The Bloody Ruin Asylum & Taproom

Sam Quinn, Book 7

By: Seana Kelly

Narrated by: Samantha Desz

I'm Sam, the werewolf book nerd owner of The Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore & Bar. My husband, Master vampire Clive, has been asked to go to Budapest to interview for a position in the Guild, a council of thirteen vampires who advise the world's Masters. The competition for the recently vacated spot is fierce. I worry about Clive, as it quickly becomes apparent that the last person to hold the position didn't leave voluntarily.

Ever the supportive wife, I'm tagging along. I researched Budapest and had a long itinerary of things to do. That is, I did. When we arrive, we find out that the Guild headquarters is in the ruins of an abandoned insane asylum. Awesome. If there's one thing I love, it's being hounded by mentally unstable Hungarian ghosts.

Let's just say this isn't the romantic getaway I'd been hoping for. With Clive in top secret meetings and a bunch of creepy Renfields skulking around corners, nowhere is safe. I want to help Clive because I know he really wants the job, but the other Guild members are ancient and scary powerful. Between you and me, I thought Vlad would be taller.

Wish us luck! We're going to need it.

Contains mature themes.

©2024 Seana Kelly (P)2024 Tantor Media

the characters

The storyline is inviting and captivating. It draws you in and rugs at your imagination and places you in a fascinating world that you wish for.

So Good!

I absolutely love this whole series! This new installment didn’t disappoint. Filled with action, touching moments/hope, love, and acceptance. This series contains so many fantastic characters pulled from many fantasy’s and mythology. Truly entertaining. Happy reading!

A major miss in a great series

Let me start by saying that I have absolutely loved this series up until now. I was really looking forward to this book, but I honestly don't know what happened. The whole book has characters acting entirely out of character. Sam has never been one of those characters who's too stupid to live - until now. Clive has always been quite insightful - until now. And then on top of all that, the plot is weird as all get out. Random, confused, and honestly just nonsensical.

I almost didn't finish, but by the time I was mad enough to throw it at the wall and walk away, I was too close to the end not to just finish. Though I'm not at all sure I stand by that decision.

--Details *WITH SPOILERS* below--

Sam's a necromancer, but she doesn't do anything - AT. ALL. - to figure out why she's encountering ghosts she has trouble getting away from. She doesn't try to escape them when they trap her in memories of the past. She knows she can't help them. She knows she's probably standing vulnerable in a place where everyone hates her. She even thinks about how much she doesn't want to see what she's seeing. But she does NOTHING to try and escape the ghosts' memories.

She's being attacked by ghosts and threatened and stalked by vampires and their minions, but she keeps telling Clive everything's great because she "wants him to get this job," even after the job proves to be a position with a group of totally corrupt vampires. A job that, if they were being true to character, neither Sam nor Clive would even want him to have once they see how problematic things are. p
Plus, Owen can tell over a video call that Sam has dark circles under her eyes, but Clive never calls her on it? We're to believe, I guess, that he either doesn't notice or doesn't care enough to challenge her obvious lies. Again, totally out of character.

And then there are all the plot insanities.
- At the end of Viper's Nest, we're told that the position Clive's competing for is one where he'll counsel other master vampires. But that's immediately negated at the start of this book, and the Council is rewritten as a group that creates and enforces vampire law. Those are 2 entirely different things.
- Sam's a Quinn, which the local pack recognizes at their first meeting, but instead of recognizing her as special - as we're led to believe all werewolves do - they just keep sniping at her. Sure they have reason, but there's still a total inconsistency in how Quinns are supposedly treated in this world.
- In Viper's Nest, Sam's super upset that Russell told Audrey about her necromancy because of how much trouble that could get her in if the information ends up in the wrong hands. When Audrey is someone Sam actually knows and who has proved her loyalty. But in this book, she tells Vlad about it after knowing him for like 3 days. Because "she just trusts him. She doesn't know why." Totally TSTL, completely out of character, and a direct plot contradiction to the just-prior book.
- Where the heck did the fae plotline even COME from??? I don't mind plot twists, but they have to vaguely make sense. We start with a story about Clive going through a competition to become a counselor. Then we're told it was never a competition at all, that he's a shoe in, but it turns out the Council is evil and we have to root out the evil. THEN, nah, we killed the whole Council, not because they're evil, but because Clive's supposed "friend" told them all about Sam. But don't worry! There's still a plot, because instantly that "friend" is possessed by a fae, which is what the ghosts were trying to tell Sam about all along -- about the 2 fae that SOMEHOW Sam couldn't sense this whole time, supposedly because there were "too many vampires" distracting her. This from a woman who can see all the vampires in the whole world and read them across oceans. And who can ALSO see other immortals. But somehow she didn't notice TWO fae hanging out IN THE SAME BUILDING as her who obviously shouldn't have been there?! Come on!