V-Wars: A Chronicle of the Vampire Wars

“V-Wars” is a collection of “shared-world” stories, by Jonathan Maberry, Nancy Holder, John Everson, Yvonne Navarro, James A. Moore, Gregory Frost, Keith DeCandido, and Scott Nicholson.The premise for this collection is the worldwide epidemic of infection caused by a millennial-old virus, buried deep in an Antarctic glacier. Once the virus begins to be transmitted, it affects different individuals differently, depending on DNA. The various authors interweave tales relating to the main pr [...]

2.5 stars. This looked like it might resemble World War Z with multiple authors and vampires. It was more like World War Zzzzzzzzzz. The "war" was a cold one and the overarching story seemed to deal more with social consciousness than with staking bloodsuckers. Oh wait. Just saying that makes me racist against vampires. Should I not use the "V" word? I'd hate to be banned from a cable tv network 30 years from now because they found out I said "vampire". That said, I did enjoy some of the stories [...]

V-Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry, is a collection of stories set in the same world but written by a bevy of talented authors. In the world Maberry creates in V-Wars, a prehistoric virus has been released from polar ice, awakening recessive genes in the human genome. The virus triggers changes in some humans, awakening physical changes that are varied and dramatic. Before long, vampires walk among us. Some are benign; many are not. Maberry's collection of tales does well and more credibly what [...]

I thought this was going to be a bit of a comic book, but it was better than that for the most part. Written in a series of intertwining stories written by different authors, each read by a different reader, they varied a lot in setting, point, & perspective, but were mostly of excellent quality. There was surprisingly little gore, though. Sure, killings, but it wasn't a blood fest, concentrating more on the political, social, & personal aspects.Mankind is silently infected by a millenni [...]

 This isn’t the apocalypse,  it’s genetic de-evolution?V Wars reminded me somewhat of World War Z by Max Brooks except this was with vampires instead of zombies and V Wars was written by a handful of authors instead of one. Each chapter it switches to a different character thread.Reading V Wars made me so curious as to how this book was plotted out. Did Maberry plot the whole thing and pitch the story or did all of the authors brainstorm together? I seriously want to know!There were a few [...]

V Wars is a compilation of stories from different authors and such it can be a bit jarring. The chapters with Jonathan Maberry's writings are my favorites as I think he is a really very, VERY good writer. I like his style, if you will. I've read all his books and intend to keep doing so for(I hope)a long time! Not every author has the same style however so you will get a nice sampling of different perspectives and different styles and different takes on the plague that has enveloped the world. I [...]

V WARS is actually more of an anthology centered around a single spine of a plot. Maberry is in the middle of it all, weaving the basis of the world with JUNK, ESCALATION, SPECIES, GENOCIDE, EMBEDDED and LAST BITES. JUNK takes up the biggest chunk of the story, centering on Michael Fayne, aka Patient Zero (not Joe Ledger). The guy that started it all. I only know Jonathan for his zombies but let me tell you he can do vampires too. I just LOVED the science behind it, how it was basically a virus [...]

**** SPOILER ALERT ****Some story details will be mentioned below. If you rather read the book without any previews, please back out of this review.First, if you look at the title and think of Max Brooks' World War Z, please go easy finding parallels connections between the two books. There are some. The main similarity between the two books is that they both deal with regular humanity finding out that a part of it has changed enough to present a threat. In World War Z, it is zombies who in no w [...]

I received this book from NetGalley and IDW Publishing for a honest review. This book is a collection of stories by different authors that have to do with the V wars. Each author adds their own spin on these vampires that are taking over the world. A virus escapes the ice and soon begins to turn people into vampires, but each person is different. It all depends on what kind of heritage you have as to what kind of vampire you will be. The end of human kind may be upon us in this fascinating book, [...]

