Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy (ARC) of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Who knew that the aswang, like any modern Filipino, can be uprooted and live somewhere in the world? Vampires of Portlandia is an ownvoices novel about a family of aswang in The narrative is centered on the family of Percival, a young adult vampire who is destined to be the next head of the vampire clan and the aswang, living in Portland, Oregon. As non-humans, they try to blend and act like humans; however, the occurrence of murders left, right, and center makes it harder for them to cloak their identities as the murders appear to be supernatural.

The premise of aswangs living somewhere else outside of the Philippines is an unexplored concept for me. With urbanization and globalization, they must keep up with the times, right? It must mean that they have adopted modern ways of living. This explores the Filipino lower mythology further because it does not stop on the retelling of what they are and what sets them apart from other creatures. It goes deeper to show who they are and what they do.

Honestly, I was excited with the premise of the novel. Aswangs in a foreign country? Sign me up. What I like in the story is the emphasis on ties, whether it be family or friends. I also like the opportunity to see the life of a Filipino in a foreign land, especially the difference between the migrant and the first generation. I also like the attempt to show queer characters developing interest with each other (although it started with wrong reasons and behavior) and how acceptance within the family is still a question (especially in Filipino families).

But I find the story underwhelming. There are elements that are underdeveloped. The execution of the plot could be better. As someone who is a fan of works that feature Filipino lower mythology, I expected more. Telling the history of the aswangs is commendable. I was expecting the development of Percival as a character but I find him flat. The events, especially nearing the end, were a bit rushed especially the romance and the fruit of that romance. I was also expecting something grand for the clan wars but like the romance, I feel it was rushed.

Vampires of Portlandia is an ownvoices Filipino story about a young adult named Percival who is soon going to be in charge of taking care of his family, while also becoming the leader of what is left of the Filipino vampires! Right now, it is only him, his lola, his younger brother Roger, and their even younger twin siblings and they all fled the Philippines to hopefully have a safer life where they can live in hiding without anyone knowing what they are. But that becomes harder and harder when murders are happening more and more frequently, and it becomes easier and easier to tell that these acts are not being committed by mere humans.

We also get to see the Philippines in the past too, where in this story people are scared of children carrying a chromosome that spreads this disease. This very much impacted the poor during this time of panic and because of this, and the dire and sad means to control it, there are not many aswang vampires. This story also talks about Filipino politics from the past that mirror a world we live in today, where men of god wouldn’t mislead their country and their people, right? (And I’m always here for a story with a Manny Pacquiao manananggal joke, because valid.) But this past story laced throughout is how we get to learn about how Percival’s lola, Leones, is forced to leave the Philippines and becomes the leader of the vampires. And seeing her life and history is so important to understand what Percival is going to face while carrying this legacy. Especially when a civil war starts breaking out between the aswangs in Portland because of these murders.

Aswang generally means “Filipino monsters” and there are a vast different array of creatures that can fall under that word! But in this book we get to see five different types of aswang all coexisting in the same city, but trying to remain hidden. Vampires, werebeasts, ghouls, witches, and viscera. But we also get to see another kind of creature and let me just say there are few things scarier than the manananggal. This take for sure depicts them spooky, but I grew up hearing much darker tales that still give me goosebumps until this day. Hands down one of the scariest parts of Filipino mythos, and for sure one of my favorites ever. And with my full chest I am here to say that western vampires could never.

My favorite aspects of the story were the Filipino values and culture always at the heart of the story. Family means so much to Filipinos and the story always shines a bright light on that and what it means to respect your family members and being willing to do whatever it takes to help them and care for them and love them. Responsibility is also a big part of this story and something that very much also resonated with me because I am the oldest sibling (and cousin) of my Filipino family! I also really liked the depiction of grief in this story and how it can take so many forms. And how the weight of grief can feel so very heavy to carry, especially when you’re trying to carry it alone.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and it made my heart very warm to read it and give it a 3.5 star rating! Also, it made my tummy hungry for chicken adobo, pancit (my personal #1 comfort food), lumpias, and just miss home a lot. Oh, and I also really enjoyed the queer brewing side relationship in this book too! My only real complaint is that I felt like the pacing was a bit wild at times (like for the main romantic relationship and ending) and it made the events feel like whiplash at times! Also, there is a lot (and I mean a lot) of talk about the homeless and drug users in this story because they are the victims in this book and it just felt very repetitive and very bad, even when it was the villains doing it. But I still enjoyed this one and I feel very honored to have read and reviewed it!

