Different Vampire Fiction

Karen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:01:55 +0000

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin

A very different Vampire book. If you didn’t guess it would feature vampires by the title, the cover I have, with dark red lipsticked lips and dripping blood would give it away. That’s one of the hazards of ARC – Advanced Reader Copies – sometimes the cover you see isn’t what the final print run gets.

But this is not your classic vampire tale. The protagonist is a human female, Jaz Parks, working as an agent and assassin for the CIA, and while her previous crew had mostly been working killing vampires, she has just been assigned to work WITH one. One of the “good” ones, that is, an older – okay – legendary vampire named Vayl – who was even born in Romania in the 1700′s, though he now lives in the US.

Set in Miami, the story unfolds and with it, we learn more of Jazmine’s past, her family, and what brings her to this point. Her driven nature and fearless border on recklessness, and that is both her strength and liability. The battle she and Vayl face, with someone who is out to poison vampires as well as humans, unfolds quickly, even as we learn about Jaz herself.

It’s a fast-paced, action-packed book, not particularly gory, and very different than most damsel-in-distress/in love vampire stories. The characters are interesting enough, and the book feels like it could be just the start of an interesting series, without being too “stay tuned” about it.

I recommend it. Not too deep, but it won’t give you nightmares, either. Just a fun, different book in this genre.

Just Another Vampire Story

Karen — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:59:39 +0000

The Vampire Within, The Beginning by Drew Silver

This is the “first book” in a trilogy, and it sure seems like it. As this was a book that I got at the Book Expo, I was surprised to realize it is the actual book, not a galley or a review copy, as it is set in typewriter-like font, which is okay to read, but makes it seem less serious than a traditional font. That’s just one of the reasons it seems less than serious.

But it isn’t meant to be campy, from what I can tell. Everyone in it is a sincerely drawn character, even if they are all characters you would recognize. They are all college students, so we have the studious ones, the “jerky jocks,” the “devoted couple,” the “party girl,” the “lesbian,” “poor little rich girl,” – you get the picture. And of course the Evil Professor.

I normally like vampire tales, but this one kind of bugs me, as it strains credulity a bit too much. The Evil Professor is turning people into vampires to increase their abilities – strength, intelligence, curing illnesses like asthma, diabetes, acne, etc. This is how he lures students into signing up – that and a paycheck. Oh, and he uses a serum to turn them, it isn’t initially a neck bite, and they are not told they’re going to be vampires. But he’s been doing this for years and no one has noticed? Do none of these people have parents or families? Hello?

So our plucky band of heroes decides to try to infiltrate and take down this Evil Plan, but of course gets caught up in a battle, some get infected, others volunteer, and then the book ends. Sure, usually the first book of a trilogy has some leading questions, but this one just stops like it hit a brick wall.

I guess I’d rea the next chapter – I mean book – if I was given it for free, but it seems more like a cheesy made-for-TV horror movie than a book. In fact, with little effort I could mentally cast current TV personalities to fill each role. Don’t bother with this one!

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Different Vampire Fiction

Just Another Vampire Story