One thing I love about SLAY is that there are a plethora of vampire slayer tales to sink your reading teeth into. Make no mistake. These aren't your typical slayer stories. For instance, I checked out RAMPAGE by Miranda J. Riley, who takes vampire mythology to the animal realm. I shared a podcast interview with Miranda when I first heard about her story, and I just knew I had to read it.
RAMPAGE takes place in Africa and Miranda paints a beautiful landscape that brings to life all of the images of a small village that you would expect. Add the amazing Aziza as your slayer and it only gets better from there. Calling her the "village" slayer almost seems limiting, but it's what she does. Aziza is exactly what I like about a heroine. She's damaged goods--for a very good reason--but learns how to be the best she can be by the end of the story. But that's only part of what makes this an exciting read.
I mentioned vampires and animals all in the same sentence and I meant it. RAMPAGE is about Talik, a vampire elephant, that's stampeding across the plains and stirring up terror wherever she goes. Keep in mind, this is not your average wild beast. Talik is smart and that makes her even more dangerous. Aziza is asked to help hunt the monster down, but she has her own demons that are playing games with her head, which makes this hunt all the more treacherous for those involved. I want to write more about the story, but I can't. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who's interested in blood-sucking animals. I'm certainly a fan of them now.
With this being Miranda J. Riley's first published story, she knocks it out of the ball park. I loved RAMPAGE! It's a delicious twist to the vampire genre and one that probably won't leave me anytime soon. I would give almost anything to see where Aziza's story goes from here. Chalk this up as a definite read and only the beginning to what the rest of SLAY holds.