Why Light? is the short story that rounds out the Teeth collection. And it was kind of a nice way to end out this anthology if vampire stories. It was surprisingly sweet and cute. Not even remotely what I expected from the author and / or the start of the story.
I really like the idea of ‘sun kissed’ vampires and ‘healing’ vampires. It was a little less gothic and aggressive than I was expecting, which was kind of a nice change of pace. Plus, the idea of these two vampire types joining together was kind of fantastic. I’d read more about this in the future.
Although this story didn’t actually end with a ‘happy ending’, there were lots of hints to it. Because I’m an optimist and a romantic, I choose to believe that there was a happily ever after in the books for these two… even if they’re both taking a huge leap of faith and trust into the unknown.
This short story jumps around a little bit in timeliness and apace, but it gives this constant sense of a life without hope. Its kind of depressing and sad to read at times. But also enjoyable – who needs happy stories ALL the time?
I like that the ending of this tale is open and full of potential for a future. It might be a bit vague as to which / what future is likely to be chosen, there is still something on the horizon for the lead character.
Louise / Ellen is definitely a character who is going to sink or swim on her own. The way she is able to stand on her own feet and manipulate others makes me think that there’s going to be a lucrative future for her. But still… there is a naivety to her actions that makes me want to know how she goes on her own…
This is one of the few short stories in the Teeth collection that I’ve put on my horror shelf. Because it is way, way creepier and disturbed than I was expecting. I mean, the narrator voice is downright messed up, and the fact that it’s all coming from the body of a little girl? Disturbed. And yet, I loved it.
I think part of what made this story so creepy is that it is literally a list of rules to make the ‘perfect’ dinner party. It starts off kind of archaic, but understandable. Then, the sinister undertones become more and more obvious. I mean, you know that it’s about a vampire because of the collection its in. But the obvious brain washing and dated etiquette starts to make it a little more… uncomfortable.
It’s kind of easy to like Charles throughout this story. Probably because he is shown through the lens of a doting sister. And, he’s not quite creepy. But the sister? The narrator? Damn is she terrifying, I mean, it would be scary being turned at 14. But I just had these porcelain doll kind of vibes the whole way through this. I get shivers up my spine just thinking about it.
I’m always up to read a good poem. Mostly because they have so many layers and interpretations. It doesn’t matter how often I read a poem, depending on my mood, the weather, etc. I get something else out of the words that I didn’t find before.
The main words that came to me when reading this poem was curfews and darkness. There was something almost gothic and restrictive about the prose. I loved the mystery that it added to my reading.
Then there was the theme of constantly moving and hiding. Constantly learning new things. And always having to shift about. I can’t imagine being immortal and this constant shifting and darkness just reinforced that idea.
There are a lot of books on my shelves that have some kind of age gap. But, the age gap in this story is definitely a whole lot bigger. Probably because it’s between a college girl and a vampire. So that kind of makes sense. I’ve read a lot of fantasy books that feature this kind of age gap. But, for some reason, in this short story, that just felt slightly… wrong.
I think part of the reason that the age gap and relationship in this story felt wrong was that it felt kind of like the girl was being used. She definitely had feelings for the older vampire, but he didn’t seem to have them for her. It was an interesting story, but I definitely felt bad for the young girl. She even seemed to be aware of the fact that she was just being used to pass the time / decades…
There is so much history that must be seen by an immortal. I too would want to ask a thousand questions. So being constantly told “I forget” would drive me absolutely bonkers. I mean, seriously? So much knowledge, and no chance of having ANY of it shared? Even reading this drove me a little bit nuts…
As keen as I’ve been to actually get into this series (I love some of the older urban fantasy / vampire books), it took me 1) forever to actually pick this up and 2) a little while to actually get into this storyline. I love that Anita’s background (both socially and genetically) is quite a mystery from the very beginning, and it makes you ask a whole lot of questions from the very first page. But, it did take quite a bit to get into the actual action. I appreciated all of the work that Hamilton went to to actually set up the whole background story and this world. But it was also somewhat slow going to get there. Having said that, as soon as I FINALLY started to get into the action, this became a very hard book to put down.
As much as I might lament how long it took to get into the action of this story, I did seriously love how this is the beginning to a series. From the very first page you can feel all the things that Hamilton is trying to set up in her storyline. That there is going to be reveal after reveal throughout the series. There are just so many secrets, not just in some of Anita’s partial immunity, but also what kind of connection she now has to some of the master vampires in the city, the politics that she’s facing going forwards, and whether we’re going to see the rat king again. I also loved that although it’s obvious that Anita has some extra-ness to a normal human, she’s also so completely human. In fact, throughout most the story she tends to lament how human she is and what danger she is placing herself in. The battle is won by intelligence and trickery, not brute force, the only way to win against a bigger and scarier opponent.
