Birth of the Bacchae is another one of my much overdue Netgalley ARC’s. I selected this ARC because of my love, or perhaps obsession, with vampires. What started out as an infatuation with Twilight, quickly led me down the path of Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. I couldn’t wait to jump into a new vampire tale, set in a more modern world.

The premise of this story is awesome. An archaeologist, following in her mother’s footsteps, discovers an ancient amulet, and is inexplicably drawn to it. She begins having dreams about these two women from ancient roman times, and is soon thrust into a magical world.

The premise of this story really was the best part of this book, but unfortunately it was not executed very well. It was confusing while reading, because the author would do such a great job at describing the setting, and such a poor job with the dialogue. The writing continued to tell the audience what was happening, instead of showing us through plot, characters, or other devices. The dream flashbacks were, in my opinion, the strongest parts of this book.

All things considered, I think this book was trying to do too much for what it was ready for. Our main character quickly discovers that magic and witches exist, and then that vampires are hunting her because she has been chosen by a god. While all of this is unfolding we see the character trying to maintain a work-life balance, while keeping the creepy older professor and his sexual advances at bay, while maintaining her picturesque (and totally non-toxic) relationship with her boyfriend, while maintaining a relationship with her dad and best friend. It felt like this book was off balance, and could have used a little more editing before being published [[I should note that because I read an ARC of this book, it may have been edited before being published, but I have not read a finished copy and this review is based off my experience with the ARC]].

There were also parts of the book itself that seemed either problematic, or like they were overlooked. There was what seemed to be a good discussion about race and equality (specifically how far the country has come since slavery), that then got flipped on its head when the mother of the boyfriend disapproved of the main character because she’s not Asian.

The sexual encounters in this novel were all consensual and presented as fade to black, with one exception. This exception included a vampire (perhaps in his early twenties, but hundreds of years old) and a High Priestess who was described as having the voice and body of a fourteen year old girl…Are we just going to ignore the fact that while she may have lived thousands of years, this vampire is still forced to, and enjoys, the sexual exploits of a fourteen year old’s body? Yikes… This wasn’t the only dubious scenario in the book either; the main character’s body is inhabited by a god and there is questionable consent regarding how and when he uses her body.

Overall, this book just didn’t feel finished. It felt like there were too many ideas competing for your attention. Not to mention how weird the ending was for our main character. She witnessed someone important to her get murdered, and then her personality switched so vastly that I didn’t recognize this new person we were following. Now, I haven’t witnessed anyone I love be murdered by vampires, so I can’t say for sure how I’d react either, but it seemed too over the top and out of the blue.

I think the author has some good ideas in this novel: the magic system could be expanded on, and the lore of the vampires was really interesting considering the flashbacks. I just don’t think it was executed in a way that makes me want to keep reading this series.

***3 Stars***

I loved the premise of the book where the Bacchae were created by the God Bacchus, because it totally makes sense when it comes to sensuality and excess etc and I was totally into it for the first part of the book, but then I don’t know if it was the story, life, me...but I kinda lost interest in Serafina, Solomon, Nina and Hiro et al. The need to know how things would playout just wasn’t there. In the end I did enjoy it, I loved the history as to how vampires came into being but the interest in seeing what will happen next ~ even with what happened in the last part of the book ~ just isn’t there.

Ever since archaeology student Serafina Finch found an ancient Roman amulet on a dig in Italy, she's been having dreams. Strange dreams that leave her with an eerie sense of foreboding. But between a busy college schedule and a boyfriend she's hoping to marry, she doesn't have time for strange. Then a mysterious cult takes an obsessive interest in the artifact. Serafina finds her life in chaos as she's thrown into the supernatural world, where Immortals and witches alike claim ownership of the amulet. Her amulet. As her connection to the amulet grows, she discovers a dark secret about her past. Serafina realizes she must protect the powerful relic at all costs—even if it means losing one of the people she loves most.
This was a pretty nice break from my normal reads. I really enjoyed the story and the change in vampire lore and all of the world building the author put into it. I look forward to reading more from this author. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Unfortunately I had to DNF after about 25% in. I was just not connecting with any of the characters and the plot itself wasn't interesting enough for me to carry on with it.
Not necessarily a bad book, just not one I personally enjoyed. I'm a die-hard Sookie Stackhouse fan and I feel like no urban fantasy will ever love up to the series.
Thanks Netgalley for providing me an eARC.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I do love a good vampire novel and have read a wide variety range from the classics to indie books. I was excited to see this fresh take on the origin story of vampires.

Perfect for long time fans of paranormal fantasy looking for something that breaks the normal tropes.

Birth of the Bacchae
By Stephanie Mirro

2.8/5 🦄

Serafina Finch, a grad student in archaeology, makes an incredible discovery at a Roman dig site—a bacchic amulet filled with blood. Her ever-growing attraction to the amulet is only the beginning of the increasingly supernatural and preternatural goings-on. Sera finds herself in the middle of a decades long battle to return powers to the Bacchae, a vampire like immortal intent on regaining the amulet and capturing the god. For at the heart of this tale is the power of Bacchus, ancient Roman god of wine 🍷 and madness. Unfortunately, Sera and her human companions are no match for the likes of the godlike powers of the Bacchae and sacrifices must be made to save the world.

