Customer Reviews

Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Well shiver-me-timbers! Get ready to be washed away by this exciting, swashbuckling adventure. VAMPIRATES is the story of Connor and Grace Tempest, twins and children of the lighthouse keeper of Crescent Moon Bay on the East Coast of Australia in the year 2505. The story begins with the two young children getting out of bed in the middle of a violent thunderstorm. They wander up to the lamp room to watch the glory of the lightening and churning water with their father. In order to ease their mind, their father sings their favorite sea shanty.

"I'll tell you a tale of Vampirates

A tale as old as true.

Yea, I'll sing you a song of an ancient ship,

And its mighty fearsome crew."

The twins are finally coaxed back into bed after several verses of the eerie song and settle in for the night.

Seven years later, Connor and Grace's father dies, leaving them penniless and homeless. The kids aren't strangers to the stares and whispers that occur whenever they walk by because they've been dealing with it since the day they came to the lighthouse. They've always felt like outcasts, never quite fitting in.

People in town couldn't figure out why Connor was so much better at sports than the rest of the kids, even when he neglected practice for weeks. Grave provoked equal suspicion - from both teachers and classmates - with her unusual wide-ranging knowledge and strange notions about things far beyond her age and station in life. Since they knew they'd never feel at home in Crescent Moon Bay without their father, the twins decide to take off in their father's boat and take their chances at sea, rather than moving in with the cold, local banker or going to the orphanage.

Their first night on the ocean a huge storm crashed down on them, tearing their little boat apart. As hard as they tried, they couldn't stay together through the churning water. Thankfully, they are rescued and brought safely on board another vessel; however, not the same one. Connor is pulled aboard a pirate ship named the Diablo and Grace is rescued by the Vampirate ship. Desperate to find each other, they both plead with the captains to go back and search for the other. Both are told there isn't a chance the other would have survived. Neither lose hope and know they'll see each other again.

Connor sets about learning the ways of a pirate. He is assigned chores, makes friends, and receives sword fighting lessons. He participates in a raid on another ship and helps acquire booty for the crew. Grace, meanwhile, stays locked in her cabin, told not to even look out the window. She overhears weird conversations about feasts and witnesses strange things like candles that never extinguish, food that appears out of nowhere, and has the overwhelming need to sleep every time she eats or drinks anything. Grace has one person that she talks to named Lorcan, who has been sworn to protect her from the crew. At first, Grace doesn't understand the reason for the isolation. She doesn't realize that some members of the crew aren't happy with the captain's feeding schedule and wouldn't think twice about disobeying an order. She finds out the hard way when she slips out of the cabin and doesn't make it back before nightfall.

VAMPIRATES is told in alternating chapters from both Connor and Grace's point of view. The reader witnesses the growth in both twins as they are forced to make their way alone for the first time. Their devotion and loyalty to each other is touching and adds to the overall hopeful feeling in the book. Once you dive into this adventure you'll hate having to come up for air.

Keep your eyes peeled for the sequel, Vampirates: Tide of Terror (Vampirates) coming out in June of 2007.

Reviewed by: Karin Perry

With all the media hype about vampires these days, coupled with the raging success of The Pirates Of The Caribbean, it was only natural that eventually somebody would couple the two together in a contemporary novel.

Justin Somper's book is an easy read - watching my son fly through the pages while eagerly anticipating what would happen next was a great experience.

As with all serial novels, once you reach the end of Book 1 - you are left with a sense of closure, but also the thrill of wondering what the next book will bring.

On the parental side, seeing that the novel attempts to withhold some of the bloodthirsty images that pirates typically are depicted as was welcome - and the bloodsucking of vampires was also held in check.

I only hope that the future installments of this novel (not yet read) tread as careful a balance to remain accessible yet 'safe' reading for young readers.

This book has a fun combination of two of the most romanticized characters of literary history, pirates and vampires (as you can no doubt surmise from the title). At first I was inclined to mock the pirate craze that started as of 2003, but I humbly retract the mocking. Who could have thunk that vampires and pirates together would make such an appealing combination?

