers.
The plot in itself has several loopholes and/or is strained at times but it is perfectly engineered for this purpose.
Characterization is decidedly over the top, the leads being not entirely consistent but always melodramatic in their flair for a rampant drama filled with love, hatred, jealousy and greed. They are not always believable but I always sympathised for them.
Aware though I was (and am) of the novel's flaws, I could avoid not even one of the several emotional blows below my belt this work so cunningly provides, finding myself laughing/crying/hating together with Nick and his friends.

*** MILD SPOILERS MIGHT FOLLOW ***

Nick is a wonderful character, a real operatic prima donna, loved by no less than three men ready to fight to the death for the privilege of claiming him. He is also constantly manipulated and taken advantage of so that I rooted for him from the first line.
The others play a good chorus and despite their not always being consistent in their actions (again Italian melodrama comes to mind) they always feel intensely alive.
The villains are pitch black souls, unsurprisingly chosen among the members of the CIA with their usual (in fiction and in real life) lack of respect for human rights and for democracy. I could not help admiring the cleverness of the author who diplomatically chooses to make the US president and his team essentially blameless: it might be uncomfortable for some American readers to think that the first authority in the country might be scheming and corrupt.

*** END OF MILD SPOILERS ***

The M/M romance element is never graphic (there are actually no sex scenes of any kind) but emotionally extremely explicit and relevant to the plot, a thing that pleases me no end. Vampires could not care less about sexual orientation choosing to be picky about protocol and rank instead. That in 2040 the US are construed to still be a homophobic nation struck me as peculiar but it works well for the story.

I enjoyed this read immensely and I am looking forward to reading the next volumes, hoping they can keep up with the very high standard set by this one.

I don't know that I've ever read anything quite like Ahsanuddin's Sunset. It presents an extremely structured and well thought out metahuman society that lives alongside a future humanity. Honestly, I thought it was just a little too magically and scientifically advanced, but I was willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of the fantasy. I'm so glad I did, because it was a lot of fun. I adored the characters. There was a lot of witty repartee that made me laugh, the fight scenes were tight and the adventure kept me on the edge of my seat.

What I find so unusual, however, is that I think it reads a lot like a series of interconnected vignettes. It's not mind you, but with all of the temporal back and forth it feel that way...like watching the frames of a film go by slow enough to see each one. Snick, a new scene...snick, another one...snick, and another one. They all relate and move the story forward, but not in a smooth continuous flow. There are gaps between each one. This isn't a criticism, just a comment on the stylised framework of the book. It works well, but is different. Once I was used to it I enjoyed it. I do think some of the characters' depth is lost though. Important events are referred to, but as the story doesn't cover a continuous stream from time A to time B they aren't all relayed to the reader. Like the fact that Nick fought 47 duels to protect Jeremy and his honour, for example. It is discussed after the fact, but not shown. As a result I was really taken by surprise by Nick's passionate desire to protect Jeremy. He had been off doing things that would have made that apparent, but the reader doesn't know about it.

Similarly there are a number of details that make up the characters but are not particularly explored. We know almost nothing of these things other than that they happened. Now, it's a longish series, maybe some of this will be addressed in future books. I don't know. But I was left wishing they had been been further explained. Of course, that would have made for a very long book.

All in all I really did enjoy it. It is well crafted (especially the world-building), entertaining, and enjoyable. What more could you ask for?