Book Impressions - This is my Blood by David Niall Wilson

 I enjoyed reading this a lot, what we have here is a different and interesting take on the gospel, a secret history of Judas and Mary Magdelene. It's told through two mediums, the first is the Gospel of Judas which offers an alternative viewpoint to the more traditional gospels. The other viewpoint is that of Mary Magdelene, she joins the story as one of the fallen, a minion of Lucifer's tasked with tempting Jesus.

When the temptation fails she is cursed to exist as a vampire, but Jesus promises her that she can be saved. The story continues to tell of his ministry and the interaction between him and Mary. The story is told in a way that is very evocative of the biblical tradition and so transports the reader easily into the time.

It also does a very good job of portraying Christ not only as a man, but also as the son of God. Some readers may be offended by the portrayal, but this doesn't poke fun at his existence, but simply tells the story from a different and more personal viewpoint. Controversially this is also a love story between Christ and Mary, although not really in the conventional sense.

While the story and the writing are both excellent, unfortunately there is a small flaw, the Kindle edition appears to have a strange formatting issue where many spaces are missing. While it wasn't enough to put me off reading the book, it was enough to provide a distraction, which is a shame as otherwise this is a fantastic read.

This novel of alternate history and dark romance, outlined by excerpts from the Book of the Gospel According to Judas Iscariot, follows the journey of Mary Magdalen, fallen angel, cursed as vampire, as she follows a trail of desperate hope and love beyond measure.


Click here to purchase This is my Blood from Amazon (and is an excellent read)