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Reviewed by Lex Allen for Readers' Favorite
As I started reading Blood, Sex, and Violence, the term “Rakum” stuck in my mind—had I read this before and didn’t remember the title? I had to know, so I linked into the Amazon book page and read this: First-person account of Jersey as a rebuttal: “I wrote this book in response to the bestselling vampire novel, Rabbit: Chasing by Beth Rider, a pen name for Ellen C. Maze. Beth Rider was writing about us, the Rakum. This is my rebuttal.” ~ Jersey. Aha… That’s where I’d read the term, Rakum, before. It was with a bit of trepidation that I continued with Emil Jersey’s (a. k. a. Emil Stern) side of the Rakum story. I needn’t have worried and I’m so glad I continued. The author’s synopsis is better than anything I could add or invent: “I AM A RAKUM, an ancient, godlike race descended from fallen angels. Blood, sex, and violence is (are) what we care about and we know everything there is to know about pain and pleasure... Read on and you will understand how she missed the best part about being a god. ~ Jersey”
The premise is fascinating, the characters, though near-mythological in description and nature, are true to life, the pacing is page-turning fast, and the basic techniques of writing fiction and editing are better than most. But, the merit of Blood, Sex, and Violence that I really want to stress in this review is verisimilitude and the cinematic aspect. Verisimilitude is the creation of a sense of reality. From the story to the characters and scenes, readers have to buy it; they have to believe in the reality of what they’re reading. The second is something that few writers strive for, much less accomplish, and that is providing the reader with movie-like images as the story unfolds. Emil Stern, the real author here, has captured both of these skills perfectly. In closing, the “trigger warnings” on the book page are sufficient to ward off those who are sensitive to the sexual orientation and scenes, as well as the use of profanity. So, please don’t read the book and then downgrade the rating because you were upset by those scenes and the use of “strong profanity.” I loved the story and look forward to the continuation of the series.