DNF @ 65.4%

I really was so excited for Vampires of Portlandia. It sounded amazing--Filipino mythology and vampires, magic, Pacific North West vibes. And I do think that the things I was excited for were still exciting, but I hit some road blocks while reading that made me ultimately DNF this book.

I almost never DNF ARCs. It's not an action I do lightly, but as my time is more and more precious in college and because it's become increasingly important for me to find joy in fiction and not drag my feet about reading, I've DNF'd Vampires of Portlandia. I tried very hard to give it my best shot, and it's been hindering my reading for more than two weeks at this point.

The writing style is different than I am used to, but I don't actually think it's inherently bad. It's more roundabout and measured than the direct type of writing I am used to, but I don't think that makes it bad. Tanamor uses third person in a very distinct way that's like a narrated script, but also not. There's changing POVs, little details that a narrator wouldn't know, and things slipped in that you should be paying attention to. It just meant that for me personally, I had a hard time getting absorbed into the story from the writing. I think if I was a different reader, I could absolutely enjoy the writing style more, but ultimately that's not me.

What was ultimately a deal breaker for me was the writing style in combination with the way Vampires of Portlandia framed victims of the murders happening. To be completely honest, I feel like the way the story talked about homeless people, the elderly, people who are struggling with drug abuse, was callous. One line (from the e-ARC, mind you) read

"Thus, they [the ghouls] added a new clientele to their repertoire [the people they preyed on & killed], one who had also contributed very little to society--the elderly."

I personally disagree, and I think elderly people, although not perfect, are still important members of society? I think they do hold a lot of wisdom. I dislike this framing a lot and I don't enjoy it being used so casually. I think we can absolutely examine sentiments like this critically, but I personally felt like it was an offhand comment that was meant to be more stylistic, rather than critical of the ghouls.

We see the same thing with the treatment of homeless people, as the story reduces them, who are the predominant population being murdered in Portland, to a faceless aggregate. There were anti-homeless sentiments being expressed, as well as really suspicious lines about drug use.

It made me uncomfortable enough that I DNF'd the book. I just grew so tense with how the story used homeless people as faceless victims of these murders, but used the writing style and narrative to push the readers away from empathizing with the people affected by the murder, and instead read about the vampires and werebeasts and ghouls and witches and viscera and their conflict.

I don't think my priorities matched with the priorities that Vampires of Portlandia had, and it's honestly a huge relief to be able to put this down.

I think readers who are more persistent or less sensitive than I can find something to like in this. The beginning where an anti-homeless sentiment wasn't so strong was interesting. I liked the folklore and the aswang. I liked the idea of a murder mystery. But I hated the framing, and that's ultimately what made me set this aside.

I've thought quite a lot about this, and I didn't make the decision to DNF lightly. I just can't bring myself to read more of this because I am quite frankly, very tired. There was so much potential, I can't help but feel left down.

"Vampires of Portlandia" had a very interesting premise. Bonus for the cover which is mind blowing! There's also Filipino culture and mythology and I've never read a book based on that, so I was excited!
All in all it was just a good read, I don't really have strong feelings about this; it's just okay.
It probably had the chance to be better, but still good.

3.5 stars--VAMPIRES OF PORTLANDIA by Jason Tanamor is a paranormal/ urban fantasy story line based in the Filipino folklore focusing on the aswang-an all encompassing term for shape-shifting vampires, ghouls, witches, viscera suckers, and werebeasts (dogs and crows).

