Sunshine by Richelle Mead (10/15)
Those who have picked up Mead’s Vampire Academy series will be familiar with the setting and characters of Sunshine – in a world inhabited by Moroi (full-blooded vampires), Strigoi (vampires gone evil) and Dhampirs (half-blooded vampires serving as guardians to the Moroi), trouble strikes a cruise boat when a Strigoi attack sends a boat of vacationing Moroi into a frenzy of chaos.
Eric Dragomir finds himself questioning his future as the sole heir of the royal Dragomir line, and running into Rhea Daniels turns out to be the best part of his vacation. Things aren’t exactly boding well for him, though. He doesn’t make the best first impression, and he already has a girlfriend. She’s engaged to someone else. And there’s a crazy feeder lusting after his newfound romantic interest…
Mead’s writing style is engaging, with interactions between characters coming to life in this refreshing short piece. The concept of Eric and Rhea ditching their significant others in a heartbeat to run off into the sunset was stretching it a bit thin (you can’t help but feel bad for Stephen, Rhea’s fiancé). But hey, that’s paranormal romance for you. Recommended to fans of Mead’s work.
Bring me to Life by Alyson Noël (13/15)
Alyson Noël, author of The Immortals series of books, spins a chilling tale centering around budding young artist Danika Kavanaugh, a seventeen year old with a rebellious streak a mile wide. She finds herself flying to the UK as one of the winners to a prestigious art contest, which is a welcome reprieve from the stresses of home. The manor she’s staying in, the servants that appear to become more and more youthful every time she sees them, the strange, vivid dreams, her strange attachment to the place – unsettling, to say the least. And to top it all off, there’s an attractive, mysterious guy on the scene…
Bring me to Life is a brilliantly written story, with a plot twist that you definitely won’t see coming. Dark and chilling to the core, with the appropriate doses of mystery and romance to match. An excellent read!
Above by Kristin Cast (6/15)
I…
I didn’t know quite what to make of Above. I dove into the story expecting something in the lines of the House of Night series (which Cast co-wrote with her mother, P.C. Cast). What I got, however, wasn’t even close.
Above centers around Rheena, a girl trapped “Below” with her parents. When she unexpectedly gains access to “Above”, she finds herself assaulted with the sum of her greatest fears. But all is not lost – a handsome stranger by the name of Sol finds her and falls in love with her. But then she’s found once again by her pursuers, and Sol exacts his revenge…
Got all that? Yeah, I didn’t either. Cast writes the entirety of Above in something closely resembling poetic verse. I say “closely” because the formatting of the story was all over the place. Messy and confuzzling, Above is a real head-scratcher.
Hunting Kat by Kelley Armstrong (8/15)
Katiana (Kat) is a genetically engineered vampire, the product of years of experimentation by the Edison Group. Her vampirism kicked in 6 months ago, but to her chagrin, Kat has yet to feed on a real human. Her wish for more freedom from her strict vampire guardian, Marguerite, unexpectedly comes true in the worst of ways – Kat winds up in a car crash and gets recaptured by lackeys of the Edison Group.
Trapped in a van with two other captives, Chad and Neil, the three formulate a plan to escape. When Kat starts thirsting for their blood, though, things get a little messy…
I didn’t enjoy Hunting Kat as much as I did the other stories (Above excluded). The plot mostly fell flat, with the action sequences stilted and unremarkable. One of the weaker stories of this anthology.
Lilith by Francesca Lia Block (9.5/15)
Lilith stands out from mainstream paranormal fiction in that it’s told largely from a male point of view. Paul Michael lives a painful, teenaged existence. The bullying at his high school has forced to to escape into an imaginary fantasy world of his own, a planet where he isn’t maladjusted or mocked relentlessly for how he looks.
All that changes when the new goth student, Lilith, turns up at his school. He’s instantly drawn to her, and the fact that she’s a vampire doesn’t even faze him. A series of blood-exchanging rituals sends him off-kilter – he’s stronger, thinner, he doesn’t smell quite as bad – but he can’t quite put a finger on what Lilith’s motives are…
Lilith certainly tells it from an unexpected source – it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Paul Michael and his trauma from the bullying. The story ends abruptly, leaves the reader hanging with a certain sense of dissatisfaction. If you’re the sort that gets bothered by depressing endings, this one isn’t for you.
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