Stuff As Dreams Are Made On…

Eighth Grade Bites (Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, Book 1) by Heather Brewer
2007
182 Pages
4/5

While thirteen year old Vladimir Tod’s friends drink their fruit juice boxes at school, he has his own bag of red drink….blood. Vladimir is what he thinks is the last of the vampires, the spawn of a human woman and his father, a vampire. He’s the first vampire to ever be conceived this way. And he defies traditional views of vampires. He can go into the sun as long as he has his sunblock on. He doesn’t drink blood from it’s source, but rather from his caregiver, Nelly. Well, not exactly FROM Nelly, but she brings him “blood bags” home from her work at the blood bank. He attends school with all of the other teens, though he’s less than popular and has to make sure to hide his fangs when he becomes angry.

His best friend is Henry, the only person in the world aside from Nelly to know that he is a vampire after he bit him during play when he was 8 years old. Vlad’s mother and father were killed mysteriously when he was younger and since then, Vlad has felt like an outsider. As much as Nelly and Henry try to make him feel normal and treat him as a human, he knows he is something else, a vampire. Things suddenly take a turn for the bizarre though when his english teacher goes missing and is later pronounced dead. Vlad starts to think that he may not be alone. Replacing his lost teacher is a bizarre man named Otis Otis.

Mr. Otis is a fun teacher that everyone seems to like except for Vlad. Otis teaches the class of various mythological and folklore creatures. Witches, zombies, ghosts, werewolves…and vampires. And he always seems to have his eye on Vlad. When he tries to enter into Vlad’s life more than a teacher is welcomed, Vlad grows worried. And he soon notices a mark on his teachers arm that is similar to the one that his father once wore, the same mark that is on a book of vampire secrets that his father left him. Combined with the discovery of his father’s journals, he soon begins to think that he may not be as alone as he once thought he was.

This first book in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod was SO MUCH FUN! I really loved it. It’s not great literary writing by any means, but it’s a truly fun, fast paced, and relevant story. Brewer makes a lot of fun puns throughout the novel. Of course there is Vlad’s name…there’s also a kid named Edgar Poe who goes by Eddie. There’s a town nearby called Stokerton. A villian named D’ablo. You get the picture. But the novel isn’t all fun and games. Sure there are the moments that make you snicker, but the majority of the story is a well thought out tale of a kid trying to find himself while in a very strange world. Think of it as a YA coming of age novel with a twist thrown in.

Brewer “gets” teens and I think this bodes well for her books. This is a book that I would feel comfortable giving any kid that said “I hate reading.” (such horrible words). Want to know what I did as soon as I finished Eighth Grade Bites? Ordered Ninth Grade Slays Can’t wait to continue with this series! And the third book comes out this month! And one more thing…these books have the best covers! I want Vlad’s hoodie!

Voodoo Season by Jewell Parker Rhodes
2005
275 Pages
4/5

I found a book tent this year at Jazz Fest and knew that I had to go visit it. It was filled with nothing but New Orleans authors or authors who wrote about New Orleans. Yeah, I was like a kid in a candy shop. My eye was immediately drawn to the voodoo section as I’ve always found voodoo to just be fascinating…maybe it’s because I live in the voodoo capital of the world, who knows. On the shelf was a book by an author I had never heard of, Jewell Parker Rhodes. She’s an african american woman who seems to wrtie a lot about voodoo! Couldn’t pass that up. Especially when I found a fictional account of the great granddaughter of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Season.

Voodoo Season is a fascinating book. It’s the story of a young doctor named Marie Levant who is doing her residency at Charity Hospital. Marie has always noticed that something was a little different with her….a little strange. She has a seemingly sixth sense. She knows things about people without knowing how she knows them, she takes in lovers that show such passion. But when one of those lovers turns up dead at her hospital, things take a turn. Not only has her lover turned up dead, but so are numerous young women. And they all have crosses on their heads. When Marie has an intuition that one of the girls is pregnant, she performs a C-Section and forms an instant attachment to the child. She wants it to be hers. She searches for the babies grandparents and in doing so falls into the world of voodoo.

There’s a myth that voodoo is an evil religion. It wasn’t started that way and it’s not an evil religion. But like all religion, there are those that use it for evil purposes. These are some of the people that Marie runs into as she begins to come into her own and begins to realize that Marie Levant, her own name, is a transformed version of Marie Laveau. She is a direct ancestor of Laveau and it is she that holds the ability to be the next voodoo queen.

I feel like I’m doing a horrible job of describing this book, but take my word for it…it’s damn good. Jewell Parker Rhodes is another author that captures the essence of southern Louisiana perfectly. The city of New Orleans, the swamps further down south, the madness of Charity hospital, it’s all there. She awakened a fascination with this part of the city that has lay dormant in me for a long while and I’m anxious to scoop up all of the information I can now on Marie Laveau. I’m also dying to read the rest of her books. The prequel to this one is Voodoo Dreams and is a telling of the tale of the actual Marie Laveau, a woman who is to this day still shrouded in mystery. There are also two sequels to this book that further the storie of Marie Levant.

