Scan barcode
spmorgan's review against another edition
4.0
Anyone who has ever rolled their eyes at bonnet novels or Twilight needs to be able to say they have read this book. It is a light, fun read, and the plot was plausible. 'Nuff said.
hectaizani's review against another edition
3.0
My fiance found this book mentioned on Facebook so I checked to see if the library had a copy. Apparently it was originally a joke by the publisher back when Christian fiction involving the Amish as the perfect protagonists got really popular. He created a blurb and made a mock-up of a cover. Then one of his authors said "hey, I've got an idea for a story that includes Amishers, vampires and a spaceship" and this novel was born.
The premise does actually make sense. The author has created a realistic reason for an Amish community to be on a large spaceship, that just happens to have unknowingly taken on a cargo that contains a vampiric element. And we end up with Amish Vampires in Space as the result. The underlying story is amusing, even if it's not perfect. I enjoyed seeing how the author put it all together and I liked the book way better than any of the other Amish fiction I have read.
The premise does actually make sense. The author has created a realistic reason for an Amish community to be on a large spaceship, that just happens to have unknowingly taken on a cargo that contains a vampiric element. And we end up with Amish Vampires in Space as the result. The underlying story is amusing, even if it's not perfect. I enjoyed seeing how the author put it all together and I liked the book way better than any of the other Amish fiction I have read.
shannon_reidwheat's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting book. The idea of Christian Fiction and Science Fiction blending together was unlike any book I have read. I heard about this book at a library convention and had to find and read it. Even though the cover looks quite "campy", it was well written and the story interesting. The first half moved along slowly, but the pace of the last half picked up double time. Not a classic, but an interesting read!
maggienack's review against another edition
1.0
I read this as part of a book club. We thought it might be entertaining because, although the plot sounds terrible, the reviews were good. This book is boring, slow and wooden. The writing is repetitive and dull. Even when the action finally starts, it is slow and dry.
Spare yourself.
Spare yourself.
k8s's review against another edition
1.0
Absolutely Dreadful!
Random ridiculousness found within this one:
"As spacecraft land on the Amish planet of Alabaster, Bishop Samuel watches in amazement: "Now standing on the steps of the trading post, Samuel clutched his Bible. He brought it firmly to his chest. Protecting his heart. Surely this is what it was to see demons. His mouth drifted open. He lifted his free hand to cover it. How could something so large stay in the air, aside from impurity? How could it fly? It had to use magic, didn't it?"
"This is Jebediah's doing...the work of his forbidden machine."
"The ship had minimal ornamentation, a good thing, but the color - these varying shades of blue - were extravagant. Far beyond what the Ordnung allowed for moving vehicles." Plus, they're spaceships!!!!!
Random ridiculousness found within this one:
"As spacecraft land on the Amish planet of Alabaster, Bishop Samuel watches in amazement: "Now standing on the steps of the trading post, Samuel clutched his Bible. He brought it firmly to his chest. Protecting his heart. Surely this is what it was to see demons. His mouth drifted open. He lifted his free hand to cover it. How could something so large stay in the air, aside from impurity? How could it fly? It had to use magic, didn't it?"
"This is Jebediah's doing...the work of his forbidden machine."
"The ship had minimal ornamentation, a good thing, but the color - these varying shades of blue - were extravagant. Far beyond what the Ordnung allowed for moving vehicles." Plus, they're spaceships!!!!!
routergirl's review against another edition
1.0
According to the foreword, this was a silly idea that someone (indeed, Kerry Nietz) decided to write up in a serious manner. I wish I could travel through time so that I could sit down with Kerry Nietz and say, "Dude. No. Seriously. Stop."
I hoped it would be campy. It was not. I hoped it would be funny unintentionally or intentionally. It was neither sort of funny. What else was it not? Scary, well written, interesting or even halfway convincing with any of its scifi or technology. Have you seen Axe Cop? You know, where the 6 year old makes up stories and his older brother turns them into comics? This is like that, only the person writing is taking the six year old seriously and no one is self aware enough to say, "HAHAHA THIS IS RUBBISH." Reading this book feels like this: Learning your much older and very well respected boss has never learned to tie his shoes, and then watching him struggle to learn to do so for ten hours.
The magical shielding armor? TINGLE SUITS. The color of everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in the ship? Blue. Not just blue, but "efficient blue," and "medium blue." This author went into the adjective bag on the day it was almost empty, and it shows.
Also, the exposition by the characters is painful. A jahrling. What is a jahrling? Well don't worry because the Amish character who uses that word explains it immediately afterward in a painfully obvious "I am speaking for the author" way. We also have a captain named Seal who mumbles expository type things to the point that other people on the ship must be wondering if he's gone mad. We have an Amish society who paid a fortune for an insurance policy. We have vampiric goats and chickens, and a whole ton of people who never once think, "Are you kidding me right now? Vampire chickens?" All these characters take it EVER SO SERIOUSLY.
On top of all of that, you have some kind of weird, "OH NOES there are foes and the amish are pacifists, what ever will we doooooooooooooo" thing. And Jesus comes into it, of course. Like, hey, I get that Nietz wrote a book. I never have. So bully for him. But I am so very sorry to have read this.
