I jumped into this series at the tail end, basically because this book in particular was about a violin, and being a Music major myself, it piqued my interest. I was not disappointed either. Gone from this series is the overly-romanticized vampire whom quite a few of my colleagues fall at the feet of and worship with extravagant adoration. In its stead was the cold, hard facts of vampirism including the ideals that eternal existence is immensely boring without something to occupy your time and most importantly, HUMANS ARE FOOD! Not long-lost loves or bids for salvation from eternal damnation. The vampires we meet here have lives that are centered around a great, consuming passion, but for once (Thank God) its not the same ol, same ol love or sex scenario. What a novel concept! In this particular book, the overwhelming, undeniable siren is the fleeting, yet eternal beauty known as Music. An obsession I can definitely identify with. In the Vampire’s Violin, Mr. Romkey begins by introducing us to a luthier (maker of violins) living in the violin-making golden age of Cremona, Italy. His simple faith, despite his loss of vision, blesses him and allows him to create the most rare and renown violins of all time, the Angel violins, of which there are only thirteen brought into existence. We then follow these violins through time as one concert violinist, who happens to be a vampire, becomes enamored of the Angels, and seeks to own one for himself. We become witnesses of how one person’s life work can touch the world, blessing life after life. We equally witness how those lives can also be destroyed if such blessings are taken for granted, manipulated, corroded, or twisted to be something they weren’t meant to be. A lot of the ideals portrayed in the book have spiritual or religious overtones. You’ll recognize such questions as, do vampires have a soul? Can that soul be saved? Does God recognize vampires? Can he use them for the purpose of good even if they are by nature, evil? And there are many others. Towards the end of the book, he also lightly touches on whether love is the sole center of the universe worth striving for to gain happiness or if happiness, fulfillment in life can be gained by another means such as the pursuit of music. This is definitely an excellent book for anyone who enjoys having their philosophical fancies tickled. I personally enjoyed the book because I had written a thesis while in college about the Amanti’s, who were a family of luthiers around the same time for my Baroque Music History class. They were the ones responsible for tutoring the famous Stradivarius in the art. Thus, a lot of the history and terminology used in the book was enjoyably familiar to me. Who says you don’t use a lot of what you learn? Though the plot line itself is simple in conception, the characters are rich in intrigue and the main themes can be intriguingly complex. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to give their hormones a break and pursue an intellectual workout. Enjoy folks!