Ironically, I managed to finish these two books over the Halloween weekend and together they both covered topics including zombies, vampires, mythical creatures and feasting on the brains of the newly dead. Fascinating stuff and not my usual literary material.
I did, however, love both books. I thought the ‘Vampire Academy’ by Richelle Mead was going to be a try-hard Twilight band-wagon jumper but it actually had some merits of it’s own.
It seems most writers of vampire fiction take their own stance on how vampires exist. In Mead’s version vampires live by drinking the blood of willing ‘feeder’ humans who experience a euphoric high from the transaction. Vampires become ‘evil vampires’ when they kill someone while feeding. Good vampires are protected by a race of half vampire/half human hybrids who can both walk in daylight and have extreme strength and speed.
The storyline of this series is based around a princess of the royal family, her female protector and their life at the vampire high school (hidden in the Montana wilderness). Enter good-looking protector mentor, strange and disturbing happenings at the school, bitchy teenagers and nasty teachers. Couldn’t put the book down on Sunday and ended finishing it in one day. Impressive even for me.
The other book, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith is quite a deviation from my usual reading material. I normally stay right away from the classics because they bore me to tears. Thanks to Mr Graham-Smith I can once again enjoy the genre. He has re-written the storyline in the same style, but included the problem of zombies rising from the earth in search of fresh brains to devour.
The Bennet girls have been trained by Chinese Shaolin masters in the art of war and spend their time banishing the undead along with reading, card games and flirting with eligible bachelors like Mr Darcy. I really loved this book too. Maybe it was the fact that the traditional simpering female characters have been given some power for once.
I did take note of this one section, as I found it very amusing. Mrs Bennet comments when told they will have a dinner guest:
“Who do you mean, my dear? I know of nobody that is coming I am sure, unless Charlotte Lucas should happen to call – and I am sure my dinners are good enough for her, since she is an unmarried woman of seven-and-twenty, and as such should expect little more than a crust of bread washed down with a cup of loneliness.”
Thanks God I am not living in Jane Austen’s England. I will take my ability to live independently over the dashing Mr Darcy any day of the week.
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