Author: Pete Johnson
Release Date: 27th May 2012
Publisher: Corgi Yearling (Random House Children’s Books)
So you think you’re just a normal kid? So did I. There was nothing
strange or special about me... until the night of my thirteenth birthday.
That’s when the
bombshell hits. My parents have been hiding a huge, terrifying, life-changing
secret from me my whole life. They’re half vampires - and it turns out I’m
about to become one too. What. A. Nightmare.
Suddenly everything’s
changing. I’m growing fangs and getting cravings for my best friend’s blood. I
even smell weird... life totally sucks! But that’s not all. Vampires exist too –
and there’s nothing more delicious to a vampire than half-vampire blood. Things
are about to get extremely dangerous...
Marcus’ parents have just told him he is a half-vampire.
Which is if course a joke... isn’t it? Marcus has to deal with his annoying
cousin Karl as well as all the new cravings he experiences. His parents have
even given him a new half-vampire name! This tale follows Marcus on his journey
to become a half-vampire - will he make the change or is he determined to fight
his natural instincts and remain a mere mortal?
After reading the blurb I thought this book would be similar
to The Radleys by Matt Haig (http://lilypadlibraryuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/radleys-review.html).
However, I would suggest that this book is for younger teens as it was less sophisticated
than The Radleys, although it was by
no means less hilarious! Unlike The
Radleys, which was a black comedy, this book deals with vampirism in a
light hearted way with Marcus struggling to accept that he is a half vampire
who has suddenly started craving blood.
At the start of the book I struggled to sympathise with
Marcus’ character as he is so sarcastic! However, compared to his unsympathetic
parents and cousin who don’t seem to understand why he has an issue with
becoming a creature of the night, I began to like Marcus. The conclusion of
this book is brilliant and it shows a different side to Marcus and his friend
Tallulah which allowed me to get excited about the second book in this series.
I’m not sure that the blog format of this book was written
successfully. Marcus himself says that no one can ever read it and although it
allows the book to be written in first person, from Marcus’ point of view, I
felt that this format wasn’t really necessary. However, the blog format did
allow Marcus to interrupt his own writing and reflect on things that have
happened to him previously which was an interesting approach to Marcus’
emotional development as a character.
I am looking forward to the second book in this series as I
want to know more about Pete Johnson’s thoughts on the characteristics of
vampires and how Marcus manages to deal with this. Johnson reveals a twist at
the end of the story which was really unexpected and means the book is definitely
worth reading to the end. This tale
offers humour, sarcasm and a touch of romance as well as an interesting take on
what it means to be a vampire!
3.5/5 Deals with the difficulties of being a teenage
vampire.
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