3.5 Stars4.5 Stars for Jonathan Maberry - Junk, and Keith RA Candido for The Ballad of Big Charlie. V-Wars is basically a compilation of inter-connecting 'accounts' of how the Vampire-virus started. Some accounts are better than others. If not for the two authors listed above, this book would have received a 2.5 at best. The other stories were enjoyable to a point, just not all that interesting. Jonathan Maberry knows how to write, so I really loved Junk; besides, I am a fan because i know I get [...]

For those expecting war world z, look elsewhere, but if your looking for an original take on the vampire legends, and a mish mash of great fun to read stories, this is for you.

I am just going to begin any review of a book by Jonathan Maberry with the disclosure that I am a bit biased. I absolutely loved the Benny Imura series (Rot & Ruin) and even though the Joe Ledger series is not my genre, I did give Patient Zero a high score because Maberry's writing is phenomenal and if it was one of my preferred genres, it would have rated high.If V-Wars had been written by just Jonathan Maberry, I would have given it 5 stars.The description states- For readers who enjoyed W [...]

I've stated before that I love me some vampires. Especially scary vampires. Jonathan Maberry is also one of my favorite horror authors currently writing, so when I saw this book by Maberry, with contributions by other writers I enjoy, like Nancy Holder and John Everson, I knew it was a must-read. I'm glad to report that my instincts were dead-on. This book is great, and so much fun.The structure of the anthology is one of the best I've seen in a multi-author book. Each writer is allowed to have [...]

Table of Contents:IX - Introduction - Dacre Stoker1 - "Junk" Part 1 · Jonathan Maberry 17 - "Roadkill" Part 1 · Nancy Holder 39 - "Junk" Part 2 - Jonathan Maberry52 - "Love Less" Part 1 · John Everson 87 - "Junk" Part 3 - Jonathan Maberry 96 - "Epiphany" Part 1 · Yvonne Navarro 121 - "Junk" Part 4 - Jonathan Maberry131 - "Love Less" Part 2 (Concluded) - Jonh Everson149 - "The Ballad of Big Charlie" Part 1 · Keith R.A. DeCandido 171 - "Junk" Part 5 - Jonathan Maberry 191 - "Heartsick" · Sco [...]

A group of related short stories chronicling the beginning of the V Wars, this collection chooses to tell the tale through the points of view of several characters. The melting of the polar ice caps has released a virus that can activate "junk DNA" to change the carriers into a variety of vampires, werewolves, and other previously believed to be mythological creatures. While the idea of these changes hardening back to long ago folklore is intriguing, the format of the book is needlessly complex. [...]

Actual rating: 1.5 stars. I had hoped this would be more like World War Z. You know, in a documentary format after the war had happened, but this was an anthology of people's stories as it was happening. I know I'm describing it weird, but it felt like all of these stories were building up to the war promised in the title and it just cuts off. It also didn't help that I didn't really care for any of the people in the stories. I will say I thought it was cool how what type of vampire you turned i [...]

It's hard to call this an anthology. It's more of a series of novelas that have been split all over the place. I don't see the purpose of that. This is not "Pulp Fiction", where that was fun and new. This seemed cheap. I was hoping on like a war between vampires and humans, and it wasn't that at all! It was more about how people are changing into vampires, and how they deal with it. I was a little dissipointed.

I have to say I grew up with shared universe books and so I was happy to see one that included so many of my favorite authors. I was not disappointed in the least. I’m looking forward to a follow up.

This was an odd reading experience for me. I had picked this anthology up as part of a sale on a whim. I really had no interest in it from the bland cover to the lackluster blurb on the back. But, due to the excellent price as well as the fact that I wanted something with vampires to read, I decided give it a go.Starting off, I wasn't impressed. Looking back, I believe it was because I had expected a certain something from the book that wasn't there. The stories seemed lacking, the characters un [...]

Here's the thing: I like horror fiction, and the bulk of horror fiction being published these days is about zombies, so even though I'm not a huge fan of zombies, I'm going to end up reading about them. But given a choice between a zombie apocalypse and a vampire apocalypse, I'm going to pick the fangs every time. So I was pretty excited when I first heard about this book. While Jonathan Maberry is probably most strongly associated with the kind of zombie fiction that's more like action-adventur [...]