The only slight problem I had with this book was the ending. I was happy with the way it ended but it felt so rushed. I don’t know if she was given a page limit by the publisher or what, but it would’ve been much better I think if it had been a longer novel. Everything seemed to happy to quickly and a little too conveniently at the end, but that’s ok I guess :p The scenes of Marie performing her voodoo rituals for the first time more than make up for that. Read it!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
2009
320 Pages
3.5/5

Kailana and I are pairing up for a review of this one. I really love this format!! If anyone else wants to do this with me, just head on over to my LibraryThing page, click on the TBR tag and pick anything you want that you plan on reading and we can review it together!!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a fantastic read. If you’re a fan of YA books, zombie novels, philosophical novels or all of the above, this is definitely one to pick up. It’s not often that you can put those three categories together :p The Forest of Hands and Teeth is a dystopian novel. The world as we know it has been destroyed by a virus. A virus that has turned the inhabitants of our world into zombies, or the Unconsecrated as they are called in this novel. But there is a small camp of people who live in a commune type setting surrounded by a fence in the middle of the forest of hands and teeth, a forest where the Unconsecrated live. Mary is one of the inhabitants of this village. After not being spoken for by a boy who she thought would speak for her at the marriage ceremony, Mary is forced to join The Sisterhood, a group of religious women meant to protect the secrets of the Unconsecrated and care for the small town. But Mary’s mind does not allow her to turn a blind eye to the goings on of the sisters, and she’s fallen in love with her betrothed’s  brother.

Everything changes when there is a breach in the fence and the Unconsecrated reak havoc on the town, killing most of it’s residents, turning them all into Unconsecrated as well. But Mary is lucky enough to escape with her life along with her new fiancee, Harry, and the boy she truly loves, his brother who is engaged to Mary’s best friend (also with them). Yeah, there’s a complication there. The book is a truly terrifying novel that leaves you totally creeped out and weeping at the sadness of it all at the same time.

1. What was your immediate reaction after you turned the last page of the book? (without giving anything away of course

I was so so sad Not that the ending is one of total desperation, but the book is an emotional rollercoaster…going downhill. I’m always amazed when an author can evoke such strong emotions in me, and Carrie Ryan did just that. I really can’t wait to see what she comes out with next! If it’s half as good as this one, we’re in for a treat. Truthfully, when I put the book down after reading it, I didn’t want it to end. I was left with one of those “wow” moments where I really just had to sit back and let it all sink in.

2. How did you feel about the main character, Mary? Did she surprise you, were you annoyed by her, did you think she was a strong character, weak, etc?

I was up and down about Mary. I think she’s an extremely strong character, but at the same time, I think that the same attributes that make her strong may make her weak. She’s extremely headstrong, which comes in handy at times, but at other times it seems to be her detriment. I think Mary is someone who is still trying to find herself throughout this novel…still trying to learn who she is. She’s sort of all over the place. All that being said, she was probably my favorite character and I felt for her.

3. The film rights to the book have just been sold. Would you be interested in seeing a movie made out of this novel? Do you think there are things they’d have to change?

I would definitely be interested in seeing this made into a movie! It was one of the most vivid novels I’ve read in a long time. It reminded me quite a bit of The Village by M. Knight Shyamalan actually. That’s the reason it lost half a star to be honest. I thought that it was somewhat of a rip off of The Village at the beginning. Same basic concept….a town where you’re taught to be afraid of what’s outside the walls, you don’t ask questions, a few chosen people know the truth, traditions that have been developed…all of that’s there. But it evolves into much more eventually and I think it would make a great movie. That being said, I think they would have to change a few things to not make the movie look like a rip off of The Village.

4.  What did you think of the secondary characters in this book?  Who was your favourite?  Anyone that you didn’t like?

I liked the secondary characters for the most part. I thought everyone was developed really well. Some of them annoyed me at times, but they were supposed to annoy me, so that was ok. I think my favorite secondary character in the novel was Harry. He never really gave up on Mary, despite the fact that she gave up on him. He was always there to protect her and you could tell he really cared. I also really liked the character of her fiancee, Harry’s brother Travis. There’s one scene with Travis that just tore my heart apart. If you’ve read the book, you know what I mean. I didn’t like Cass at all. That’s Mary’s best friend…I kind of thought she was a bitch for a best friend.

5.  What did you think of the title?  As you got to know the setting that the book was named after, did you think it was a fitting title?

This is one of those titles that I wish I would’ve thought of :p It perfectly captures the feel of the book….creepy as hell! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the title of this one and I love the cover as well. I thought it was an extremely fitting title. It defines the book, it defines the feel of the book, and most of the action takes place surrounded by the forest itself.

