The covers on these books really are amazing - all credit to the artist, because they're doing a fantastic job!

It's in service of a fun story too. Alex heads home after the fungal nightmare of the House of Usher and gets deeply unlucky. There's a new horror to contend with, a breath-stealing ghostly creature known as a moroi that's sucking the life out of people. Alex is such an entertaining narrator, both compassionate and wry, but I can't get away from the fact that, for a horror, I was not for a second horrified. This is in stark contrast to the first book in the series, which I actually had to stop reading late one night because I was so disturbed and wanted to save the rest for daylight. 

Don't get me wrong: it's a very well-written and enjoyable book. But fundamentally I want my horror to be scary, and this just wasn't.