Until the Stars Grow Cold

Until the Stars Grow Cold
Terence West
Double Dragon Publishing
ISBN: 1-55404-382-4
Fiction, Science Fiction, Dark Fantasy
Reviewed by Eugen M. Bacon

“Hell found him.”
An immediate opening at once assembles intrigue. Vampires commit horrendous crime against an entire family. The eyes of barely adolescent Thomas Cross have seen much too young. But Thomas is a gifted boy, and a blaze of vengeance sears his heart. Conrad Verge, a tall, dark stranger rescues him, not from harm - that Thomas can do himself, from a bloody scene of enormous massacre. He offers the youngster a new life: as a Wraith. Vampire manifestation has grown in this world. Morphed vampire beasts mow down innocent victims, like Kat Sharp, innocents sometimes condemned to fates more terrible than death. But is Thomas Cross a vampire slayer or is he a protector? Who to heed, he is not sure any more. The voice in his head is darker than Wraith counsel. In a world that permits white or black, no in-betweens, Thomas wants an in-between. How soon, then, before he crosses from light to a darker side? Saint and Master Conrad are determined to save him.
Terence West focuses his skill to sharpen his original story, Darkness. Until the Stars Grow Cold is part prequel (young Thomas, a younger Emily St Louise), part sequel (the aftermath of the great Wraith purge in the hands of vampire Lord Bane). As before, parallels are drawn: Wraiths combat evolved Covens, superior enemies with adaptive genes. Saint is back, and Thomas has a pivotal role in her destiny, as does she in his. Another urban fantasy, action packed and equally sinister. If Saint isn’t the One, who is?