Publisher: Sallie Cochren
Date of publication: February 10th, 2023
Genre: Supernatural, Vampires, Paranormal
Series: The Vanator Vampire Hunters Series
The Voinico’s Daughter—Book 1 (review here)
The Voinico’s Slayer—Book 2
Purchase Links: Kindle
Goodreads Synopsis:
Now that Nicoleta knows her destiny is hunting vampires, she’s encountering them in places where she never expected to find them. However, that may be the least of her concerns. When she and her best friend, Tatiana, return to Romania to attend college, they soon learn that the unimaginable has happened. A voinico has been turned! Desperate to save the person she loves, will Nicoleta ever find a way to cure them, or will her true calling as a vampire slayer be put to the ultimate test?
This is book 2 in The Vânător Vampire Hunters series.
First Line
“Professor Cojori,” the girl said. “I was told that this would be a good time to see you.”
The Voinico’s Slayer by Sallie Cochren
Nicoleta (Nikki) and her best friend are wrapping up their summer. They plan to attend an international college in Romania together and spend the remainder of their summer with their family and traveling. Meanwhile, in Romania, the unthinkable has happened. A voinico has been kidnapped by Antansia and Varujan with the intent of trying and turning them into a vampire. And it works, much to Antansia’s delight and surprise. When Nikki arrives in Romania to start college, she is stunned to learn who that voinico is. Everything comes to a head in a bitter battle that pits friends and family against the former voinico, now a varcolac.
When the author approached me and asked if I wanted to read/review The Voinico’s Slayer, I immediately said yes. Having read The Voinico’s Daughter, I wondered what happened to Nikki once she returned to Arizona. So, yes, I was thrilled to read this book!
The Voinico’s Slayer is the second book in the Vanator Vampire Hunter series. You cannot read this book as a stand-alone. If you want to, go ahead, but I warn you that you must read book one first. It explains everything (the terminology, Nikki’s background, her parents’ background, and the vampire lore).
As with The Voinico’s Daughter, The Voinico’s Slayer takes place almost entirely in Romania. Romania is a country that I have heard very little about (other than the Dracula myth). Unlike the first book, the author didn’t spend much time on Nikki’s time in Romania (college and every day). I didn’t mind, mainly because I first read book one and knew what to expect.
I was so happy when I saw that the author had included a glossary at the end of the book. To help you with some of the terms, I am going to but brief descriptions of some of the words here:
- Voinico—A person who has survived being bitten by a vampire. Going three days without feeding, the person develops special abilities after being bitten. They also cannot be turned into a vampire (or so the legend says).
- Vanator—The child of a voinico. A vanator inherits strength and special abilities from their parent(s), which helps them fight and kill vampires. Vampires cannot turn them into vampires.
- Paznic—A vampire’s servant.
- Mijloc—A young vampire in the first stage of transitioning from human to vampire. They still have some of their humanity, and victims can sometimes use that to plead with them.
- Varcolac—A fully turned vampire. They have no conscience and do whatever they please. You cannot reason with a varcolac.
All the words for the vampire hunters and the vampires are Romanian.
There are two storylines in The Voinico’s Slayer. The first one centers around Nikki, Tatiana, her move to Romania for college, and her absolute rage regarding vampires. It was interesting to see Nikki going rogue as she did in Hawaii and Romania. The second storyline centers around Daciana, Antansia, Varujan, and Daciana’s kidnapping and turning. Both storylines were well written. The author did a lot of switching between the storylines within each chapter. But, she would make it very clear what storyline it was.
I liked Nikki, but I didn’t like her aggression at the beginning of the book. I understood and sympathized with her but felt she took unnecessary risks. I also felt she wasn’t ready to hunt for Daciana when she found out. She wasn’t trained enough, and it showed. My other beef with her is that she only told Tatiana about her nightmares. She didn’t tell her father or the other villagers because she listened to her friend. It frustrated me, but at the same time, I liked it because she was still a kid. A kid with some incredible abilities but still a kid.
I felt awful for Daciana. She endured so much while being held prisoner by Antansia and Varujan. Being forced to be turned into a vampire went against everything that she believed in. I liked that she held onto her humanity longer than the other vampires. There was one point in the book where I thought she might overcome it, and I was internally cheering her on. Also, during those same scenes, I thought she might finally eliminate the dynamic duo (Antansia and Varujan). That hope made the book’s last chapter entirely sad to read.
Antansia and Varujan need to go. If I didn’t like them at the beginning of the book, I loathed them at the end. It was funny that Varujan ended up being such a beta. For an older vampire, I did think he would have had more power than Antansia, but he didn’t. I wonder if his past as a murderer had something to do with it.
I wished a couple of characters had more time in the book. They are Revka (but she did get some time towards the end), Dr. Cojori (he knew a lot of vampire lore and legends), and the unnamed vampire that popped in now and then throughout the book. Along with their storyline (the cure storyline caught my attention), I hope they are featured more prominently in book 3.
The end of The Voinico’s Slayer broke my heart. While I figured what happened would happen, I wasn’t ready for how emotional I got reading it. I was also very intrigued by what was going on with Antansia and Varujan, and the unnamed vampire at the end of the book.
I recommend The Voinico’s Slayer to anyone over 16. There is violence and mild language, but no sexual situations.
Many thanks to Sallie Cochren for allowing me to read and review The Voinico’s Slayer. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
Other books by Sallie Cochren:
