The Reformed Vampire Support Group Catherine Jinks
328 pages; published 2009
328 pages; published 2009
Vampires are meant to be so glamorous and powerful, but I’m here to inform you that being a vampire is nothing like that. Not one bit. On the contrary, it’s like being stuck indoors with the flu watching daytime television, forever and ever.
If being a vampire were easy, there wouldn’t have to be a Reformed Vampire Support Group. (4)
Nina writes vampire novels; epic adventures in which her heroine, Zadia Bloodtone, is sexy and able to turn into a bat as she, yet again, save the day. Basically do and be everything that Nina is not. For Nina, being a vampire, especially a ‘reformed’ one, is far from glamorous: there’s the daily bouts of nausea, the constant haemorrhaging and the fact that surviving on a feast of guinea pigs is just, well, messy.
Somehow she could never imagine Zadia Bloodstone living her life.
She’s far from alone in this horrendous lifestyle, however, for the few vampires who live in Australia are part of the Reformed Vampire Support Group. While certainly an odd mix, they’ve come to depend on each other throughout the indignities of their existence.
But then one of their number is killed and their routine, if not comfortable, lives are upturned. There’s a vampire killer out there (and let’s face it, how to kill them isn’t exactly the world’s best kept secret) and who knows which one of them could be next.
The Reformed Vampire Support Group was in equal parts gross and hilarious. At the Sydney Writer’s Festival last month, Catherine Jinks said that she was tired of the perfect vampires and floating around and wanted to tell “the truth” of their existence. She certainly succeeded; these are vampires the likes of which I’ve never seen.
I’d recommend it as a nice alternative to some of the more glamorous or impressive vampire books out there – especially if you’d like something without the overwhelming romance, or are looking for something with a touch of humour. Though I should note that it is a touch dark in places and is very much geared at the 15-17 age bracket over the younger YA readers. 3.5/5
2 comments :
This looks like a pretty good book for me to read, especially since I'm tired of the perfect vampires too. Thanks for the review!
I'd never read another in the Twilight series, Meyer's vamps are too pretty, one dimensional and yes, I get the picture Stephanie, their hands are cold...I might give Jink's vamp a go though if there's not so much romance and more darkness - bring on the gore I say!
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