REVIEW: The Faction Box Set – Addison Albright

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A dying man, a chance for life. When the faction’s new recruit takes a misstep on his first solo outing as a vampire, Albert thinks his faction has controlled the fallout. Neil, née Phillip, is thankful for his new lease on life, but will give it all up if that will prevent his ex-boyfriend from having to pay for his mistake. This box set includes both books in Addison Albright’s best-selling M/M vampire duology.

Contains the stories:

The Recruit: Albert Manlii has walked this earth for many years and leads a faction of highly organized vampires carefully guarding the secret of their existence. Potential recruits are carefully selected and presented with an offer. Phillip Brewer has weeks to live -- if he lets his disease run its course. He doesn’t want to die, but will his desire to live outweigh his concerns about the vampires’ ethics?

The Choice: Now that faction-leader Albert has a blood-mate, he finds himself second-guessing his decisions. Neil would be crushed knowing the mistake he’d made as a fledgling vampire led to human deaths, but Albert shouldn’t factor that into the difficult choices he must make. Will Albert’s indecision put the entire vampire establishment in danger? Or is redemption only a flamethrower away?

The Recruit

Albert Manlii has existed for over two thousand years, I say ‘existed’ since he is a vampire and not alive. Now he is the faction leader responsible for recruiting one or two willing converts. Despite being immortal vampires can die; some leave the faction in one way or another when immortality becomes more than they can bear.

Albert spots a man he believes is perfect and a man that he is sure is his blood-mate. Of course, he would love nothing more than for this man to meet all the requirements to be recruited but even if he is his blood-mate he will not interfere in the procedure that has to be followed. The recruit must be a certain age, intelligent and capable of fitting in, he must have no ties, meaning family, spouse or close friends that would miss him or could possibly notice him once he is pronounced dead. Now research must be done on his candidate, a man who is no doubt dying from cancer and will be given the choice of becoming a vampire or dying.

Phillip Brewer is dying from a very rare form of gall-bladder cancer so deadly that from the diagnosis one month ago he now has a week or two to live. Albert approaches Phillip with the offer of life or death and it doesn’t take Phillip long to agree to life even if that life is as a vampire. The change is very fast and was done in the park where Albert and Phillip were meeting a small exchange of blood very different from what is portrayed in the movies, and it is done.

Like Albert, Phillip feels a connection with Albert although he is unaware of the blood-mate bond and he is given a new personality, new eye color using contacts, new hair style, new clothes and a new name. Phillip is dead; long live Neil Franklin from Texas. Even looking in the mirror Neil no longer sees Phillip.

This was such a unique take on vampires, they can be in the sun, they use blood from a blood bank, they only recruit those that are dying and they stay together as a family. Short but wonderful.

The Choice
Albert is the leader of a faction of highly organized vampires who carefully guard the existence of vampires. Months ago, he found his blood-mate Neil, aka Phillip. Phillip was dying; to save his life Albert took his choice away and turned him. Now Neil’s ex-boyfriend, Cameron, is causing trouble and possibly revealing the existence of vampires. Cameron saw Neil on one of his deliveries and Neil’s response left Cameron questioning if this man was a look-alike or if his ex was a vampire, a possibility that was further enforced by his new boyfriend, Dennis.

Now Dennis and Cameron will get the choice that Neil didn’t have, whether to be turned. However, in their case not being turned means death. Turning them, even if they accept, is full of problems. Both men have a lot of family and friends they will be leaving behind, and their deaths must be choreographed perfectly. The biggest problem is Dennis who Albert is not sure about but because of his blood-mate is willing to overlook his possible danger to vampires worldwide.

The Recruit and the Choice can be read separately but it is nice to have them in one book.