Vamps
Lilith Todd is a rich vampire. Jules de Laval is going to marry her. Tanith Graves, a friend. They are vampires. Humans are referred to as “clots.” Lilith is sixteen and goes to a vampire school were no one is allowed to carry a personal mirror. Lilith and her friends get banned from a night club for attacking a “clot.” Lilith is also quite rich. She and all her friends are ultra-rich, ultra-self-centered, and very, very stuck up. Reference is made to thirteen “founders.” When the vampires turn 25, they can no longer see themselves in mirrors. Also, marriages seem to involve some kind of “bonding,” and might be arranged. Vampire history is covered, as is the difference between New Bloods and the aristocratic Old Bloods. One New Blood (Cally) is a stormgatherer, able to hurls lightning at someone. Tanith, one of the vamps, is killed in a battle. Cally Monture is the name of one of the New Blood vampires. She ends up having to go to Bathory Academy. At a meeting, she sees that some of the vampires actually hang upside-down like real bats. She finds out that the founders of their vampire race came around 20,000 years previously from an “infernal region.” It seems to be a different dimension. One of Cally's classes is shapeshifting. Lilith, by the way, hates Cally since she's a New Blood, and she blames her for Tanith's death. There's actually a group of girls that are bullying Cally, and even some instructors don't like her being at the school. Later, Cally tries to shape-shift into a timber wolf, but it goes wrong. It also turns out that Cally is not what she claims to be at all. Lilith attacks Cally and they have a furious battle. Cally wins, but they agree to a truce. It also turns out Cally has made a friend of a girl whose father is the leader of an incredibly successful secret criminal society. He also happens to be the enemy of Lilith's father. (Friends in high places, especially godfather-type friends, can come in handy.) The book also has a lengthy glossary which is quite good and quite interesting. Comments: Lilith and her friends are absolutely unsympathetic. They are rich, spoiled, headstrong, self-centered, and disobedient. There is absolutely nothing at all about them that would make the reader care whether or not the characters are destroyed. Actually, perhaps the reader would hope they do get destroyed. The character of Cally is the only one that is sympathetic and interesting at the same time. The plot themes that are being developed will be the main thing that will cause me to get the next book in the series, because, it were just the ultra-rich brats then the story wouldn't be worth it. |
