Review: The Kiss of the Butterfly by James Lyon

The Kiss of the Butterfly

Author: James Lyon

Publication Date: July 22nd, 2012

Publisher: Self Published

Genre: YA/Paranormal

---

Synopsis:

"The smell of blood is in the air, I sense it even now. People thirst for it; the entire country is mad with desire for it. And now we are going to war with our brothers because they look like us, and because we can smell our blood coursing through their veins...” A mysterious letter starts a university student on a journey into the war-torn lands of rapidly disintegrating Yugoslavia. Naively trusting his enigmatic professor, the student unwittingly descends into a dystopian crucible of decay, destruction, passion, death, romance, lust, immorality, genocide, and forbidden knowledge promising immortality. As the journey grows ever more perilous, he realizes he must confront an ancient evil that has been once again loosed upon the earth: from medieval Bosnia to enlightenment-era Vienna, from the bright beaches of modern-day Southern California to the exotically dark cityscapes of Budapest and Belgrade, and horrors of Bosnia. Vampires have formed an integral part of Balkan folklore for over a thousand years. "Kiss" represents a radical departure from popular vampire legend, based as it is on genuine Balkan folklore from as far back as the 14th century, not on pop culture or fantasy. "Kiss of the Butterfly" offers up the real, horrible creatures that existed long before Dracula and places them within a modern spectrum.

My Thoughts: I know there are A LOT of vampire books out there, and most of them claim to be unique and not like the rest. But in this case, I absolutely mean it when I say this is vampire book you most likely have not read the likes of yet. If you don't believe in vampires, this book might just convince you of their existence.

While the story itself is a fictional creation, it carries with it a plethora of facts and information that definitely left me curious to know more,  as well as questioning myth and reality. The idea behind the story is that a Student gets sent to many foreign areas on a quest to write his thesis on Vampire folklore. What he finds is an abundance of stories and events that almost tempt him to believe they could be true.  When he digs deeper though, is when things get really scary. Some one is not happy about certain facts being brought to light, and this certain someone is quite powerful. So as he unknowingly plows forward on his quest for more knowledge, he is opening doors that are best left shut; and perhaps locked, bolted and boarded in my own opinion.

Not only was this a daring, scary, thrilling adventure, it is packed with so much information. Tons of lore is available to you in this story, with dates, places, events and definite details. If vampires are your thing, you absolutely have to add this book to your list. It's an awesome two for one, because you will learn so much, and you get to have a great adventure while doing so. I'll be honest and say that starting off I felt it was a little slow, and some of the information to be a little too much right away. However, the further I got in the more I wanted to know. Hence, the story seemed to be going by a lost faster because I had this urge to follow his dig into ever darker territory. Not too long after feeling it might be a tad slow, I had a complete change of heart.

Of course no YA or Vampire story is complete without a little bit of romance. There are romantic aspects, but they are not the forefront of the story. Even still, they did play an important role and it was very nicely laid out. The entire story in itself was very well written. It carried a certain elegance with it, almost an old fashioned feeling. You can feel that a lot of work was put into this story, and there is so much knowledge behind and among all the words.

After reading this, I have quite a different view of vampires. Much of what is commonly accepted as a vampire attribute is not  according to this story. It's full of new and unexpected details. Some quite eerie and most just really interesting. So yes, I think you should read this book. It is definitely a unique one in an ocean of vampire stories. So add it to your TBR!

Also I want to mention, I will be posting an interview Mr. James Lyon, and we will host a giveaway as well! The post will be made this Saturday so make sure to come back. Some very lucky reader will get a free e-copy to call their own.