#SpringHorror Review: Afterage by Yvonne Navarro

This is an oldie worth reading.


Afterage by Yvonne Navarro
Horror Fiction
Released 1993
Amazon ♦ Goodreads
In the bestselling tradition of Salem's Lot, here is an impressive debut novel by an acclaimed author of short horror fiction. A vampire eons old has spread her touch throughout the human population, leaving the streets full of the undead. The survivors band together to fight back in this riveting tale. 

Rating:





My Thoughts:

This is a book I had kicking around since the 90’s but just got around to reading when my horror loving friend Char created a buddy read at Goodreads.

A vampire apocalypse has occurred. Navarro starts things off after it has happened. The few remaining humans must struggle to survive in a wasteland ravaged by monsters both vampiric and human. And, as usual, the human monsters are always the worst! Only the suicidal dare venture out after dark because the vampires are fast, ravenous and deadly.

The book follows a rather large cast of survivors, most of them eking out a life by themselves but eventually they come together to save a group of humans being kept hostage by a vampire called Anyelet for reasons that are gross, disturbing and so, so awful

I loved the fact that the Big Bad was a woman! She was vicious and selfish and so perfectly evil and so much better a villain than Anne Rice’s whiny creatures. I don’t think she had even one “poor me” moment. She was lonely so she changed her situation. It created an apocalypse but thems the breaks! Her human henchman was a vile man and she surrounded herself with lesser vampires that she could easily boss around. There’s some nasty stuff insinuated within these pages!

The survivors are all pretty well fleshed out and, despite the high number of them, I miraculously didn’t find myself terribly confused which is usually the case. I think it’s because the chapters were short and I tried to read big chunks of the book at each sitting so it was easier to remember who was who and what they had done a few chapters earlier.

This reads like old school horror because, well, it is! It reminds me of those long lost days when I was able to spend an entire day under a tree reading King and McCammon until the sun went down. It’s not quite at the emotional level of those two but it comes close at times and it isn’t overly wordy as some books of that time were. These characters were in peril from start to finish but they find time to love and help each other. The baddies are BAD but there are a few who haven’t totally lost their humanity and I appreciated that.

If you’re into nasty vampires that aren’t romanticized you should give this one a try.

Book #5 for the Spring into Horror Readathon

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Comments

  1. My kind of vampires: rabid and ravenous.

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  2. I really need to read this, for some reason I feel like I might have a copy buried in my bookshelves somewhere!

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    1. Ooo, you should dig it out! I spent a day digging in my tbr bins/bookshelves and found it at the very bottom of my last bin!

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  3. I think I'll give this a look. Salem's Lot is one of my favorite King books and at the top of my scary books list.

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    1. I think you'll enjoy it if you like old school horror.

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  4. This sounds like just the way I like my vampires. Gotta find a copy of this one!

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  5. I love reading old school horror. :) I'm going to keep my eyes out for this one when I'm on the prowl for used books.

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  6. I've never even heard of this one, but it sounds like a vampire book that I would really like!

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    1. I hope you get a chance to read it and that you love it as much as I did!

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  7. I do like vampires. This sounds pretty good.

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    1. It was terrific. There was a lot of characters but I never felt lost which is a bit of a miracle for me.

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  8. LOVE the sounds of this one. I'm so happy there's a great villain. Good villains make me happy for some reason. I think they make those trying to survive really have to dig deep to be able to match wits. This sounds fabulous.

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    1. I love a good villain too. There's nothing worse than a Big Bad who isn't scary at all!

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  9. I'm sure I recognise this author's name but I didn't read this one. Did she write Buffy novels or am I thinking of a similar name...

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  10. Sounds right up my alley. There should be more books where females are the head villain!

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    1. I know, right? We can be pretty darn evil too :)

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