Concepts in modern vampire novels

I really wanted to write this blog for a very long time and today I have to write this otherwise I can't sleep.  It's 12.18am and I should be sleeping rather than sitting here and write this blog...

It all started with Twilight by Stephanie Myer.  It was my first time actually reading a book regarding to vampires realm.  My favourite genres are adventures, detectives and children fantasy.  Since Twilight I started to seek out most of the modern young adult vampire novels.

Vampire stories have gone back to centuries ago but for me I have only encountered a few series by modern authors.  These inlcude:

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  Claudia Gray - Evernight Series
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  L. J Smith - The Vampire Diaries
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  Melissa de la Cruz - Blue Bloods Series
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  P. C & Kristin Cast - House of Night Series
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  Richelle Mead - Vampire Academy Series
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  Stephanie Myer - Twilight Saga

So here I will only discuss the concepts these authors used in their stories.  Of course there are more theories introduced if I have a chance to read a wider range of books.

There are 6 main concepts I would like to compare between these stories.  In general, vampires need blood to stay healthy just like humans need our daily nutrition.  The main difference between these writers are some introduce the idea of vegetarian vampires who only feed on animal blood such as in The Vampire Diaries.

Oh and vampires are not invincible they can be killed by 3 main methods: decapitation, burning or by a wooden stake to the heart.  Mead suggests that vampires cannot go into direct sunlight otherwise they will be turn into dust, Smith claim that if they have a protective ring then they will be fine.  While Myer, Cast, Gray and de la Cruz have no problems of vampires roaming in broad daylight.

Now talking about the evolution and origin of vampires, this is the interesting part.  Most authors don't mention much about how or where they come from.  However, de la Cruz introduce that they are fallen angels, Myer briefly mention about a cause by a disease, Cast said it's genetic modification and I think Mead did mention something which I cannot remember.  I have to ask her again!

So who are vampires worst enemy? Both Myer and Smith stated werewolves, Gray and Smith also said vampire hunters.  Cast, de la Cruz and Mead claimed that the corrupted vampires - red blood, silver blood and strigoi respectively.

The majority of modern vampire stories are about romance.  Both Myer and Smith stories revolve around the two main characters, although their love is complicated but always happy ending.  Somehow I found it a bit cliche.  Since I have not finished the other 3 series but I guess most of the stories are happy ending.  I found Mead portrays a very tragic and complicated love story.  Gray and de la Cruz provide reader with a different kind of romance, a forbidden kind of love, which somehow is quite interesting.  Although Cast also mention the complication in the love relationship but it revolve too much about the main character and I think the story is too long, 12 books in total.  I sort of bored when I got to book 7.

Lastly, we want to know how will the vampire race survive?  Do they reproduce?  Well Smith and Cast did not mention on how they mate but Cast suggest there is a switch in junk human DNA and that's how they becomes vampyre.  Myer, Mead and de la Cruz suggest that they can mate with human (female) to give birth to a child.  Only Mead's offspring do not need to feed on human blood.  de la Cruz also mention about the souls cycling to keep them forever human turn vampire.  Mead also said that two vampires (moroi) can produce a vampire off-spring beside mating with a human.  The most interesting concept is Gray, she stated that vampire is the human-dead-half and ghost is the spirit-dead-half.  So to produce a child, it needs the power of both vampire and ghost, however, at certain age, the child will choose to become either a vampire or a ghost...but what will happen in the end? Will that child be human? I have to find out in the last book!

Having discuss these issues, I still think these stories are interesting in their own sense.  Each author has successfully captured the audience with their story-telling skills.  Far most of all, my best pick would be the Blue Bloods and the Vampire Academy series.  The stories are very unique, the concepts are unexpected and the actions and adventures are heart-throbbing, you could never put the book down once you started.  I have a hard time trying to get a good sleep once the book is opened.  Sometime I even stayed up almost all night to finish the book even though I know I have to go to work the next day.

Although the Twilight Saga introduced me to the vampire world, however, the second book really made me depressed.  Overall, it was a great series, however, I think it's too much Bella and Edward.  I like Jacob more, his love is unconditioning, well although a bit.  And I think Bella abused his feelings for her somehow.  I guess most of the heroines in these novels are spoilt like that.

Evernight series is very interesting and I find it similar to the storyline of Vampire Knight, a manga series by Matsuri Hino.  However, as the story progress it started to becomes unique in its own way.  The House of Night series really hooked me up at first but due to its long span in books I started to get tired of it.  Also with The Vampire Diaries, I really like the TV series, I think the plot there is better than the book.  Well the original 4 books was great but expanding to The Return series, I find it starting to bore me out although Smith has introduced other supernatural powers out there.  Some books are great if you just finished it off at a point.

Best of all, I vote for de la Cruz Blue Blood series because it focuses on 3 main heroines rather than 1, and they all have their own problems but it also follows their growth in life.  A highly recommended series to read!

Ok now it's getting very very late 1.26am.  I will be very dead at work tomorrow...I mean later today!!