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Reviewed by Ankita Shukla for Readers' Favorite
The Servant: The Vampire Desjardins Book 1 by Camilla Klaus is set in the early twentieth century. Estelle is desperate to get a job for her survival; therefore, when she receives an offer to work as a servant in a house, she doesn't hesitate to grab this opportunity. She meets her prospective employer for an interview, but he turns out to be a little strange -- both in his appearance and actions. Nevertheless, she rejects her natural instincts and agrees to work for him. Her employer goes by the name of Henrik. He lives with his two widower brothers: Soren and Julien. Little does Estelle know that this is no ordinary family. In fact, this is a family of bloodsucking vampires. Working for them would change her life in more ways than anyone could have anticipated.
In the beginning chapters of The Servant, I was afraid that this was going to be a replica of Twilight. The way Julien was unable to read Estelle's thoughts resonated with Edward's inability to read Bella's thoughts. Moreover, Julien's reluctance to kill and drink from humans reminded me of Edward's hatred towards his kind. However, the similarity ends there. The description of Henrik's cruelty in his treatment of humans is quite vivid. The narration flows smoothly with a reasonable amount of dialogue exchange. As a reader, I thought that there could have been more chapters dedicated to helping readers connect with Julien and Estelle. Their lovemaking seemed a little forced and out of place. I could not feel a real connection with their romance.
Having said that, I'm glad that I picked this book to read. The writing style of the author is really amusing. There are elements of surprise spread throughout to keep readers motivated to keep on reading. The introduction of the seeker is very amusing; although I think that such a concept hasn't been used to its full potential. Probably, a sequel of The Servant (if any) would focus on this area in a better way. This is a fast read which would fit perfectly into the schedule of readers who do not have a lot of time and patience to invest in a book, but who want to read an engaging story.
