Jacob Green has spent his life searching for purpose, but the day he saw Lady Elyssa Yamato Amaterasu Wentworth he knew he had found his destiny.  He disregarded the fact that he was a vampire hunter and that he had no way of entering her world.  Jacob would find a way to fulfill his destiny and spend his life serving Lady Lyssa.  However, when his dream becomes reality, he finds that his life is now a constant struggle within himself: Jacob must renounce all he considers as “himself” and exist only as an extension to Lady Lyssa or he must walk away.

Lady Elyssa Yamato Amaterasu Wentworth is the last remaining vampire of royal blood.  Her life is spent protecting herself from attacks from other vampires and keeping the façade of indifference to all the posturing of lesser vampires.  The day she lets her guard down --even for a moment-- it could mean her death.  However, these last years she has been fighting a foe that can’t be defeated and must be faced alone, or so she thinks.  When Jacob enters her world, Lady Lyssa has no idea how to take what he is clearly offering her; not without condemning Jacob to death.  However, if Lady Lyssa does accept Jacob as her human servant, she must mold him to survive within the vampire world, something which might drive Jacob away form her.

When I was first offered this book for review I was delighted, as I had enjoyed books by Joey Hill in the past.  The Vampire Queen’s Servant is a book that is very well written and it evolves in the complex world of vampire society which is interesting in a horrifying way.  However, I have to say that this book was difficult to for me to read for several reasons.  The relationship that develops between Lady Lyssa and Jacob goes beyond your typical BDSM explored in mainstream erotica.  In The Vampire Queen’s Servant, we see Jacob struggle against becoming not much more than an obedient dog capable of performing complex tricks and providing sexual pleasure when Lady Lyssa demands.  It also bothered me that rape was considered a spectator sport serving to arouse the watchers and physical torture (read broken bones and the like) was something utilized as easily as a hanky for no other purpose than proving who held the power.  Jacob’s thoughts at times seemed, to me, to reflect what we typically hear from abused spouses: it hurt, I don’t like it, but I deserved it.  I was completely unable to live the story from the character’s perspective in order to understand their motivations.  It was these things that made it very hard for me to care one way or another if Jacob and Lady Lyssa got a Happily Ever After.  Also, the plot of the book moved so slowly that I found myself looking for reasons to put it down and at the same time I was desperate to finish it and therefore put myself out of my misery.  I don’t suggest that you pick up this book unless you are not squeamish and you enjoy extremely hardcore BDSM and senseless violence.  The Vampire Queen’s Servant is not a book for the faint of heart or those who enjoy fast paced books.