Nostalgia

9.
Title:The Last Vampire
Author: Christopher Pike
Pages: 195
Genre: YA Vampire
Medium: paperback
Acquisition: New edition (published in 2010, I believe)
Date Completed: January 11, 2012
Rating: ***

When I first found The Silver Kiss in the elementary school library when I was eight it sparked an interest in vampires, but when I first discovered Christopher Pike's The Last Vampire when I was ten, the interest was cast in iron. Alisa Perne - Sita - believes she is the last of an ancient tribe of vampires, the creation of which she accepts partial moral responsibility. When Alisa is contacted by a private detective she realizes that the knowledge of her existence is not the secret she believed it to be, and sets out to find just how much this mysterious person knows.

Unfortunately, an adult reading of The Last Vampire did not stand up to an adult reading (although I still intend to reread the entire series, since discovering two new books have been added to the series!). I have two distinct objections to the story: first, Alisa is a master of everything. From driving to the piano to world history to computers to welding, Alisa has mastered it all. It is certainly conceivable that a 5,000-year-old individual would become an expert in much, but the range and depth of her expertise is tedious. Calling for believability in a young adult vampire novel may seem a bit hypocritical, but even fictional vampires should seem like people - even if they are horribly damaged or highly skilled people. As an adult reader, I would like a true flaw, or at least the opportunity for the protagonist to learn something new.

Secondly, the narrative style became irksome very quickly. There is very little sentence variety in the book; the story is narrated in short, clipped sentences, so that it comes across as very weak screenwriting. While I can appreciate the clipped, "factual" relation of Alisa, I would have preferred to some warmth somewhere.

The Last Vampire series has been repackaged to take advantage of the rejuvenated market for teen paranormal romance; what I read as a series of six books has been republished in two volumes: Thirst numbers 1 and 2. And, after what I remember as a very definitive and distinct conclusion to the series, it appears Christopher Pike (or whatever author is now publishing under the name) has added two large novels to the series (The Eternal Dawn and The Shadow of Death).

I'm interested to see if my objections continue for the rest of the series - and likewise just what Pike has managed to do in volumes three and four.