--Full, non-spoiler review courtesy at Book & Movie Dimension a Blog--Vampire stories are widespread but really the question is whether or not to read them. There has to be no question on their originality take and involving characters. V Wars is a vampire novel. Albeit honestly a humongously original one at that.Michael Fayne labeled patient zero in our modern world in V Wars happens to be the first individual to contract what many politicians and doctors as well as psychiatrists call the I [...]

I want to give this book four stars. I do. It has vampires and parts are written by Jonathan Maberry, and that is usually enough for me. But I just can't do it. Maybe I just don't get books of collected short stories. I kind of expect all of the stories contained to carry on some sort of overall narrative; even if they are written by different authors, I want there to be an introduction and a conclusion to the story. In this book, you get somewhat of a genesis of the virus and its spreading, but [...]

V Wars is a compilation of vampire stories edited by Jonathan Maberry. Like World War Z, V Wars is a chronology of a supernatural uprising across the globe.I'm a huge Maberry fan, so I was plenty excited to pick this one up. The GoodThe authors in this anthology provide new additions to vampire legends while detailing old lore. Each story is well written and engaging making for a fun read. My favorite stories were by Jonathan Mayberry, Stefan Rudnicki, and James A. Moore. Heck, even "Heartsick" [...]

The vampires are coming and life as we know it will never be the same.Something has caused a change in much of the world’s population. It isn’t known what, but it could be that global warming and the melting of ancient ice has triggered the transformation of human into vampire. Maberry has brought together a number of skilled authors who each give us their version of what is happening in the new world. There are many kinds of vampires. It now seems that all the myths and legends from ancient [...]

V Wars is an interesting effort edited by Jonathan Maberry, bestselling author of Patient X and The Dragon Factory, bringing together a number of authors writing their own stories set in the same world where there are vampires. Sometimes characters cross over, and occasional plot lines are intertwined, but for the most part each author is writing their own, individual story. The result is a book that while not as cohesive as a complete novel written by a single author, features a number of inter [...]

V-Wars is a shared-world anthology set in a world that's been transformed by the release from melting ice caps of a virus that transforms some people into vampires. The concept is reminiscent of George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards books, but the execution reminded me more of the old Robert Asprin/Lynn Abbey Thieves' World series. I most enjoyed the sequences written by Yvonne Navarro, Keith R.A DeCandido, and Maberry himself. The Gregory Frost was good, too, and gave a more worldwide feel to the boo [...]

V-Wars is a very entertaining group project from a small clutch of reliable horror writers. They take the concept of a vampire outbreak and alternate weaving a bunch of different characters through it. Most of them are engaging. What makes it worth reading is that they give it an unusual spin, being that a person's ethnic origin dictates which TYPE of vampire they become. I've always enjoyed hearing about different cultures' versions of the vampire myth, and there are some pretty weird and fabul [...]

Yet another vampire book, in a glut of vampire books, but it still manages to bring in some interesting and fresh perspectives. Seven fine authors write stories set within Maberry's framework story of a plague of vampires, where a virus triggers genetic mutations in thousands of people worldwide, turning them into vampiric creatures from their own ethnic mythologies. The stories are intercut and woven through the framing story and each other, a technique we see more often in film and other visua [...]

While this is a collection of short stories, the overall effect is reminiscent of World War Z by Max Brooks and Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson with different narration threads creating a history of the end of the world. It feels like a single story, not a collection. The story starts just as the virus I1V1 hits the population after being released from polar ice. We watch as the virus activates dormant genes in "junk" DNA causing multiple vampire types from folklore to appear, as well as a few [...]

This book was way too long! Not in word count, but in a never ending series of short stories that tie in together. The continuity was all over the place. Characters changed their personalities and the endings were incongruous and inconsistent. But, on the other hand, it was a creative idea for a story, with a nice twist on the vampire myth. I liked the idea of different vampires emerging due to genetics and the origin due to global warming. Interesting.