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Book News, Guests | December 14, 2009

How to Be a Vampire

4 comments By Amy Gray

Oh, hi. I'm Amy Gray. I like smoking, carbs, and words. I live in the (currently) sleek humidity of Melbourne, Australia. When not lying... Continue »

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1. 
   $10.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   How to Be a Vampire: A Fangs-On Guide for the Newly Undead

   Amy Gray

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crowyhead, October 20, 2008

I really enjoyed this novel, which I've been describing to people as being "a children's novel in the same way that 'Pan's Labyrinth' is a children's movie." Twelve-year-old David has recently lost his mother, and is hurt and angered by his father's subsequent remarriage and the birth of a new stepbrother. He begins to have strange fits in which the books on his shelves seem to whisper to him, and in which he sees a menacing figure that he thinks of as the Crooked Man. When the family moves to an old house outside of London, David's strange experiences intensify: he sees the Crooked Man moving about in the house, and even stranger, he swears he hears his mother's voice calling to him from someplace distant. Finally, he follows the sound of his mother's voice through a portal in the garden and into a fearsome fairy tale world. There are elements from familiar tales here, but they are twisted and strange, and David must learn who he can trust and how to navigate this world, as he seeks out a mysterious king who may be able to help him return to his own world.

I found this book utterly absorbing. There were only a few weak points. Once or twice, the fairy tales (particularly Snow White) had been changed in such a way that I found jarring in a way that was not in keeping with the rest of the book. I also felt that the very ending of the book was slightly weak and unecessary, but otherwise, I found this immensely satisfying and had difficulty in putting it down.

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