Author: Dan Klefstad
Release date: 2026
Contains spoilers
The Blurb: Ever thought you were a oneling, only to discover you have a sibling? Now imagine you're a vampire who learns the one who created you sired another a century earlier, and never told you. This is Fiona's predicament.
The undead star of the novel uncovers this news while reading a manuscript by her late creator, Agripina. More disturbingly, these pages reveal that Fiona is subject to a rarely invoked clause in vampire law, Sins of the Sire, which allows her older sister to exact revenge on her for offenses committed by their mother.
During this time, Fiona learns that her former guardian, Daniel, has abandoned her daughter, Camilla, and murdered a new vampire she sired. This betrayal sets the stage for Fiona's mysterious elder sister to use Daniel and Camilla to lure Fiona to Mexico for what she expects will be the final confrontation, one she expects to lose.
Will Fiona find the allies she needs to defend herself? And could she gain an advantage from risky DNA experiments that might allow her to walk in daylight?
Sins of the Sire: Agripina's Firstborn, the much-anticipated sequel to Fiona's Guardians, immerses you in a world where loyalty shifts constantly, and family ties can be a deadly liability.
The review: I have previously reviewed the first book in this series and this perhaps focuses a tad more on the vampires than the first, though Daniel, previous mortal guardian to vampire Fiona, is also front and centre. He has killed a vampire – the newly turned progeny of Camilla – and abandoned Camilla for whom he was guardian. Both are capital crimes in vampire society. The blurb reveals the fact that Fiona’s sister (by turning) is looking to seek justice on her for the sins of their sire. The sin committed was turning the vampire, not naming her and abandoning her to fend for herself immediately after turning. In this series the vampire loses all mortal memories when they turn and naming offers them an identity.
The antagonist is wonderfully deranged. She is a penanggalan, a floating head and torso with hanging viscera, but this is by design not by turn – she has literally cut her own flesh away to carve herself into such a vampire. There is also a nice contrast between science and the supernatural. A bio-medical research company are involved in this volume. Aware of vampires they are looking to experiment on vampire DNA, proposing to use it for human facing cures and longevity as well as trying to alleviate the vampire reaction to sunlight (but in a particular big pharma way, where the cure is temporary and the vampire has to pay over and over again). It was interesting to discover that each vampire has exactly the same DNA as their sire – with the memory loss that occurs when they turn, this suggests that they are not the person they were. This juxtaposes against things such as the aware, self-carving Aztec knife – definitely a supernatural element.
The prose is strong, the book speeding along throughout. Definitely worth your time. 7.5 out of 10.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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