Customer Reviews

London, 1850 (The Vampire Plagues I)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The year is 1850, and twelve-year-old Jack Harkett has always lived on his own on the London docks, picking pockets in order to survive. He has no memories of a home or a family. One dark night, a ship sails into port. Jack hopes to steal some money from the rich passengers. But this ship is nearly deserted, and a swarm of bats emerges from it and flies off into the night. The only living human is a young boy named Benedict Cole. Ben is around Jack's age, but from a wealthy family. Ben has just returned from Mexico, where he had gone with his father, an anthropologist, on an expedition in the jungle to study Mayan ruins. But the expedition went horribly wrong when its leader, Sir Donald Finlay, was possessed by the Mayan vampire bat god, Camazotz. Now Sir Donald has returned to England with Camazotz's army of vampire bats, and unleashed them upon unsuspecting London. Jack, Ben, and Ben's older sister Emily, decide they are the only ones who can stop the vampires, and set out to do so against the odds.

I love historical fiction as well as thrillers so I really enjoyed this book, a vampire story set in Victorian London. The characters will appeal to kids and the book is age appropriate for middle schoolers, but the unique mythology of the vampires and the exciting story may appeal to older readers as well. This book was a real page-turner, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the other two books in this trilogy.

Vampire Plagues London 1850

I am a cornwall sixth grader. Vampire Plagues is a good book, that I would rate a 7 out of 10. The main character of the book is a sailor Tom Harkett. Like I said he is a sailor, he is a twelve year old boy who owns a boat, but he does not have the most money and he lives on the docks. There are other sailors that trie to help him out a bit. Sometimes to get money he would do people favors. Tom Harkett was on the dock and he saw two people that he never saw before, they looked lost so he thought maybe he could direct them for some money. When he walked over he saw it was a man and a woman, he asked if they needed help the woman glared and the man paused then in a rough voice said ," does it look like we need help!" They walked away and he started to follow them. He thought there was something wrong. He didn't like them to well. As he followed he sees a ship... an unusual looking ship. It had bats flying above it and the sails were ripped. To get a closer look he tried to hop on with out anyone seeing. when he gets on, there were no sounds no voices. He went in the ship and heard a voice yelling help, he started to try hearing where it was coming from. It was coming through a door, he opened and there was a young man sitting there frightened. Tom asked him why he was here and he said "them." The other people were coming so they quickly got off the boat. Tom asked who he was the man replied as"Benedict Cole." Tom Harkett asked about the people who own the boat. Benedict Cole said they were not normal.And please call me Ben.Days went by and research added up. Then Ben remembered they went out at night only.He also saw one man turn from human to bat...a vampire bat.

Tom thought about vampires, he told Ben they were vampires. Days were getting wasted, the next day the vampires came back this time they were hungry. Tom and Ben ran the vampires chased them. They ran into a deadend,and the captain jumped on Tom, Ben tried to help the other vampires smacked him away. Tom was struggling to get him off but he was being over powered, and the vampires mouth was getting closer then before you know it........ YOU HAVE TO READ THE BOOK ON YOUR OWN! I would recommend this book to someone who likes mystery and suspense.

I picked up the first title at my daughter's grade school book fair and quite enjoyed it. You can read the first one as a stand-alone book, but if you read Part II, then you have to read Part III. I definitely liked the unique take on vampire tales, especially setting it in 1850. There are some classic bits of vampire lore, such as their aversion to sunlight, but then the author also adds unique twists by allowing his vampires to move during daylight if they stick to the shadows and wear heavy cloaks.

The characters are all well-rounded and interesting. You honestly feel for them and hope for their well-being. Many times the characters escape from one terrible situation only to find themselves in something much worse. I also like the brevity of the books -- they're not 900-page opuses like the Harry Potter novels are now.

My only gripe would be a slight inconsistency in regards to the target audience. While the books, as a whole, are geared toward younger readers (say, 10 and up), there are a few violent passages in the battles with the vampires (moreso in books II and III). Overall, though, I definitely recommend them and would be interested in reading more books from this author.

I can't believe that more people aren't connecting with this book. I work with fifth grade students and we just finished reading this as a class. If you want kids to learn the joy of reading, you need to give this one a try.

Story development is pretty good and you care about the characters. Good beginning to the trilogy, I wish they would publish the next three books in the U.S.

Vampire Plagues was a very thrilling book about 3 kids about 13 or 14 battleing an ancient Vampire lord. This book will take you to the edge of your seat and after that you'll want to read the next 2 books. The Ancient vampire lord is returing to take over the world, but in order to do that he needs the 3 items of Chac witch are scaderd around the world. The only people that know are Jack, Ben and Emily. Can they do it.

I think to like the Book Series of Vampire Plagues, you have to enjoy mystery books. I think the protagonist in the book is different from his friends. He is not very involved compared to his friends. The antagonist is very sinister. I also think that the people who enjoy fantasy will like this book. I thought the book was exciting.