The story follows Grace and Connor Tempest, twins who are separated by a storm and each rescued, without the other's knowledge, by a different pirate ship. Connor makes friends with eccentric pirate captain Molucco Wrathe, who seems at times to be a cross between Jack Sparrow and a glam rocker, and at other times a nice, fatherly sort. The crew instantly take to Connor and offer him a chance to train as a pirate. He accepts, but only because he's almost sure Grace is alive and knows that pirate skills will come in handy if he has to rescue her.

And boy does she need rescuing. Unbenownst to her, Grace is on the ship of the titular Vampirates, and her well-being lies in staying out of sight of all but the two vampires who helped her aboard. Lorcan Furey is a 709-year old who "crossed" at age 17, and is still as nice and sweet as he probably was as a human that age (let him near so much as a dried drop of blood, though, and he gets rather TOO caring). The captain is a mysterious fellow who speaks in weirdly commanding whispers and refuses to let his face be seen. He knows who Grace is, and it seems he knows all about Connor, too . . . These two are the "good" vampires, the ones who, for the time being, have her safety at heart. But then there are the others, particularly the more-than-usually bloodthirsty Sidorio, who scorns the captain's courtly approach to vampirism. For all the danger and all the warnings to stay hidden in her cabin, curious Grace can't resist the temptation to go exploring past dark. She discovers more than she's ready for, and is in turn herself discovered--not least by the book's most surprising character. You expect pirates and vampires and even a ship's cook in a tale of this nature, but this new person is something else!

Both Grace and Connor are fully realized individuals in their own right and their seperate trials and triumphs are equally engaging. So much so that you hardly notice that the book is nearly all groundwork and next to no questions are actually answered. It is established that the Vampirates are real, and that the beautifully penned sea shanty sung throughout is based in fact.* That is all. And yet the story is told with such skill that it was quite near the end of the book before I realized it couldn't possibly wrap up in the few pages left and there would HAVE to be a sequel, or maybe even more than one sequel. Huzzah and rejoicing! The next book is due in June, and I urge anyone who loves a good swashbuckling, vampirate-y adventure to reserve a copy.

There is one piddly detail that seemed to stick out (and at least one other reviewer noticed it, too). This is that the book starts in 2505 and then skips ahead to 2512. It's the far distant future, yet with few exceptions, the world is 17th or 18th century in tone. Ships are galleons and schooners, and the pirate costume is the more appealing picturesque sort from that earlier era (cutlasses and broadswords included). Could pirating fashions really have carried over eight centuries? Particularly given that today's real-life pirates look nothing like (I mean, modern pirates dress with a sort of menacing practicality, and carry very unromantic machine-guns and such, and are generally not as entertaining to be around as "Pirates of the Caribbean" has made them out to be), and we're not nearly as far removed from that age as Grace and Connor Tempest are. Or did the world's perspective on appropriate dress and behavior just come full circle some how?

On the other hand, given the perceivable scope of the story, I am willing to bet that the author has his reasons, and that all will be explained, sooner or later. Perhaps this book just wasn't the time for the explanations, and we're all supposed to go "Eh?" and wonder and wait, until he's good and ready to tell us. And I'll bet it will be GOOD when he does.

*The vampirate shanty really is quite haunting, yet I couldn't help noticing how nicely it fits into the theme of Gilligan's Island. Try it!

Shiver me timbers!! Great story... although some might say it is too simple, too obvious plot! Vampires and Pirates in the same story! Who wouldn't love this story! It is easy to read. It will keep young adults hooked in the series.

I liked this story from the beginning: a stormy night, a lighthouse, a song of a vampirates, twins whose mother is unknown, a mysterious ship in storm,...!!!
WOW! Suspense and mystery starts right away! Young adults will love this story and the following books.
And then what happens: A vicious storm separates the twins, Connor and Grace Tempest, destroying their boat and leaving them fighting for their lives in the sea.
Connor was picked up by one of the more notorious pirate ships and he finds himself wielding a cutlass.
Grace ends up to be onboard of a more mysterious, sinister ship...possibly the same one she saw the first stormy night... She is assured that she will be okay just as long as she follows the captain's rules...
No more spoilers..

