Bite This (Kurtherian Gambit #4) ★★★☆½

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Title: Bite This
Series: Kurtherian Gambit #4
Author: Michael Anderle
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 270
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Bethany Anne and Crew have a lot to do.

One of their smaller companies has created an AI but didn't tell anyone. They shut it down so there was no chance of it going all Skynet on the world. When BA finds out, she puts her father and some others on the case as they need some super intelligence to help guide them through the coming minefields.

The Company needs a military base as a “Corporate Headquarters” so they can start bringing their own people together, to work and to protect. If any nation state learns what BA is doing or capable of, they're going to have to protect themselves. They also need a place where scientists can start studying TOM's spaceship. The spaceship itself needs to be moved from the mountainous area to a secure birth on the super yacht.

BA has given the responsibility of getting Europe back under control to Stephen, another of Michael's direct children. He has to deal with young vamps on the edge of becoming Forsaken as well as Pack politics. European Were haven't been dealt with for decades and they are thinking that maybe vamps aren't tough as all that. Stephen shows them WHY vamps are top of the food chain and Europe starts to settle down.

And if that isn't enough, one of Michael's direct children, now a Forsaken in South America, is attacking BA using political connections. BA has to figure out who the politician is and where this Forsaken is actually located. Then she can deal with both of them. Just to complicate things even more, it looks like this Forsaken has a secret formula for making Nosferatu more intelligent and even stronger.

My Thoughts:

I have to admit, while reading this, I had the Beach Boys song “Fun, Fun, Fun” running through my head. And BA's daddy doesn't take the t-bird away, so yeah, lots and lots of fun.

I complained about the last book introducing a ton of characters really quickly. Thankfully, it pays off here. The book cycles through quite a few POV's which is only possible because of all the new people. I still say Anderle could have done it a bit slower but it isn't something I can complain about in this book. Gabby the vampire ends up in the medical box and becomes an alpha vamp probably on the level with Michael. I'm surprised that BA isn't running some of her own crew through the box to build up a small army of loyal alpha vamps. I consider BA to be Vamp Zero and maybe she doesn't want any alphas going wild and blowing her cover and destroying her chance to bring the world up to readiness to deal the the enemy aliens. I don't know. I do know that I would be biting my loyal guards until they were all vamps, especially since they would be daywalkers.

The whole AI storyline is just getting going. There is lot of relocation and talking and plans but the switch hasn't been thrown yet to bring it back online. I'm definitely interested to see where this plot line goes.

There is a battle scene where Gabby saves a german shepherd by giving it her blood. BA also gives it her blood. So we're going to end up with vampire dogs. I'm guessing Anderle will use them as Nosferatu detectors and such. I really didn't care for this inclusion, as I'm not an animal person.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this. At under 300 pages, I felt like I just raced through it. I know Anderle has this series in omnibus editions with 3 books in each and I'm tempted to go that route just so I can get a big long draft of BA kicking butt. I know I won't though, as I'd rather stretch things out and stay a little hungry than burn out. Nothing worse than burnout.

★★★☆½

• Love Lost (Book 3)
• Queen Bitch (Book 2)
• Death Becomes Her (Book 1)