Told from several third person perspectives bouncing between several time lines and perspectives, VAMPIRES OF PORTLANDIA follows the Filipino-born Leones family of vampires to Portland, Oregon where they learned to blend into the human population. Upon the matriarch Marcella Leones’ death, a new leader for the aswang world must be born, and Percival, as the eldest of the surviving vampire becomes their reluctant leader by accepting the amulet of power. A series of grisly murders in Portland becomes suspect in the mind of Percival Leones, and his brother is about to become his number one priority until he meets PJ, a twenty-something sensie with the ability to feel other people’s emotions, and the supernatural community is pulled together for a potential civil war. With the aswang community focusing their anger at the family of vampires, it is another shapeshifter that focuses its’ malevolence on the Portland nightlife.

VAMPIRES OF PORTLANDIA is a story of betrayal and vengeance; death and destruction; power and control. The supernatural creatures of the aswang have set up their communities in Portland Oregon but one of the shapeshifters believes they should no longer follow the covenant written by the God Asuang but take control of the world in which they now live. The slow building premise is interesting and entertaining but it was difficult at times to hold my attention- the back and forth between timelines revealed the backstory and history but I think if the history and events had been revealed in order, the story line may not have felt so disjointed ; the characters are numerous, curious and intriguing. VAMPIRES OF PORTLANDIA is NOT a comedic story of fun and adventure but a story about vying for control of the supernatural world.



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I found this book to be a very interesting read. It was fresh and offered an original tale. I liked how it fully embraced Portland's weirdness. The Grimm references were amazing and as a fan of the show made me happy. I liked the book, my only issue was the pacing and the romance aspect.

<b>DNF 12%</b>

<b>Vampires of Portlandia lost another reader.</b>

My goodness, I do not like this book. The characters are flat, the story is uninteresting, the dialogue is cliché and cringey. But what really pushed me over the line of "NOPE" was a scene where a woman agrees to go to an empty bar with a man she exchanged literally maybe 20 words with because it was pouring rain and she couldn't open her umbrella. Did any women proof read this book? WHO WOULD DO THIS? No woman would go to an unknown location with an unknown man (literally, less than 20 words exchanged) in the middle of the day. And of course she was killed, but the rape implications of that scene... It was gross and unnecessary. Maybe the author didn't mean it that way, but it is how it came through to me (it is at the end of Part I).

That whole scene could have been taken out. Super awkward how we went from following the MC to suddenly following a random man. Just, not for me.

PS; I was intrigued by the setting of the novel, Portland, but there is a way to write a love letter to the city of Portland without shoving it down the reader's throat. I felt like there was a pile up of "Portland this and that" but barely any personal or interesting character development. By 11% I am expecting to be at least interested in SOMETHING in the novel. Sadly, I really wasn't.

Overall, this book was a bit rough to get through even with my love of vampires. Rough to read due to pacing and writing. Rough due to treatment of characters and the romance. Just rough.

I love aswangs. They're one of my favorite types of vampires! Unfortunately, Vampires Of Portlandia is an awkward, amateurish book that's cringeworthy when not merely bland. Tanamor repeats himself often, and he makes the baffling decision to refer to his characters as "the (noun)" for most of the novel even after we know their names.

A chore to read, this book needed a lot more work.

As much as I want to promote the book because it features Filipino folklore by introducing aswang in the international scene, I'd be honest and say that I feel disconnected with the entirety of the book.

This is another case of "It's not you, it's me" and I know that somewhen in the future, this will be an amazing read that I'll enjoy.

Vampires of Portland by Jason Tanamor was one of my highly anticipated releases of September. It's not often you get to see the aswang of Filipino mythology in fiction of any kind so I jumped at the chance when I saw it on NetGalley. For the most part, I liked Tanamor's story and getting to know the characters and urban fantasy world he's created here. There's so much potential for this to great, but it never quite manages to hit and hold its stride. It certainly has its moments and it's definitely a solid fantasy, but that said it can really drag. When it drags, it was very easy to lose interest. There were several scenes where I wished the cast and world was a little more fleshed out, particularly the secondary characters. In the long run, though, I'd say it's still worth your time even it never quite fulfills its promise. I have a feeling you'll want to give this a try if you also enjoy the tv shows Grimm and Supernatural.