I would recommend this to all readers who like vampires, fantasy, suspence, pirates!

I LOVED this book! It was wonderfully written, and well developed. I am usually a slow reader, but i read this book in about 3 hours, and I could not put it down!

if you have read the other reviews with low ratings, don't pay attention to them. They complain about it being in the year 2215, and not being modern enough, but the thing is, the author keeps talking about the "old cities before the flood". and how beautiful they used to be... all before a flood. so im assuming that those who read the book didn't catch that. so obviously, there's no arguing point there.

Yes, it took a while to get into the book (about 2 chapters or so), but that's how it is with most books. If you are debating reading it, i would say to go ahead. you will fall in love with the characters and the plot. There are many hints as to what will happen in the second book (Vampirates: Tide of Terror (Vampirates)), and i can't wait until it comes out.

if i could, i would have rated this book an 8 or 9 out of 5! it is the best book i've ever read! (which is saying a LOT.)

i definitely recommend this book to any reader who loves fantasy, action or adventure books.

This definitely reads like a first book and I sort of wonder if it was published in a hurry to fill the vampire/pirate adventure niche first. The setup is a bit like the beginning of the Lemony Snicket series with two orphans cast into the cruel world, but in this case the setup feels very provisional like the author was obligated to write it to get to the story. There is basically no character development. There is also very little suspense since it is clear to the reader that one twin will end up on a pirate ship and one with Vampirates. The vampires are not particularly fearsome and the pirates even less so, to the point where they are not really believable as pirates. In fact, the actions of the characters and the world they exist in did not feel particularly believable or solid to me, but the story was fast enough that I kept reading.

It is an easy enough read to be appropriate for very young people (full disclosure - I am an adult who likes to read YA books), so perhaps they would enjoy it more than I did. At least I believe it was more interesting than the Glasgow phone directory, which is all I have to be thankful for here. Of course, I haven't read the Glasgow phone directory.

This is both a horror and adventure story. It is a fantastic read - I couldn't put it down! Seriously, I couldn't! If you liked the Alex Rider series (by Anthony Horowitz) then you'll love this. You'll be itching to know what happens to the Tempest twins, Grace and Conner. After being separated in a storm, will the life of a 26th Century pirate take Conner's fancy? Or will Grace be forever doomed on the dreaded Vampirate ship? The only way to find out is to read this fab book...

The first installment in the Vampirates series was completely enjoyable. Vampires and Pirates are two of my favorite things, so putting them together was pure genius. It was a quick read that completely captured my attention. I loved the original storyline, and the shanty is definitely catchy. It has been floating around in my head for days now!

I found the main characters, Connor and Grace, to be lovable, and the bond that they share is sweet. I loved the mysteriousness of the Vampirate ship even while Grace was aboard it. I especially liked the vampirate, Lorcan because he genuinely cares about Grace, and I liked how he took it upon himself to protect her. The only down side is that I would have liked to learn more about the Vampirates and their mysterious captain, but maybe that will appear in future books. I have already started the second book in the series, Tide of Terror, and so far not much on the Vampirates side of things, but hopefully that will change soon.

I loved Vampirates because I love pirates ... even at the age of 10. It was a mixture of horror, sadness, and complete adventure. I think the setting in 2505 was great but that it is weird that pirates would still be around in the future. For anybody thinking about getting this book, I give it 10 stars. So tell all your friends to get it because I am sure they will love it as I did. I can't wait to get the next book Vampirates: Tides of Terror!

If I were in middle school, I don't know if I'd have gotten through this series, but as an adult, I enjoyed it a lot, overall. Vampires and pirates - how could it miss? The main characters are interesting, their situations imaginative, and the background characters unique.

My only complaint would be that the romantic thread dragged things down. Less detail in that area would have helped the series maintain the adventurous, high imagination tone.

Really imaginative stuff here, though! Loved it!