13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Page Turner for All Ages, September 8, 2005
This review is from: London, 1850 (The Vampire Plagues I) (Paperback)
12 year old Jack Harkett was looking to pick pockets on the night he witnessed a large ship pulling into the docks of 1850s era London. To his surprise, only one passenger, a tall, dark, gentlemen disembarked the vessel and disappeared into the night. Just as Jack prepared to board the ship in order to explore, a boy about his age who was visibly starved, tired, and rich based on the clothes (now tattered) he wore, stumbled off the boat. Jack befriends Ben (said boy) and listens his tale of the horrors that happened on his expedition to Mexico, the key part being that a Mayan vampire god (Camazotz) boarded the ship home is now on the loose in London with a swarm of bats/vamps to do his bidding. Jack, Ben, and Ben's sister Emily must work together to stop Camazotz from turning all of London into his meals, or worse, his vampiric minions.
While clearly geared for the younger set of readers, I still found this novel to be very entertaining. The writing style is not by any means complex, but it isn't annoyingly simple and fluffy either. A good stock of vocabulary is used, and some of the dark moments were so chilling that I myself got a slight case of the goose bumps (and I am not easily scared). The characters are exceptionally round for a young novel.
The vampire mythology deviates from the norm, you wont find any stakes, garlic, or holy water in this novel. Also gone is the sensual/sexual aspect that most vampire works tend to contain, making this book not only more tangible for the younger crowd, but it is also a breath of fresh air. Adults, however, have no fear, this book still proves to be a good, page turning read (it is not so fluffy as one would think...it is about vampires after all!) Adults will take interest on a new spin of the classic vampire tales and as I stated before, the dark parts are certainly satisfying.
If you love vampires, love horrors, or just love to read, this book is definitely worth a look, it wont disappoint.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
pleasant book, March 23, 2006
This review is from: London, 1850 (The Vampire Plagues I) (Paperback)
I liked this book a lot except for the fact that there were many parts that were meant for younger kids. I did like the plot line though. I thought that the whole main idea of the book was very interesting and clever. I thought that there was plenty of rising action in this book and it wasn't just every now and then something interesting would happen. It was non stop information and action. Out of five stars I would give this book four stars because the author could have made the book perfect only if it was meant for a older age. maybe if he had abetter name for the vampire god. That is why I liked this book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT SERIES, January 15, 2006
This review is from: London, 1850 (The Vampire Plagues I) (Paperback)
This is the first of the Vampire Plagues triology. To get the best excitement of it all, read this one first. You will not be able to put this book down.
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