Holy cow I cannot express just what Will Hill and his books do to me. It's like they're all that matter in the world for however long it takes you to read it's behemoth 700 or so pages. You might think that reading a book that long would be a chore some times but with Will, that is not the case - the book is so full of action, gore, blood and teen angst that the pages just fly by at breakneck speed, and when you reach the end you feel a hollow sensation in the pit of your stomach. A sadness even that you've come to the end and now a horrifying and torturous twelve month wait begins for the next instalment.

I'm not really going to say much more - if I do I'll spoil the book and I know how angry I'd be if it was spoiled for me. Just know that Will Hill is once again on top form and showing just why he deserves every success that comes his way. His writing, as ever is clear, fluid and engaging and drives you perfectly through the twists and turns of the story contained within.

Battle Lines just proves to me even more why this series is fast becoming one of my favourite. It's so well executed. The story itself, the monsters - they don't feel clichéd at all, they're exactly what they should be, blood thirsty, bone crunching, human eating monsters. The characters are all believable and well rounded, and they contrast together brilliantly. It is well on it's way to being my top read of 2013, like it's predecessor was for 2012!

I don't think anything I can say can truly explain or show just how much I love these books. I just wish I could hibernate from right now till next March when Book 4 comes out. God it's so far away. ARGH!!!

Warning: Massive spoilers for the first two books in this superb series, Department 19 and Department 19: The Rising, lie below. If you haven't read them yet, go and get them first and then read this review! (Possibly pointless advice, to be honest - if you read the pair of them I'll be stunned if you need a review to persuade you to pick up book three!)

The wheels have been set in motion for Dracula to rise. Department 19 is in disarray, dealing with deaths, the disappearance of their chief Henry Seward, and the dreadful knowledge that there could be yet more traitors in the ranks. Jamie Carpenter is trying to train rookies into a fighting force who can take on vampires more dangerous than any newly-turned ones that have ever been seen before, Matt Browning is desperately trying to find a cure for vampirism, and Larissa Kinley is in the USA trying to help in the fight against her own kind. With Zero Hour coming ever closer, can the department save the day?

This was perhaps my most-anticipated book of the year, neck and neck with Laura Jarratt's second novel By Any Other Name and a couple of upcoming releases I'll mention below. I'm pleased to say that it definitely didn't disappoint - I tore through all 700 or so pages in a single afternoon, I was so desperate to find out what happened next, particularly to central quartet Jamie, Matt, Larissa and Kate. There's also intriguing side-plots as two familiar faces from previous books set out on a course of action which could have massive consequences for everyone involved, while like Larissa, fellow vampire Valentin Rusmanov gives Department 19 a huge problem - he's too powerful for them to ignore his offer of help, but that very power means that barely anyone trusts him. It's slightly more focused than the previous book, The Rising, in this respect, but Hill still cuts back and forth from plot to plot with tremendous skill.

It's also action-packed - I said of the second in the series that to write 700 pages without wasting a sentence is either genius or something really close to it, and the repeat of this feat here is enough to make me convinced that yes, it's genius. All of Hill's characters are incredibly well-rounded, and the relationships are perfectly judged - Jamie and Larissa are one of my favourite ever couples, although the romance never comes close to dominating as it might in a lesser author's hands, while the family and loyalty dynamics here are superb. Finally, there's also more moral dilemmas to be faced, especially towards the end of the book, and I can't help but think that some seemingly minor things which happen towards the end are going to take on a lot more importance in the next book.

I can't wait for the rest of this series, and will be eagerly downloading the short stories The Department 19 Files, released recently as e-books and set back in the late 1910's, to give me more of the Department 19 action I'm craving as I can't believe that it'll probably be another year until book four comes out! Huge recommendation as one of the very finest teen action series out there at the moment.