Editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling have created an interesting if yet still ancillary addition to mass of vampiric literature that has flooded the young adult collections. Readers will recognize some of the heavy-weights of teen literature such as Cecil Castelucci, Neil Gaiman, and Garth Nix; interspersed with lesser known names to truly cover the gamut of alternative vampire lore. Datlow and Windling have selected titles that range from entertaining and inventive to down right creepy; such as Sunbleached by Nathan Ballingrud, in which a teenage boy imprisons and tortures a vampire in the crawl space underneath his house only to have the tables turned once the sun has gone down.
While many of the selections take the vampire lore to imaginative places, others are overly predictable, or in one case down-right random; such as Christopher Barzak’s Gap Year. In which, Barzak introduces reader to a world which a multitude of vampire-types exists, including vampires that fed on a variety of things including darkness, tree bark, human voices, attention, and even feelings, many of which go unnoticed by their human carriers until their specific “hunger” appears. This premise leads readers to assume everyone in a vampire of sort, and to feel less than satisfied when they discover that the heroine is one as well.
While other vampire novels are entering the market daily, this collection of short stories are for the most part entertaining and are sure to excite readers hungry for more vampire literature, the misses are few and overall this title is interesting enough to distinguish this title as a worthwhile Young Adult purchase.
While many of the selections take the vampire lore to imaginative places, others are overly predictable, or in one case down-right random; such as Christopher Barzak’s Gap Year. In which, Barzak introduces reader to a world which a multitude of vampire-types exists, including vampires that fed on a variety of things including darkness, tree bark, human voices, attention, and even feelings, many of which go unnoticed by their human carriers until their specific “hunger” appears. This premise leads readers to assume everyone in a vampire of sort, and to feel less than satisfied when they discover that the heroine is one as well.
While other vampire novels are entering the market daily, this collection of short stories are for the most part entertaining and are sure to excite readers hungry for more vampire literature, the misses are few and overall this title is interesting enough to distinguish this title as a worthwhile Young Adult purchase.
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