ReVamped, J.F. Lewis’ second book in the Void City series, picks up pretty much right where Book 1 left off: with Eric, his vampire protagonist, getting blown up. Which, you have to admit, is a pretty tough state to come back from–but Eric isn’t just any vampire. He’s an Emperor-class vampire, with enough power and enough followers to pull off even coming back from the dead. Thus, we’ve got the stage set for Book 2.

Eric is understandably less than thrilled at having been made to explode, but that’s only the beginning of the curveballs his resurrected existence throws him. His newly vamped girlfriend, Tabitha, has dumped him in favor of a far more powerful and physically repellent vampire. His almost-a-thrall–who just happens to be Tabitha’s apparently resurrected sister Rachel–is exerting magic upon him for unknown reasons. A local demon wants him to acquire the Stone of Aeternum, conveniently enough from the very same powerful vampire to which Tabitha has given her attentions. And on top of it all, Eric’s discovered he’s suddenly got an undead car.

There are certainly plot twists galore in this installment, and things advance intriguingly not only on the Eric/Tabitha front, but also in explaining what’s going on with Rachel and quite a bit about Eric’s own background. But ReVamped didn’t have quite the same punch for me as Staked did; there were parts that matched that book, but overall it didn’t flow quite as smoothly, perhaps because Eric seemed to spend a lot more time in reaction mode rather than being proactive. Nonetheless, I’m up for Book 3! For this one, three stars.