Overall this was an enjoyable story but it had several issues. The most prominent issue was the lackluster characterization. I was barely attached to any of these one-dimensional characters, who felt like they existed for the trope. When some of them seemingly switched tropes, instead of being refreshing, it just felt odd and forced. They weren’t very likable either, but the ones that were seemed so glossed over that there wasn’t much you could object to. I also found the pacing to be quite slow. In the very middle of the novel you finally start to get relevant information—which is sadly dumped in lengthy exposition that makes you wonder what could have been happening during the first 100+ pages to spread this out. Finally, the ending is not an ending at all. Something bad happens, Sera decides on a plan, and that’s it. Onto the next novel in the series. It was a very unsatisfactory cliffhanger that made the pages leading up to it seem like a waste of time. I finished this book, but as for this series, I’m DNF at this point.

In spite of my many complaints, I did enjoy enough of it to finish and there may be some redeeming qualities to others that just failed to lure me in. I did find the dreams particularly interesting, but not fully explored. It seemed there was more that could have been explored with all the detail of the story.

Although—or perhaps because—I have an extensive classics background, I found myself disappointed in what was a promising premise. I just didn’t get enough in this book for how long it was. It was good—it just wasn’t for me. If you are a die-hard Percy Jackson fan all grown up, this might be for you. (an abbreviated version of this review was posted to Instagram)

Immortals? Vampires? Witches? And an evil villain trying to take over the world? That my friends are the elements that make a good supernatural series. Despite the lack of romance, "Birth Of The Bacchae: A Vampire Origin Story" was a pleasant read that proved that the debut author was able to utilize her detailed writing style to enthralled the readers by actually creating a story and not some fufu romance story that would have left me rolling in my grave. An overall decent read with unexpected twists and turns, and provides the reader an insight on the origins and background of vampires.

Interesting take on Vampire origins and myths

This was a good story and a new take on the origins of the Vampires and myths surrounding Vampires. It also had a good storyline as to how the original Vampire(s) changed from being created from the blood of a God to Vampires being able to create or make other Vampires. The storylines were very detailed and the writing was done well.

I was a bit disappointed in the romance aspect. I mean most Vampire books are also romance novels due to the long history of vampires as romantic characters. Also even when the Vampires are the evil in the story there is generally a romance. Take Bram Stokers Dracula for example. This book has two main characters, one of which is Serafina who finds an amulet on a dig site and is drawn to the amulet so much that she feels it calling to her to touch it and put it on. The other is Solomon who is a Bacchae “Vampire”, that is tasked by his maker to follow Sera and get the amulet.

Sera has a boyfriend named Hiro who is an extremely minor character and Solomon dates Nora, Sera’s best friend to get information about Sera. Nora is also a somewhat minor character and later Solomon also has sex with Danae who is an immortal “his makers maker” who wants to be queen of the Vampires. But he doesn’t really like her. So there is no real romance in the story. I would’ve liked it if Hiro were just a good friend and there was a Romance between Solomon and Sera. Maybe a slow burn romance starting later in the book. But that is just me, I am a romance lover.

Overall though, the book was really very good and held my interest throughout. It had multiple storylines and they all were pretty fascinating.

I 1000% enjoyed this book. First Vampires, hello who doesn’t love them. I love that we get a different spin on them and it was just another version of twilight. I’m looking forward to more from this author and I would recommend other read this novel.

I didnt know what to expect from the blurb, but WOW WOW WOW!
Birth of the Bacchae surprised me. This book is really well-written and keeps you engaged throughout! The plot was original, the characters great, the setting was vivid and it was so much fun to read.
Looking forward to reading more from this author!

Since I'm a sucker (no pun intended...) for vampire stories, the title of this one caught my eye on Netgalley. This is the debut of Stephanie Mirro and she choose to make the vampires the bad guys, who are actually descendants of Bacchus, ancient God of wine. So a very intriguing angle for the story and with the POV changing between Serafina (an archeology student) and Solomon (a vampire), you both get a glimpse of the dynamics within the Bacchae and the 'normal' world.
Sera finds a strange amulet when digging around as an archeologist in Italy. She feels a strange pull to the amulet, which she can't explain. However, between dating with her busy boyfriend, fending of her overly friendly professor, having coffee with her best friend Norah and studying for her master, she doesn't have a lot of time to think about the amulet.
But when strange things start to happen, Sera is experiencing strange dreams, Norah's new boyfriend is following them around like a creepy guy and Sera gets abducted, she realizes there is something amiss. The story slowly unfolds and there are a lot of twists and unexpected turns. So the story keeps you on edge and when you near the end of the book, you can't help but feel totally bummed, that the book ends! I really, really want to know what will happen next, so please tell me the next book will be out soon! A great debut, keep up the good work. Four out of five stars from me and a special thank you to Netgalley for providing the arc.

I love the originality of the world building, it's something I never met before and was fascinating.
The plot was engrossing and entertaining, the characters well written.
A good book, I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

(I've read roughly 47 million vampire novels, and I can honestly say that this is the first time I have read this particular origin story -- so 47 million points to Gryffindor for that.)

In this universe, vampires are the creations of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and madness, made to be his companions. However, they have gone astray from his ways and become violent predators, betraying their creator. When Serafina discovers an ancient Bacchic relic on an archaeological dig, she sets of a chain of events, inserting herself in the middle of that struggle.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and I appreciated the fact that it didn't feel like I had already read it before. My predictions weren't all true, and I enjoy being surprised. Plus, it's always fun when the vampires are good ole' fashioned monstrous bad guys, not sparkly love interests.

*adds author's next book to release calendar*