Hello, everyone! Today I’m reviewing The Darkness Bites Back by Laura R. Samotin & Ben Alderson. I’ve enjoyed some of Samotin’s previous work, and Alderson has been on my TBR for ages. Them writing a vampire novel just in time for spooky season? I couldn’t say no. lol. Read on to find out all of my thoughts about this recent release!

Centuries ago, Tobias Osian had his mortality stolen from him when he was unwillingly turned into a vampire. Ever since, he’s been consumed by the need for revenge against the monster who took his humanity – Vladimir Damianos, the head of Britain’s most powerful vampire clan.

Now, Tobias is finally ready to enact his plan for vengeance, using Vladimir’s son Alexander to infiltrate the family and bring down the entire clan. But what he doesn’t expect is that Alexander has rebelled against his bloodthirsty father by protecting mortals instead of hunting them. When the two meet, Alexander is instantly enamoured with Tobias. And as a string of attacks rocks the city of Oxford, Alexander proves himself committed to protecting Tobias, not knowing that Tobias is just as much of a monster as he is.

With his attraction to Alexander growing, Tobias must decide what means more to him: vengeance, or a love growing from the most tragic of places.

Perfect for fans of Interview With the Vampire and Saltburn, this high-heat paranormal romance brings together blood and lust in an intoxicating combination.

***Thank you to Angry Robot for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

Ugh. I really wanted The Darkness Bites Back to be a new favorite. The cover is beautiful, but unfortunately the story was a bit meh. The vibes were exactly what I expected, though, and I do think it has the potential to be a fun read if you don’t think about it too much. There was lots of obsessive lust wrapped in a revenge plot involving a vampire and his sire, which mirrored some story beats from Romeo & Juliet. I’m also a sucker for sad, angsty immortal boys. So, of course I had to like the main characters. lol.

Two main issues kept coming up while I was reading The Darkness Bites Back. First, the world-building was insubstantial and messy AF. I was distracted from the story by having never-ending and never-answered questions about how things worked. By the end, I still have no clue exactly how clans work in this world or the ways in which made vampires differ from their natural-born counterparts. There were also a lot of contradictions that left me scratching my head. For example, there were moments in the story where vampires sensed each other, but Alexander couldn’t sense Tobias was a vampire even when making out with him. Why? Who knows? It was never explained!

This brings me to my second main issue with The Darkness Bites Back. Alexander’s character made no sense whatsoever. He was supposedly a super old, super smart vampire that literally worked as a college professor in multiple lifetimes. How could he be so damn dumb? All of the information he gathered about the attacker pointed directly to Tobias, but somehow he couldn’t piece together the clues. The in-text excuse was him being blinded by his obsession with Tobias. I just didn’t buy it, though, and the lengths he went to avoid the obvious actually became quite annoying.

I don’t usually enjoy stories with extreme insta-love, but the instant obsession in The Darkness Bites Back worked for me. Possibly because it was largely based in lust at the start, rather than love, or just because the vampire possessiveness made sense? I don’t know, but I liked it. The relationship dynamic was fast-paced, all-consuming, and quite clearly barreling toward tragedy, which I found entertaining to read. I also liked how a relationship that started out with the two men just using each other morphed into something deeper by the end. Tobias was so focused on his revenge at the start, and rightly so, but his feelings for Alexander, and understanding that he was not the same as his father, changed him into someone that could stop living in the hurt of the past. Likewise, Alexander finally found a reason, in his feelings for Tobias, to deal with his daddy issues and throw off the yoke of his father. It was all rather sort of sweet despite being born of blood and tragedy.

As a sidenote, I do wish the secondary characters in The Darkness Bites Back had received a bit more development. Alexander’s father was hilariously one note in his villainy. Maria, Alexander’s sister, had some potential, but it was squandered with how her story ended. Justice for Maria! lol. Even Tobias’s friends just felt like throwaway backdrops. I think giving greater depth to all of these characters, as well as more development of the world-building, would have really helped the story.

All in all, The Darkness Bites Back could be a good pick for spooky season if you’re looking for a MM vampire romance that is easy to read without a bunch of background info cluttering up the time spent on the romantic dynamic. Unfortunately, I was too distracted by the messy world-building and lack of answers to basic things for this story to become a new favorite. Therefore, I rate this book 3.25 out of 5 stars.

There you have it! My thoughts on The Darkness Bites Back by Laura R. Samotin & Ben Alderson. I really wanted to love this one, but oh well. Have you read it? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments!