Valentine's Resolve: A Novel of the Vampire Earth [Hardcover]

Knight's superb post-apocalyptic science fiction series continues with this newest installment. For those readers who are wary of "horror" stories, keep in mind that the term Vampire Earth is somewhat misleading, as the story concerns humankind's attempts to fight back against an overwhelming alien invasion that has taken over our planet. The aliens exhibit certain vampire-like traits, but virtually all of the action takes place in a devastated America of the near future, and the tale stands firmly in the tradition of science fiction adventure, not Salem's Lot. This incidentally allows Knight to indulge in one of his many strengths, the detailed and quite plausible extrapolation of how society might evolve in the aftermath of intelligent but malevolent beings controlling us.

Valentine's Resolve continues protagonist David Valentine in exile from Southern Command, one of the main military resistance forces still functioning. The opening chapter, with Valentine completing a bloody vendetta for personal reasons, is some of Knight's most harrowing and graphic writing to date. He pulls no punches in this novel.

Despite Valentine's position as a military fugitive, he is tasked by some of his former comrades to undertake a very difficult mission to determine the strengths and intentions of another resistance movement in the Pacific Northwest. This forms the bulk of the plot, and to avoid spoilers, I won't elaborate.

Instead, I'll just point out two additional strengths of Knight's writing that keep impressing me book after book. First, despite this being the sixth entry in this series, the book never feels formulaic. Indeed, none of them do. Knight manages again and again to inject fresh concepts into his plotline, and develop Valentine in surprisingly clever and unexpected ways, without sacrificing the underlying story, which is how can humanity wrest its home back from the invaders, and at what cost will this struggle ultimately occur?

Second, Knight is an absolute master of that old adage, "show, don't tell." Every new culture, from the alien-supported Pyp's Flying Circus to the stunted political organization in Mt. Omega, to the twisted, savage resistance force around Seattle, is rendered brilliantly through the plausible actions and dialogue of the characters, not in stiff exposition like so many other writers of this sort of sci-fi fall prey to.

In other words, you live Valentine's discoveries, right along with him. It makes for a very immediate and exciting novel. Knight is crafting perhaps the best example of this sort of science fiction ever written. It ranks right up there with David Gerrold's unfinished War Against the Chtorr, but Knight has the advantage of publishing on a regular basis, with a clear long-range plan. You won't be waiting ten years or more between books. I can't recommend Vampire Earth highly enough, and Valentine's Resolve does not disappoint.

Reviewed by Vicky Burkholder
on 07/10/2008

Knight's post-apocalyptic science fiction series continues with this newest installment. David Valentine has left the Southern Command, one of the main sources of resistance against the Kur--the aliens who have invaded Earth. Knight's strength lies in his detailed and believable idea of how society could evolve after we've been taken over by intelligent but malevolent beings.

The opening chapter - and much of the book - is violently graphic, but that is the setting for the story. It is not gratuitous, but necessary to the plot and the development of the story. The character of Valentine undertakes a difficult mission to infiltrate the resistance in the Pacific Northwest, which he does. The story is about Valentine's struggles, but it is also about ourselves and how we would cope with invaders--and at what cost. Knight does this with a deft hand and amazing skill. His world building abilities are beyond scope.

I have to admit to not having read the other books in this series, but that is not an issue. This is an excellent stand-alone book. I read it and enjoyed it, and understood what was going on without feeling lost, like I often do with other series. I'm probably going to pick up the others to read just to find out what happened earlier. If I had any problems, it was possibly with the darkness of Valentine. He seemed almost too morose at times, though granted, with the story as it is, I'd be morose too. I also found I could not read the book in the evening as I became susceptible to frightening dreams, a weakness of mine that proves good story telling on the part of the author. The story stuck with me.

This is a terrifying, thrilling, at times graphically disgusting, but always interesting book that will not disappoint fans of the Vampire Earth series.

4.5 Books

E.E. Knight's "Valentine's Resolve" is the sixth installment in the Vampire Earth series. The series is set in post-apocalyptic Earth, in which an alien species at war with itself uses humanity as a pawn. The plot of the books, however, is not the strength; rather, Knight creates compelling and often believably conflicted characters. The protagonist, David Valentine, remains intriguing in this book, but with much less depth than in the first five. Knight seems to have tried to confer to Valentine the literary equivalent to the "10,000 yard stare"; he seems tired, somewhat bitter, and resigned to his lot, but it doesn't entirely work. Even the brief interludes with Valentine's old mentor and partner Duvalier are not enough rekindle the spark. I can't escape the feeling that Valentine is running out of steam.

While the series never was entirely plot driven, the flow of this book truly meanders across scenes that neither provide depth of character nor create an especially interesting story. Book six is driven purely out of the impressive momentum generated through the previous books. If you've read them, then without doubt you'll read this one. However weak the effort in book six, it can hardly derail the rest of the startlingly good Vampire Earth series. All of us who've read this series recognize E.E. Knight as a writer worth reading.