Deathly Fascination

Cover art is muy importante. There are billions of books out there. Why choose one in particular? Publishing companies have gotten really good at marketing their materials and an amazing way to do that is to have an eye catching cover. Why pick up the boring blank covered book, when you can get the pretty one instead! Well Holly Black’s The Coldest Girl in Coldtown got me with the rocking cover. So simple, yet so intriguing. Then I read the summary and decided I needed to delve into this book.

In Tana’s world, vampires recently entered the main stream, but in order to contain them and the infection they spread, Coldtowns were created. Coldtowns are places that look glamorous, with their all night parties and fancy dress, over the online videos that are put out. In reality, vampires rule and humans are merely worshipers, a food source, or unwillingly stuck. See once you go into a Coldtown it’s nearly impossible to get out.

Tana finds herself in a horrifying predicament when she wakes to a house filled with corpses and her ex-boyfriend chained to a bed with a vampire shackled at the end of the bed. Tana decides to save Aidan, her ex, and the vampire, Gavriel. With the infected Aidan, who was bitten, and the mysterious and insane Gavriel, Tana makes her way to Coldtown. During her journey, Tana feels a strange pull to the monstrous Gavriel, but once she enters the city, he disappears with a mission to get revenge. Coldtown is a dark and foreboding place and Tana’s time spent there is fraught with problems. Whether or not Tana is infected, will become a monstrous being, or will be able to leave this place remains unknown.

Vampire books are getting cliché. How many more variations can there be? Black, however, brings back the old horror mingled with fascination. Throughout the book, Tana refers to vampires as monsters and inhuman. Black often hits on the idea of whether a vampire is a completely different species, a monstrous predator, or if they retain their humanity. There are always going to be those obsessed with the undead and this book also takes a look at the fascination and what it takes to actually become a member of this “elite” race. I appreciated Black’s ability to show the dark and hopeless side of vampire groupies. These are people who want to be immortal and think their lives will be transformed to something godlike by their new found power, but not all the vampire wannabes become vampires. At one point in the book, Black is able to turn the tables and show just how sad and hopeless a lot of these wannabes are. Black both illuminates the glamorous side of vampire life, while also showing how hopeless and disturbing the fascination with this lifestyle can be.

Chapters jumped from Tana’s journey to either her past, her sister’s perspective, or someone else’s point of view. The audience is always kept on edge waiting to read about how the cliff hanger from the previous chapter continues, but also intrigued by the new perspective. This is a very engaging read and I flew through it. Turns out the cover art did not lead me astray.

I Vant to see BLOOD!!

Hello, my name is Miss Elizabeth, and I am addicted to the Sookie Stackhouse series. It all started a couple summers ago when I decided to give the first one a shot after seeing True Blood, the HBO series that's based off of Charlaine Harris's books. After that first sinful taste of the Southern vampire series, I was hooked. Soon I was making weekly runs to Target to pick up the next book in the series and finally making frenzied requests at the library for the newest addition. Then they ran out. Where did all the Stackhouse books go? That's when I went cold turkey. But Harris finally published another one! I jumped off that wagon pretty quick, let me tell you!

"Dead Reckoning" is the 11th book in the Southern Vamp series and yet again, Miss Stackhouse has enemies trying to kill her and secrets to be revealed. I cannot tell you anymore than that or risk giving away all sorts of plots in the other books if you haven't read them. I gotta say, Sookie is not one of my favorite characters, but I do love these books. There's always something happening and more supernatural creatures waiting around the corner. Her telepathy makes her an asset to the supes around her, but her network of vampire "friends" and other protectors keeps her safe, or so she thinks. She is a woman who can handle her problems and tries her damnedest to keep her life under control while exterior forces push her into the line of fire. I appreciate her independence and her no-nonsense attitude, but when I think of her, I think of Anna Paquin (the actress who plays Sookie in True Blood) and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I know that's silly, but I just can't help it. The other characters in these books are just as fun as Sookie, if not more so. Pam, a vampire and right hand woman of Eric the viking vampire (yum), is one of my favorite characters. She's an oxymoron in the way she dresses and the way she acts. She's a bad ass Alice in Wonderland who thinks nothing of killing and has a dry, black sense of humor. Then of course Eric, viking vampire, is a hot piece who is a vampire through and through. He is typically very cold, pun intended, and keeps his hand close to his chest, but that impenetrable personality paired with his charm makes him irresistible.

Sure this is not a masterpiece of literature, but it is a FUN read!! One of the nice things about this series is that each book leads right into the next without any hassle. It's assumed you know the past stories, so chapters aren't spent catching the reader up on what's been going down. There are always new developments, but plot lines run over between books, or even come back a few books later. When I think of traditional summer reading, I think of mindless, easy books and I must say this one fits the ticket. Sure you may have to recall details from past books in the series, but there's no thinking involved. The only problem is you may find yourself becoming antisocial because all you want to do is read. Who needs friends anyways?

I truly love this series. It's my guilty reading pleasure. Admitting the problem is one step closer to recovery, right? Well if reading about vampires, fairies, werewolves, and a telepath is wrong, then I don't want to be right! Cut me a line of that and keep that wagon away. Mama's on a high.