I did not get a chance to download and read this book before it was archived, but I will definitely check it out after it is published.

This will be a mess of a review. Entirely, a huge question mark just pops on top of my head as I finished the entire book. Vampires of Portlandia is the story about a small aswang family of Percival with his adopted younger siblings and "maternal figure" grandmother Leones. The family migrated to Portland from the Philippines, due to the increasing number of murders the Philippine Government placed on their kind. Years later, Percival must step up and take his place as the head of the family, and faced the challenges of being the leader of the entire aswang community.

That being said, the elements of the book were intriguing. It was a blend of Philippine Folklore, culture, and a little bit of life for Filipinos outside the motherland. Jason Tanamor aimed to create a supernatural, bad-ass kind of story with a strong sense of Filipino family ties. However, it was not selling for me.

It was mentioned in the book, of how the story is set similarly to the Grimm TV series universe. Being a huge fan of Grimm, I also saw certain similarities, but the dynamic and intricate universe of Grimm, didn't convey well with Vampires of Portlandia.

There were a ton of plotholes in the story, that made it hard for me to enjoy the story. The first off was how the characters felt flat. I didn't agree with much of Percival's decisions and reactions towards Roger, and the same could be said with Roger's actions as well. Leones, their lola also became a general plothole to me. The first was that, for a leading vampire, to simply dismiss not telling Percival and his siblings that there are other types of aswangs out there, or even laying down the general laws of the Covenant to ensure that the kids live a normal life made it questionable for me. You have this young adult guy going to be the future leader of aswangs, and there are no heads up on the rest of the hidden society of them.

It's like giving a kid an army and he's just playing soldier. The other plotholes rely more on the vagueness with the Covenant in general. This entire mess happened because Roger ate some aswang crows, and the sudden solution was "hey he broke the covenant, let's stalk and pressure them, instead of acting all civil and have a nice chat over coffee and explain why your brother fucked up."

I found it hard to believe that for the other breeds of aswangs would fear Percival's family and resort to tricks just to grab their attention, instead of seeing them as just this group of kids that no longer have a parental figure, and approach them not out of fear but of respect, or curiosity. I think, aside Hector, the bartender, the rest of the werefolks and witches handle the situation poorly.

The romance was stiff, and confusing on most parts. The book has genuine potential, but it is really rough around the edges and in need of a ton of polishing both in plot and character-wise. Overall, I am giving this book a 3-star rating. It was an okay read, though not yet on the high list of my recommendation list. I'd like to thank, NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for providing me an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and The Parliament House for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Man, when it first got announced I was so bloody excited to read this. As cliche as it is, I'm a large lover of vampiric mythology, so seeing a book about the aswang myths grabbed my attention so dang quick.

Unfortunately I struggled to get through majority of the book due to the characters and writing style. There were chapters where we'd follow the MC and mid way, it'd jump to a werebeast instead. Or introductory chapters for a secondary character which we wouldn't see again for 5 or so chapters. This and repeated iterations of "The vampire....." "The young vampire...." through me out of the story for a bit.

The plot felt jumbled for a bit and I actually tabbed sections so I could reread them and remember what was going on for particular characters. Though I think this was also a mix of 'past' and 'present day' chapters suddenly happening with no warning. For instance the addition of Part 2 happened and it wasn't till halfway through a chapter that I realized it was a past event. Some addition to maybe "years earlier" in the page break would help a lot in this scenario.

This said, oddly, the past event portions of the book were my favorite. It was mostly the modern day stuff that just lowered my interest completely.

There's a group of Fillipino vampires, aswang, living in Portland. The matriarch feels that soon the eldest of the four children will have to take care of them. Meanwhile, an unusual high number of unusually committed murders take place - so unusual, in fact, that they might be related to the paranormal community.

