Warning - This Review Contains Spoilers - Spoilers Section Will Be Warned Ahead Of Time
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!
In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.
Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page."
Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite is an anthology compiled by Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker.
As the title states, vampires really never do get old. I love vampire stories, so I was rather excited to read this. I was a bit hesitant though as anthologies tend to be hit or miss.
Overall, I rather liked this anthology. It was a mixed bag of some that I liked more than others, and, as they are short stories, a lot of them were left open-ended. As I hate open-endings, I really hope to read more about some of the stories in the future, especially since a lot of them had really interesting concepts.
My thoughts on all of the stories are below. They do contain some spoilers though (as they are only short stories), so proceed with caution.
Spoilers Ahead
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Seven Nights for Dying by Tessa Gratton:
This girl clearly has specific priorities if she wants to become a vampire. She's like well damn, I guess I have to lose some weight if I'm stuck in this body for eternity. This one I didn't like very much, I liked the after by the editors better than the actual story...
The Boys from Blood River by Rebecca Roanhorse:
This one had an interesting story. Originally I was happy because it's Rebecca Roanhorse so we had some indigenous rep, but now seeing that she may be problematic I don't know how to feel about this...
Senior Year Suck by Julie Murphy:
Slayers are an interesting subject since in my eyes you can portray them in two different ways. You get the ones who only kill those who harm others, or the ones who just kill all of them.
I would be down to read more of this one cause a slayer/vampire romance is a yes from me. There's also body positivity and LGBTQ representation which is nice.
The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig:
I knew that Victorians had a proclivity to accidentally bury people alive so they made the coffins with bells attached to them. So seeing this used as a concept for a vampire story was interesting. We've got trans rep in this one as well.
A Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed:
Well, this one was a lot of fun. It combined humour with a technological take on vampires. It is also set in India and breathes its culture onto the pages, and tackled colonialism as well.
In Kind by Kayla Whaley:
This story put forth some important messages. For one, there is the conversation about disability and 'mercy killing.' Secondly, after Grace was transformed her body remained the same and she was grateful for that fact. I like how in the author's anecdote, they said "Being yourself, even when undead, is pretty powerful."
Vampires Never Say Die by Zoraida Cordova and Natalie C. Parker:
This one I didn't like as much compared to the others. I did like how there were rules the vampires had to follow, but that was completely undermined by what the mc did.
Bestiary by Laura Ruby:
This one was just meh. Everything about this was just too subtle. The vampire aspect was barely there as well as the similarities to mad max and black mirror.
Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by Mark Oshiro:
Yess, this one actually mentions why vampires couldn't be seen in old mirrors. I'm not too big of a fan of stories like this. When the mc has rules to follow but they act out against them out of spite. I have zero sympathy for them if something happens.
The House of Black Sapphires by Dhonielle Clayton:
This one has some interesting beings that I would like to know more about. The Shadow Barons seem like a cool concept.
First Kill by V.E. Schwab:
Another f/f hunter/vampire story. This one has two people looking to make their first kill on each other. It, as with many short stories, ended more abruptly than I wanted it to.
Comments