Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Paranormal, Vampire
Edition: Softcover
Page Count: 624
Pub. Date: August 4, 2009
Series: Book 1
Reading Challenge: 2010 YA Challenge
My Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Amazon.com: 4 stars
Goodreads: 3.79 (Average)
Recommended For: Older Teens & Adults, Gritty vampire/paranormal readers
Book Summary:
Alisa has been in control of her urges for the five thousand years she has been a vampire. She feeds but does not kill, and she lives her life on the fringe to maintain her secret. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must break her own rules in order to survive.
Her quest leads her to Ray. He is the only person who can help her; he also has every reason to fear her. Alisa must get closer to him to ensure her immortality. But as she begins to fall in love with Ray, suddenly there is more at stake than her own life....
My Thoughts:
First off, I know this claims to be a Young Adult read, but I'd recommend it for older teens. There are elements in the book that are for more mature readers. Now, for my review...
This one was a bit of a hit or miss with me. Sometimes I enjoyed it, other times I was ready to set the book aside and start reading something else. But, for the most part, I did like it. I bought this book on a whim, having only seen it once or twice around the blogosphere, and let me tell you - you won't find any sparkly vampires here.
The leading character, a Miss Alisa Perne, is a 5,000 year old vampire who befriended some of the most accomplished artists, scholars, and influential people of the centuries. I found her history to be a most intriguing plot point in the storyline. One thing Alisa doesn't lack is tenacity. And my, does she have it ten-fold. Her cruelty and cunning personality are both amazing and ruthless. She's not your average leading female protagonist who you can relate to and/or empathize with. But her unforgivable nature is what makes her such a memorable character. In a way, you kinda just want to hate her at times - not going to lie.
The writing was most interesting in the fact that the prose often reached a poetical plateau, in a sense, that I just wasn't expecting. Every chapter is very much too the point. At times it almost read like a journal entry - or like you were hearing Alisa speak the words from her own lips. It gives the reader(s) an interesting look at her thought process.
The aspect that threw me the most was the mythological part of the story. Krishna? Vashnu? Huh? More than once I had struggled with the idea of skipping those chapters entirely, but because they were so laced with Alisa's past, I couldn't - not without jeopardizing the story anyway. In the end, intrigue won out and I thought it was an interesting part of the book. Definitely a unique twist in a vampire story.
Overall consensus: Thirst is a dark and gritty vampire book with unique mythological aspects, some - yet very little romance, and plenty of violence. Not cutthroat by any means, but there are some explosions, copious amounts of fighting, and some folks losing their heads. If you're looking for a light read, look elsewhere. But if you want a book that deals with vampires like they should be (ruthless paranormal creatures) then this is a book to be added to your "TBR" pile. Although I won't go as far as saying it's a "must-read".
8 comments:
Ug, glad you liked it. I had a horrible time trying to read this, I couldn't even finish it, which is unusual for me.
Elie (Ellz Readz)
Fantastic review!
@Elie - I definitely was skeptical at times, even annoyed where the book was going, but a part of me enjoyed the change of pace. The mythology really threw me but I think the pros outweighed the cons. Sorry you couldn't finish it. I hate when I come across books that make me feel that way.
Hum. I don't really like much violence. I prefer my dark-romantics vampires. Hhehe. Thanks for the review!
This is on my TBR list, but I have read a few chapters of it and the chapters I read I enjoyed. Thanks for awesome review :)
I've been wondering about this book. Great review. You've given me a lot to think about!
This is still way more interesting than reading about vampires that go all glittery in daylight. I loved the use of mythology.
i have read this book when i was in high school, which was 15 years ago, and i loved it so much...part 6 was kinda weird,but overall its just a must read for me.
I kinda understand the review given and the comments given why people won't dive on it the way i did back then. Late 90s, there were so few vampire books. Well not a lot of choices in general. So for me at that time, it was great, and highly memorable that even up to now, I still love it.. I still had my old copies and even bought the new ones...
In this generation however, after twilight series and hundreds of other vampire books, it will be kind of hard to love the series. People got used to sexy vampires. Vampire books are more enclined to romance.
And there is definitely not alot of romance in the Last Vampire series... But the action is packed, the twists are totally at a deeper level than most vampire books... And i have read alot of the books out there...
Yeah the Krishna thing will kind blow you off since its not a topic that everyone knows about.. A lot of it actually made sense, coming from a christian point of view.
What im trying to say is, how we perceive things can be greatly affected by the things around us, media and culture.
Im sad this book is not selling as it should in its reprint because its such a great book, but the timing might not be right and Alisa might just not be people's cup of tea these days....especially the teenagers who is the audience bulk of alot of vampire novels.
In conclusion, im still hoping people will like it! Thirst 3 is really good, so you guys who are still reading it, finish it.. lol!!!
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