DNF at 20%. I really wanted to love this and get to know more about the folklore it's based on. Crime and fantasy is a mix I tend to enjoy, and this cover? Neat.
Sadly, it proved to not be for me. I couldn't shake this feeling that the author is relatively new to this, and has to do a whole lot of writing on their journey before them. There was stuff I usually see in fanfic authors who just have started, like the tendency to use different descriptors to avoid saying a characters name. In this case, I felt that if I should have to read the terms vampire or sensie one more time, I'll scream. Another problem is that all the characters are very two dimensional, and there is a lot of telling going on, without any showing. The reading flow is bumpy in a lot of instances.

And sensie - first I thought this is a misspelling and it's sensei, but no. Then it's explained said character is kind of an empath, without using the term empath. What the heck is a sensie? Googling didn't help, because, you know, I got hits for sense and sensei.

While all these are very good reasons to decide you don't want to read more than 250 pages of this, it is not a reason to discount this person as a writer. I might come back in a few years if they should happen to write more, and see what happened in the meantime.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

What I found really interesting in this book is the Philippine folklore and all the creatures of the Aswang portrayed in modern day characters. I'd really love to know if there's any truth to the government tricking the poverty stricken people into culling their population. I found the throwbacks to Marcella's journey in the Philippines, the most interesting part of the book. This novel is perfect for the young adult/new adult audience. It is so fun to read a story based on myths from the Philippines. I was not aware of these myths before and this book makes me want to do research about it. The story was a bit slow, with things starting to come alive in the later part. I also really enjoyed the city of Portland playing a big part in the story, I always love it when a location is almost a character itself.

I think this book would be really enjoyable for a young adult audience, and people who enjoyed the Twilight Saga or the Vampire Diaries.

I'm grateful for the ARC I got through Netgalley, but his book wasn't for me. The whole plot hung on the plot device of Marcella not preparing Percival for what awaits him. It was a repetitive book with stilted dialogue and flat characters I couldn't care about, as much as the author told us to. The story had a great potential, it was quite interesting learning more of Filipino mythology. But the execution killed it for me.

For an interesting premise and world, this way really disappointing.

There are creatures from the Philippines called aswangs. There are five breeds of them: vampires, werebeasts, witches, ghouls, and viscera. A family of vampires flee to Portland where they hope to blend in. Unfortunately, their matriarch never tells them about the existence of other aswangs or the rules they must follow.

I didn't care for any of the main characters. The plot lasted as long they are ignorant. As soon as they are informed the book ends anticlimactically. The romance was horrible but since the main characters are one dimensional, it wasn't a surprise that the romance is just there to exist.

The folklore is very interesting. Anytime the book deals with the politics of the other aswangs, I had a peak of the potential of this book.

This review is based on an advanced reading copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Parliament House for this copy of Vampires of Portlandia by Jason Tanamor in exchange for an honest review. It publishes September 29, 2020.
First off, I have to say, this book is completely out of my wheelhouse. I don’t particularly like vampires or Portland, so why did I even choose to read this? Because the Filipino folklore of the Aswang is so fascinating to me! I’d never heard of it before reading this. I truly enjoyed learning about this mythology.
I just personally had a hard time getting into the story itself. But the writing is decent.
If you like vampires, gore, are interested in learning about Filipino culture, and want to go on a tour of Portland (but stay safe!), this is for you!

Sadly this was not the book for me. I was excited about finally reading about Filipino folklore, and the idea sounded very appealing to me. And yet, the execution felt flat.
I considered to stop reading the book multiple times, but, after more than a week, I managed to finish it. It did not get better. I can not pinpoint what did not make it for me. There were just too many characters we did not get to know, recognising them only for their names, which made it extremely confusing. More importantly, upon finishing the story, I still did not know or understand the plot.
And, in the end, the strongest point, which was the mythology behind it, felt unexploited.