#ya vampires

[evilqueenreads]

I have MISSED vampires in YA. So many of the books I loved as a teenager involved vampires of some type and I’m so glad to have read this. This was a diverse selection of short stories that pulled many different types of vampire lore into one book and it was very enjoyable to read.

From slayer/vampire romance to epistolary format to a story with distinct “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been” vibes, these stories take you all over the place.

Vampires Never Grow Old // Instagram

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Review: Midnight Sun (Stephenie Meyer, Twilight #5)

Rating: ★★★★.5/5

"Did I love her? I did not think so. Not yet. Alice's glimpses of that future had stayed with me, though, and I could see how easy it would be to fall into loving Bella. It would be exactly like falling: effortless. Not letting myself love her was the opposite of falling - it was pulling myself up a cliff face, hand over hand, the task as grueling as if I had no more than mortal strength." 4.5 stars. I am and will always be intensely grateful to the Twilight Saga for being there for me when I needed it most. It got me into YA fantasy, it redefined what reading could be for me, and it continues to comfort me when I need it to. I knew I'd be first in line for this book when it was announced, and it did not disappoint. Edward Cullen is over 90 years old, living a half-life as an immortal, destined for nothing more than quenching his thirst with animal blood and hearing the thoughts of the humans around him for the rest of his days. Until Bella Swan arrives in Forks, and the rest, as they say, is history. We all know the story of Twilight at this point. Whether you were into it in the midst of the craze, like I was, or whether you had someone drag you to the theatre to watch the movies, or whether you just absorbed the gist of the story from the millions of memes and Internet content out there, nothing of the plot is particularly new in Midnight Sun. That said, though, Edward is such an interesting perspective to read from. I love that we get some insights into the characters surrounding Bella that we only really guessed at the first time around. Charlie, Jacob, Rosalie, Jessica, Angela - I found that I enjoyed getting Edward's perspectives on them. It made the entire cast feel more fleshed out, and because I know them all so well already, it just felt like having a really intense conversation with all of them. One massive standout here for me was Alice. Learning more about her visions and riding them out with Edward was SO cool. I have always loved her, and I would die for a book from her perspective. The way that she lives the visions out in her head, tweaking things as necessary for the best outcome, is just so ultimately fascinating and utterly addictive to read. Overall, I take half a star off just because I wasn't compelled to read this at the pace I wanted to be. The writing is good, Edward is interesting, but I found it easy to put down. Maybe because I know the story so well already, maybe because Edward can get a little bit frustrating and repetitive with his thought patterns. But this series will always have a spot on my favourites list, and I'm really happy I picked this one up.

[thetaleofsevenmagpies]

So a few years ago now, I went through fictional YA vampire books as fast as I could find them and until now I haven’t really thought to address this but almost every single one of those novels had a teenage (16-18) girl as the vampire’s love interest. Now I have nothing against that, it was the kind of story I loved to read about five years ago but the point is that practically every 16-18 year old girl has a period once a month. Yet that is never touched on. Which one could brush off as restraint on the vampires part except for the fact that once the girl bites her tongue the tiniest bit the guy will go blood crazy on her. So my question is: Is there something insanely different about menstrual blood that means vampires aren’t affected? Thought for the day. Or evening.

So this was originally a draft, but I was talking to a friend about this subject and apparently I’m not alone in thinking this because they told me how they had read a theory about period blood being dead blood and that is why vampires aren’t effected by it. I’m not sure if that’s a valid excuse, but hey, I don’t know how vampires work. So that’s good enough… especially seeing as vampires aren’t even real. Ah well.

[bigdreamsandwildthings]

Just One Word June Book Photo Challenge || Day 20: Eyes

[hellolinzie]

Book Review: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

Started Reading: September 30, 2013

Finished Reading: October 03, 2013

Number of Pages: 321 [Nook version]

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is the first vampire book by renowned young adult and urban fantasy writer, Holly Black. It is increasingly difficult to breathe new life into the undead topic, particularly when it is under the Young Adult umbrella. Black makes a noble effort at bringing something new into the genre which is often plagued by clumsy romance now, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

So let's begin with the positives. Black's prose is always very readable and I think her characters act a lot more like real people than how some other people write their teenage characters. The dialogue and general emotional maturity found in her characters comes across as very genuine and real and not contrived or cliche. In addition, I was very excited to see how diverse her characters were, particularly in their fluid sexuality and identity. I think it says a lot about the writing when you are told blatantly about a character's bisexuality or identity as a trans-woman (separate characters) and not have it be their defining trait. I also liked the dystopian world she crafted with her quarantined Coldtowns, which contain the bitten/infected and the full vampires. The world is very similar to ours; blogs, Tumblr, Twitter, and reality shows are all mentioned. Depravity is monetized and sold and at the same time shunned. Not everyone wants to be a vampire but everyone wants to watch them. You can see a lot of parallels to real life in the technology and what the characters say about our society. I liked that vampirism was displayed as a disease and to some extent a choice, which is a new view. Once bitten the infected can attempt to outlast the infection through whatever means they have or they can give in and go all the way by drinking human blood which completes the transition. A comparison I found myself making, probably because of my own family history, was that of drug addiction. I felt a bit of myself in Tana because she didn't want to be what her mother was, just like how I don't want to be like much of my own family.

On the downside a few things kept me from being truly invested. While Black took a new approach to the setting it felt kind of like vampires thrown into a zombie setting; quarantines, broken down buildings, infection, and attacking humans in a need for blood. I also felt like the focus bounced around a lot to the point where I wasn't staying invested because it didn't feel like a conflict was going to last longer than a few chapters. It kept things interesting but it made it hard for me to care over a long period of time, almost like it was a bulleted list of things for Tana to complete. This bouncing around also neglected some character development. Tana, Gavriel, and Aidan are all pretty fleshed out, but their relationships (Tana & Gavriel) are left kind of bare bones. NOTE: This is not a love triangle. Black avoided my most loathed trope of YA of all time, the dreaded love triangle, but there is a love subplot kind of awkwardly shoved in there. I think if the plot had been reined in a little bit more I would have given this a higher rating.

That said I think it's worth a read, it's just not high up on my personal list. It takes things in a new direction and I think this sub-genre of vampires really needs some new eyes like Black. If she takes another stab at vampires I'd probably read it.