From Goodreads:When Lenah Beaudonte, a 500-year-old vampire queen, wakes up a human teenager at an ultra-cliquey prep school, she must choose between embracing the humanity she’s always craved and saving her new friends from her vicious coven. The first in a sizzling new YA series.
This book has a great premise. An old vampire queen decides her undead status is no longer worth "living" and wants a way out. Rhode, her maker, decides that he is willing to let her go or watch her burn. He finds away to reverse the vampire process and makes Lenah human once again. Once this happens her memories from her vampire life are juxtaposed to her new human life and I think that this really brings out Lenah's story in a very original way. You can really feel her remorse for her vampire ways as well as everything she lost by turning so young.
My problem with this book comes with her association with several very shallow people. I can see how she was initially drawn to these people since they are very similar to her coven. People who's main concern is the self. I would have thought her new education back into mortal life she would have made better choices. Plus, her new beau just didn't fit her at all. With her background and intelligence, I couldn't see her with someone so immature. I can see her wanting to experience it, but I couldn't see it lasting. It made sense that she drew her new best friend to be in that crowd since they were thrill seekers and she wanted to experience a huge range of emotions, but I also wondered about that. I would have thought any emotions would be at first overwhelming, and then curiosities. I don't think she would have so easily tolerated those shallow kids and would have had to see more of their true selves for it to have made sense to me. It's not good when you are rooting for the one person that could utterly ruin her because it just made more sense that she'd be better off with Vicken (one of her vampires).
So, how do I rate this book? Parts of the book was just brilliant. Loved the comparisons of her world. The other part just failed me. Not to the point of me not liking the book, but I just couldn't get behind her human choice. So, I give this book 3 1/2 stars. It is worth a read and I am very curious as to how the author is going to continue the series since the ending really didn't seem like a cliffhanger (which is a good thing IMHO).
I received this book through the LibraryThing early reviewer's program and from St. Martin Griffin. No compensation for my review was received.
I had the exact same reaction as you did! I know she hasn't been human for hundreds of years - but I highly doubt that watching a couple of kids do a boat race and hanging out with a vapid clique would be desirable to someone with her experience. I too would like to know how the author will continue the series. I actually liked the ending - I didn't see that coming.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading it and have to mostly agree. Though she did make a Coven of Vampires full of those type of people and she wasn't the best person, so in a way I see her being attracted to that type. I don't so much like it though.
ReplyDeleteI think if she took out the romance, we would have liked it all better. That is why I rated it up. The concept of comparing her new life with her old vampire life was perfect. I rated it down because of the romance. I gave it the 1/2 because it was a different concept. This one was hard for me to rate. I also rated it up a bit because it does make you wonder what the next book is like. So, I totally understand why some people just loved this book and why some just didn't like it at all.
ReplyDelete@Stephanie... I also loved the ending.. I just thought it was perfect the way it was and just didn't see a series out of it.
This one was pretty good. I'm not sure how they are gonna do the next 2 books because of that ending.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. I have seen this book around and been curious.
ReplyDeletemarcie.turner@yahoo.com
great review! This book sounds really good, staying along the vampire flow but twisting it with humans too. I'm curious to see how I will think of Lenah Beaudonte's choices when she turns back into a human.
ReplyDeleteangela z
I loved this book. Yeah I thought it was weird for her to fall for an average human boy, but she was supposed to act like a normal teenager. Lenah couldn't help she fell for him.
ReplyDeleteI would say that your review sounds fair. I can't wait to see for myself!
ReplyDelete-Jenna
http://elevenpages.blogspot.com
I haven't read the book, but the points you bring up makes me hesitate to pick up this book. I can't see a woman who has lived for 500 years fall for a shallow teenager. With her experiences, I would figure she would be above all that. Plus, being a vampire she had to have had/ know several more mature people.
ReplyDeleteGreat review. It sounds a little mixed but I like the honesty. :) Thanks for sharing this book.
ReplyDeleteInteresting review. I always appreciate how you balance your reviews.
ReplyDeleteI would love to give this one a try!=)
Hmmm. This definitely looks like a book I want to read. Like you, I want to see how the series progresses, also.
ReplyDeleteLove the honesty in your review. I think this sounds like an interesting read and definitely worth checking out. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI like honest reviews. I think this is a new take on a vampire story and I hope that the next book will be better for you.
ReplyDeletekjovus(at)gmail(dot)com
I'm so excited for this book! Like you, I think the premise is really imaginative. With all the vampires that are saturating the market right now, the idea of a vampire turning human is refreshing and original! I'm sorry to hear parts of the book didn't really do it for you though =(
ReplyDeleteHmmm, now I want to read it even more. See I am all for the love interest. LOL
ReplyDelete