Amour-Fou♥Net

I just finished ’Salem’s Lot by Stephen King this morning (it took me all of 36 hours or so to read it, despite being really long) which means I’ve officially read 10 books this summer! Check out the list, yo.

In honor of finally reaching my goal (though I’m going to keep reading and recording my books for the rest of the summer, obvs), I’m going to say a few review-y words about the books I’ve read. I think it would be a little much to review all 10 at one time, though, so I’m going to do it in parts. Today, because the latest book I read was a vampire book, I’ll review all the vampire-y stuff I read this summer.

’Salem’s Lot: Shallow Page-turner

Despite being super-long, I read this book in like a day. Which should mean that it was really good. And it was, to a certain extent. But for some reason I can’t place, ’Salem’s Lot hasn’t left me with many of the feelings that I’m accustomed to from vampire novels.

Usually a good vampire book (or vampire other form of art like a movie or TV show or whatever) leaves me conflicted, or creeped out, or intrigued–especially by the specific form of vampire myth that the art at hand has chosen to employ or create. But with ’Salem’s Lot, I feel none of that. It wasn’t scary because I’m very jaded when it comes to vamp stories. It wasn’t that intriguing because the way the vampirism was transmitted was pretty boring (just a bite, nothing else) and so was the way to kill them (crosses, stakes, the usual).

Most annoyingly, though, is that ’Salem’s Lot is completely black and white. The vampires are evil; the people who fight the vampires are good. Some people may also be evil, but not a single vampire isn’t. Which is a shame because part of what makes the vampire monster thing so appealing (at least to me) is that vampires are still kinda human–usually they can act at least a little human, and often they can feel human(ish) emotions. But not in this version of the story.

A quick read, and so so well written (this was the first Stephen King book I’ve read), but way too emotionally simplistic. I doubt the story will stay with me past tonight.

The Vampire Lestat: Minimally Obnoxious Vamp Extravaganza

The Vampire Lestat fits awkwardly between Interview With the Vampire (which I loved) and Queen of the Damned (which sucked, see below) Anne Rice’s melodramatic Vampire Chronicles. But I still enjoyed this book thoroughly, in an extremely trashy way.

Though the book’s frame story (Lestat is a rock star in modern day America? ) is so absurd as to be embarrassing, 95% of it isn’t frame, and concerns my fave vampire stuff, the myth. Rice’s conception of the history of vampires is unconventional in that she came up with much of it, but fits nicely into the older parts of the story that she keeps (sunlight is bad, vampires are strong, etc.). Also non-rockstar Lestat is an appealing narrator–at least in this book.

Kind of a must-read for vampire fans. Glad I finally got around to it…

Queen of the Damned: Fuel for the Haters

People who hate vampires and vampire books and whatnot have many reasons for this: Vamp stories are trashy, overdone, oversexualized, trashy… To be fair, Queen of the Damned is all of those things. But it is also something I never expected from a vampire book: Boring.

Alas, I ended up putting down Queen of the Damned after only getting through a little more than half of it. But it just wasn’t worth the time it took to read it. I didn’t give a shit about any of the storylines–though the one about the twins was the most interesting, to a point–especially the one concerning Lestat. It was like Rice fell in love with her character, and couldn’t get enough of him, even when he became like the most annoying vampire ever. Only one of the characters (Kayman) was at all compelling, and he wasn’t given enough attention. I won’t be continuing with this series.

(Oh, and if I had to read the term “brat prince” one more time, I was going to throw the book in a fire. )

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