6.  What did you think about the zombies?  Was this your first zombie novel?  Did you find them realistic?

The zombies rocked! In a very creepy sort of way. I thought they were extremely realistic. Real enough to creep me out. She wrote them perfectly. Imagine sitting in a path with two feet on either side of you with zombies clawing at you, trying to get to you. Scary stuff. These weren’t funny zombies…they were just downright creepy…like 28 Days Later zombies :p I think the creepiest of all of them was Gabrielle, the zombie in red…the “fast one”. This wasn’t my first zombie novel. I’ve read quite a few others, but not in a while! The most recent one I read was Cell by Stephen King. A lot of people were disappointed with that one, but I really liked it!

Other views and opinions:

Book Zombie (of course :p)
YA Fabulous
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Becky’s Book Reviews

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires, Book 1) by Rachel Caine
2006
256 Pages
3.75/5

Fun fluff. That’s how I would describe this book. And that’s not a bad thing. Not at all! I love this type of reading actually. There’s no deep hidden message here, there are no real touching moments (though some come close), and there are no existential dilemmas. But there is a LOT of good storytelling going on here. I was hooked pretty much from the beginning. I love vampire novels. Always have…You could call me a “pre-twilight” vampire fan :p But I thank Stephanie Meyer for writing Twilight actually, because it brought back the vampire genre….gave me new series to read. I like this new YA/horror genre that’s arising. I just finished the Forest of Hands and Teeth which is a zombie/YA book and now I have a vampire/YA book

The book is set in a town called Morganville, TX. Morganville is a strange little town as Claire, a new student in the city, soon finds out. It’s populated by vampires. Not only vampires. There are some living people there, mostly students, and a few other still breathing people, but there are a LOT of vampires. A truce has been made in the town though. Many people have protection from the vampires due to a bracelet with a symbol that they wear. The vampires don’t typically bug humans unless they’re really hungry…then they may take a student or two.

Claire has gotten on someone’s bad side, though. The girl’s name is Monica and you can say she has friends in high places. When Claire calls Monica out on her stupidity, Monica and her gang of girly-girls beat the living crap out of Claire and make it their life’s mission to destroy Claire’s life. Claire knows she needs to get out of the dorms and turns to an old house in the area called The Glass House. Michael, the mysterious guy; Shane, the fun/joker guy; and Eve the goth girl take Claire in after a few fleeting thoughts of it not being the greatest idea. And it turns out that it wasn’t the greatest idea. Claire soon learns that if you piss off the wrong people, it’s not pretty in a town like this and the whole town is turned upside down in this first installment of The Morganville Vampire series.

Did I enjoy it? Oh yeah! Will I be reading the sequels? Oh yeah! Like I said, it was action packed with really fun characters. It’s one of those novels that keeps you on your toes, keeps you catching your breath going “ohnoohnoohno!” And it’s edgy…I always like edgy

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
2004
472 pgs.
5/5

Move over Twilight, because you’ve just been blown out of the water! Carole McDonnell told me about this book a long time ago when I was reading Twilight…she said that a friend of her’s had recommded it and said that it’s a vampire love story…which it is kind of, but it’s certainly no Stephanie Meyer book. Oh no. There’s gore, sex, death, murder, mystery and a beautiful story underneath it all.

Lindqvist is a German writer who I hope explodes in the US! I’d love to see more and more of his books in print. Let the Right One in is a bit of an epic story told over the course of a few days. Young Oskar is a boy that gets picked on at school all the time. More than just picked on, he’s tortured at school and doesn’t make friend easily. One night, he notices a mysterious young girl playing on the jungle gym outside of his apartment and goes outside to meet her. He notices immediately that something isn’t normal about her. She smells funny to begin with. Her name is Eli. He and Eli quickly develop a sort of friendship, though he soon moves to obsessing over her and trying to figure out who or what she is. Though she is a 12 year old girl by appearance, he thinks she’s much more.

Meanwhile, there is what seems to be a serial killer on the loose. As the reader, we know that this killer is Eli’s housemate, a human named Hakan who seemingly has a thing for young boys. Bodies begin to turn up all over the small town and it seems that the killer is bleeding them. Other bodies are being found with their throats ripped open. And this is all just the very beginning of the story.

Lindqvist tells a tale that chills the spine at times, that’s truly terrifying at other times, and is surprisingly touching at moments. This is a smart novel, yet it holds all of the entertainment value that one could hope for. His character development is fascinating and he has the ability to make us love a character, feel for a character, or be repulsed by them. He doesn’t hold much back. At times he pushes the limit of horror novels, which I absolutely love.

This is a book that I’d highly recommend to any fan of supernatural/vampire/crime novels. It’s been made into a movie that looks fantastic and I can’t wait to watch it. What makes this book even more cool is that the title of the novel comes from a Morrissey song called “Let the Right One Slip In.” Lindqvist is certainly a cool dude and I can’t wait to read more of his novels.

Other Views and Opinions:

Reading Matters
Love Vampires
The Lair of the Undead Rat
Cynical Optimism