Charlaine Harris, Dead Ever After

I have a friend how is obsessed with True Blood and The Southern Vampire Mysteries the tv programme is based on, she was so enthusiastic about it, I thought I should give it a go as well. A couple of years ago I binge watched the programme and binge read the books.

However, after we'd moved further away from each other, and she wasn't there to remind me when a new book/programme was out I gave up on the whole thing.  Until I spotted the final book in my big library visit and thought I might as well see how the story ends.

The Plot: Telepathic waitress, Sookie Stackhouse has had a fair share of drama; she's discovered she's part fairy, her brother has become a were-panther, her boss is a shape-shifter, she's had relationships with 2 vampires and a were-tiger, survived Hurricane Katrina and made a ton of supernatural and human enemies. This is the last book of a 12 part series, will Sookie get her happy ending?

Rating: 2/5

Holly Black, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown

I ordered The Coldest Girl in Coldtown after reading a kindle sample last month, and it lived up to my exceptions. Trash is the best way, a proper guilty pleasure read.


The Plot: Vampirism is regarded as an infectious disease, those who are bitten are quarantined in Coldtowns, and have the choice of either drinking human blood and completing the transition, or resisting the urge for eighty-eight days and remaining human. Either way, they're trapped in the Coldtown. When Tana wakes up after a party surrounded by her dead friend, she knows vampires were the cause. After rescuing her infected ex-boyfriend Aidan and a crazed, chained up vampire called Gavriel, the three make their way to the nearest Coldtown. Tana, Aidan and Gavriel enter the town each with their own agenda and a shaky alliance.  

This will no doubt be popular with the Twilight crowd, but in my opinion it's a better book. Tana is a better heroine by far than vapid Bella. Though of course, there is the now obligatory love triangle between Tana, Aidan and Gavriel, it's not the main event of the story, the danger of Coldtown and the desire for vengeance gives the plot the twist and turns. 

Justin Cronin, The Passage

If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, World War Z or 28 days later, you might want to give The Passage a try. It's the first part of a trilogy, the second part, The Twelve, was published just last month.

The Plot: In an attempt to create a new breed of super solider, the government inadvertently unleashes a highly contagious, vampiric plague which destroys most of humanity. Survivors shelter behind walls and flood lights, but the community is troubled and the lights are failing. Destruction and salvation hang in the balance, and the fate of the world depends on twelve condemned criminals and one six-year-old girl, Amy.

In my opinion this novel is a bit of a mixed bag, the beginning is strong, my interest began to wane about two thirds of the way through, but the cliffhanger at then end means I would like to read the sequel. 

Amy is a fascinating character, compassionate, beloved, vulnerable and solitary. Her interaction with other characters gives the book warmth and intrigue.  Therefore it is a shame she is absent for huge chunks of The Passage. 

The best part of apocalyptic fiction is how authors envisions the society of survivors Cormac McCarthy and Margaret Atwood are both experts at this in their dystopian novels. In The Passage the city under lights is claustrophobic, paranoid and with a hierarchy and feels very believable.  

Having the contagion be more vampiric than zombies is a inspired idea. You might not want to read this before bed, as there are genuine moments of suspense and fear.