It got to where I couldn't even laugh. It was just so...pointless. Like the sad chickens who were turned into vampires...this book has no teeth.
I hoped it would be campy. It was not. I hoped it would be funny unintentionally or intentionally. It was neither sort of funny. What else was it not? Scary, well written, interesting or even halfway convincing with any of its scifi or technology. Have you seen Axe Cop? You know, where the 6 year old makes up stories and his older brother turns them into comics? This is like that, only the person writing is taking the six year old seriously and no one is self aware enough to say, "HAHAHA THIS IS RUBBISH." Reading this book feels like this: Learning your much older and very well respected boss has never learned to tie his shoes, and then watching him struggle to learn to do so for ten hours.
The magical shielding armor? TINGLE SUITS. The color of everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in the ship? Blue. Not just blue, but "efficient blue," and "medium blue." This author went into the adjective bag on the day it was almost empty, and it shows.
Also, the exposition by the characters is painful. A jahrling. What is a jahrling? Well don't worry because the Amish character who uses that word explains it immediately afterward in a painfully obvious "I am speaking for the author" way. We also have a captain named Seal who mumbles expository type things to the point that other people on the ship must be wondering if he's gone mad. We have an Amish society who paid a fortune for an insurance policy. We have vampiric goats and chickens, and a whole ton of people who never once think, "Are you kidding me right now? Vampire chickens?" All these characters take it EVER SO SERIOUSLY.
On top of all of that, you have some kind of weird, "OH NOES there are foes and the amish are pacifists, what ever will we doooooooooooooo" thing. And Jesus comes into it, of course. Like, hey, I get that Nietz wrote a book. I never have. So bully for him. But I am so very sorry to have read this.
It got to where I couldn't even laugh. It was just so...pointless. Like the sad chickens who were turned into vampires...this book has no teeth.
simoneclark's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so strangely fascinating that I will read the other 2 books in the trilogy. I gotta find out about the zombies and werewolves lol. This was the weirdest genre combo I've ever read :-p
booklover81's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
rebelrider's review against another edition
4.0
When Jedediah realizes his planet's sun is dying, he is forced to use forbidden technology to save his colony, but the ship that brings their salvation has a new menace for the Amish.
Note on ratings:
* Horrible.
** Below average
*** Average. Not good or bad.
**** Above average
***** Above and beyond
Content: *** (Content based off my personal level of squeamishness.)
The title and cover should give you a pretty good idea of what happens in the story. It has vampires who drink blood and kill people. There are also people fighting vampires.
Originality and world building: *****
Considering this is the only book about Amish Vampires I've ever read, I'd say the idea was pretty original.
The world is fully fleshed out, and the Amish colony idea does make sense. I don't know enough about Amish to figure out how well Nietz portrayed them, but it felt pretty real.
Characters and their Arcs: ***
The characters were a little hard to relate to, but this is probably because I'm a twenty-something girl and the main character was a forty-something man and Amish at that. I liked him, but never grew particularly attached.
Writing style and Pacing: *****
The pacing is very good. Even though this was a tad outside my genre, and I wasn't anything like the main character, I had trouble putting the book down.
What I liked:
The writing was really good. This book is proof that pretty much any idea can be written well, even if it's Amish Vampires. There was also some neat foreshadowing.
What I didn’t like:
The poor Amish nearly got wiped out. I felt sorry for them.
I could also tell the author didn't agree with the characters' lifestyle. I don't know how that could have been avoided considering the plot. It wasn't preachy, but it was there.
Is it worth reading?
Yes.
Note on ratings:
* Horrible.
** Below average
*** Average. Not good or bad.
**** Above average
***** Above and beyond
Content: *** (Content based off my personal level of squeamishness.)
The title and cover should give you a pretty good idea of what happens in the story. It has vampires who drink blood and kill people. There are also people fighting vampires.
Originality and world building: *****
Considering this is the only book about Amish Vampires I've ever read, I'd say the idea was pretty original.
The world is fully fleshed out, and the Amish colony idea does make sense. I don't know enough about Amish to figure out how well Nietz portrayed them, but it felt pretty real.
Characters and their Arcs: ***
The characters were a little hard to relate to, but this is probably because I'm a twenty-something girl and the main character was a forty-something man and Amish at that. I liked him, but never grew particularly attached.
Writing style and Pacing: *****
The pacing is very good. Even though this was a tad outside my genre, and I wasn't anything like the main character, I had trouble putting the book down.
What I liked:
The writing was really good. This book is proof that pretty much any idea can be written well, even if it's Amish Vampires. There was also some neat foreshadowing.
What I didn’t like:
The poor Amish nearly got wiped out. I felt sorry for them.
I could also tell the author didn't agree with the characters' lifestyle. I don't know how that could have been avoided considering the plot. It wasn't preachy, but it was there.
Is it worth reading?
Yes.
rjkingston17's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book was incredible! I was surprised at how good this story was, I was half expecting it to be a comedy or a satire read, but it was pretty serious through and through. Can't wait to pick up the sequel!