First thought about this book? It's a unique novella that's filled with mystery. I adored how the book is written as journal entries that the main character writes over a course of a thousand years, and is later found by archaeologists and translated. It's very interesting, to say the least. It's odd, but the entries are written so well and have such a clear voice it feels as if Kesi, the main character who wrote these entries, is a real person. I felt connected to her character from the first page, but is impressive for an author to achieve in a character. Also, I enjoy how the author took the 'vampire' and turned it into something so cool and unique. I have read many vampire novels before, but this one is unique and can stand on it's own. I like how the 'vampyres' in this book are creatures derived from the stars and were seen as gods among the Egyptians.

This novella follows the journey of Kesi, a vampire who's people derived by the skies and were seen as gods by Egyptians. We know her story by journal entries she has written over her many years on earth. She talks about her past, her falling in love with a mortal and how easy blood donors were found. But the times changed, and so did her life. No longer are people trusting of her people. No longer do they consider them gods and thought it an honor to let vampires feed on them. And within all these years of change, she loses her beloved husband, the only moral and man she passionately loved.

Life had little meaning after her beloved husband's death, so Kesi seeks a family to call her own. She tries many methods, never giving up, but is met with failure after failure. She is unable to bear children, so she travels around the globe to find others like her, or their children that were left behind when they left this planet to find life elsewhere. What she finds is more than she bargained for. She meets Yin, a creature exactly like herself, but who has been successful in creating the very thing she has desired for centuries--a child. But Yin doesn't see making children as a gift. He thinks they are horrid creatures that should never be brought into this world.

Kesi wants to know the secret to Yin's success, so she kidnaps his only progeny and together they go on the run from him. She's trying to save his progeny from Yin's horrible tests and torture, but Yin will now never stop until he has her back and has his revenge on Kesi for taking his experiment away. Kesi must stop running and face Yin. To destroy him before he can destroy her, her new child, and the future of their children.

Honestly, there's so much about this book I love. I love all the characters we were introduced to, the main and minor characters, and I'm impressed that I liked the minor characters as much as I loved the main characters. The plot was fantastic, the writing is brilliant, and I can say with all honesty that I can't wait until the next book!! This book is definitely a must read!

How would you spend your time if you could live forever?

Vampires are one of my favorite monsters in the science fiction and fantasy genres because of how mysterious and dangerous they generally are. I really liked how Kesi and the others like her were described, especially when it came to their interactions with humans. It made sense that people would respond to these creatures quite differently depending on the culture they came from and what kinds of experiences they’d had with vampires in the past. This was well done.

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to Kesi’s character development. There were a few times when she reacted to certain events in the storyline the exact opposite way I would have expected her to behave. The explanation she gave for why she acted that way was so brief that I almost overlooked it. While it did make sense, it would have been helpful to have additional information about why she seemed to act so out of character in those specific instances. I would have especially liked to know more about her reaction to her husband’s death early on in the book as it was the most puzzling mystery of them all.

With that being said, I was so fascinated by the premise that I couldn’t stop reading it. The pacing was strong and steady from beginning to end. There simply weren’t any good places to take a break because every single scene was so packed with intriguing clues about what might happen to Kesi. I simultaneously couldn’t wait to see what she would do next and desperately didn’t want this tale to end.

I’d recommend Sands of Time: Fate of the True Vampires to anyone.

What an extraordinary and well written novella. It was as if Kesi herself was right next to me relating her story. I was quickly pulled in and hung on to every word and I traveled from ancient Egypt to Rome and Scotland and so many other destinations. This is truly not a typical vampiric read and I wish I could give it more than five stars. I can't wait for the release of the second book and I applaud this author's ingenuity.

The opening book in the Fate of the True Vampire series, Sands of Time by Christine Church, sets up a story with a unique premise regarding the origin of vampires. The author sets her story above and beyond conventional vampire stories by linking the Pet Mer (as the alien beings were known) to the Egyptian dynasties and their status as gods among the Egyptian people. The building of the pyramids, designed to provide a dark and safe haven for these god-like beings, and the voluntary blood donations to feed the gods, indicate the unparalleled storyline. Another unconventional aspect of the book is the writing style. I was instantly intrigued by both. The writing style is unusual and interesting in the way it provides the reader with a strong sense of verisimilitude. Ms. Church uses the finding of ancient documents, discovered over a period of several decades but only recently translated, to relate the story of Kesi. As documents are translated and released for publication, the story will continue. It’s a neat writing device I liked very much.

While I could quickly empathize with the primary character, Kesi, and loved the writing device used to tell her story, I thought there was too much ‘tell’ and not enough ‘show.’ Unlike many books that have a preponderance of telling passages, Sands of Time does not drag its way into boredom. The story is compelling enough to keep the reader turning the pages, but, oh how much better it would have been if the author had paused in the journal recital, jumped back in time and ‘showed’ us what Kesi was experiencing. Hoping future volumes in this series shifts into a more equal exchange of telling and showing passages, I recommend this first book and the series. I am looking forward to more of Kesi’s story.