Children of Subspecies, by Mike Arsuaga

Mike Arsuaga’s Children of Subspecies is the third in his Subspecies series, a series that combines the addictive multi-generational delights of Barbara Taylor Bradford’s Woman of Substance with the well-drawn future history of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy. The storyline is fascinating—vampire and lycan, now moving into the open, battle against feral remnants still killing humans in the wild. Meanwhile politics, war, and troubles ecological and economical plague the world as the War on Terror progresses, seemingly without end. The question of subspecies genotype drives the story forwards, leading to intriguing exploration of parenthood’s trials and temptations. Characters remain vividly real, consistently different from the humans dwelling among them, yet pleasingly natural in their outlook. Sex, religion and politics are none of them taboo in these novels, but all feed naturally into conversation and plot.

The storyline certainly moves forward in some interesting ways in this novel. I’m glad I didn’t miss it. The future history is scarily plausible. The vampire concerns about aging, morality and love are powerfully real. And the emerging threat of white supremacist’s new generation provides an enthralling reason to make sure I read book four as well.

Disclosure: I received a free ecopy of this novel from the author in exchange for my honest review.