I have a lot of urban fantasy / vampire books on my shelves that I truly love reading. However, most of them are most definitely a lot less adult in feeling than this one. There is talk about sex clubs, orgies and fetishes. All things that are not as blatantly addressed in many of my other books. Which, of course is part of what I loved about this. I mean, a lot of people sexualise vampirism today, so why not include that in a story which actually features these beasties? I love how it is such an uncomfortable relationship in this book – the woman who hunts the vampires and the people who fetishise them. There’s a wish to not totally ignore each other and be a total dick, but also serious discomfort which left me feeling a bit uncomfortable on reading some of these scenes too.
Although this was a slow start and it took me a while to fall in love, once I did, I dived right in. I can’t wait to read The Laughing Corpse and hopefully have a few of my lingering questions about Anita answered. Although, I’m sure that there will then be a whole slew of new questions to ask…
I laughed so much throughout this story. It was hilarious and pithy and sassy. Everything I like in a short story that is designed to just sweep you away for a little while. I should have gotten from the title that I would find this humorous, but as the story unfolded I just found everything more and more entertaining.
Bringing families together can always be a fairly intimidating thing to do. It’s almost always slightly chaotic, but the pure, unadulterated chaos in this story was of a whole other kind. The fact that it was going to be chaotic due to the secrets that Rafe was hiding anyway, started it off on a good note. But then the fact that his family basically got Mai’s tightly buttoned crew high… such a ridiculous story. Honestly, everything about this was funnily ridiculous.
I loved this short story. It was a fun and chaotic Christmas family time. Mixing in the paranormal, secrets and drugs… a recipe for pure enjoyment and chaos.
I always forget how damn funny and pithy Davidson’s writing is. She’s sassy and delightful, with enough lust and excitement to count as a great paranormal romance. Mostly though, I just really, really love the sass with which she writes female characters. Diving into this novella made me remember why I rushed to buy Undead and Unwed in the first place (and then haven’t quite gotten around to reading it yet…)
I must admit, Burke is a bit of an oddbod from the very beginning of this story. I mean, he’s eating class and then chewing on tires… I thought he’d get a little more normal as the storyline went on. But he really, really didn’t. And that total oddness totally grew on me. He was pretty entertaining, and totally down with vengeful murder. Which, again, I loved.
As somewhat of a klutz myself, I can totally imagine somehow falling into a hole. And then getting stuck, there. Sierra’s refusal to get out and her biting retorts to Burke when he tries to help just cemented my love for her. I mean, she falls into a hole and then out sasses the man who tries to rescue her? How could you not love this?
Reading this novella just reminded me how much I want to dive into the Undead / Queen Betsy series. I have loved all of the novellas that I’ve been able to read, but now I want a full-length version…
Although this is a story that takes place in the Mageverse series and gives a bit more context to the storyline. At its core, this is a great story about someone breaking the patterns of abuse. Not just finding her true love and a happily ever after but figuring out a way to escape the abuse of not only a stalker man, but her own damn father. I loved the romance in this, but I also loved how Elena is able to break a truly horrible cycle that doesn’t often get broken.
The use of werewolves and vampires in the Mageverse series is completely unique and awesome. I haven’t actually read any of the full-length novels as of yet, but every time I pick up a novella, I can’t quite figure out why I haven’t done that yet. The fact that werewolves were “created” as a check and balance for the vampires was incredibly fun. So not only do I want more of Elena and Lucas, but I just want more of the Mageverse werewolves in general.
I loved Elena for her strength of character in a ridiculous situation, but I also just loved Lucas. He is ridiculously yummy, and although I don’t necessarily subscribe to the whole idea of a man coming to my rescue… I can’t imagine not wanting Lucas to come my way… I mean, good man, yummy chest, set God… who wouldn’t want that?
The ending of this is completely predictable in so many ways. Particularly the Spirit Link. Although, I was surprised at a few of the conclusions to the other relationships in this. A wonderful novella, one that I seriously enjoyed.
This was a wonderful short story, but not featuring the paranormal creatures I was expecting. Rather than being about the fae, this was a story of vampires. And it was brilliant. Nothing sexy and desirable about it, all blood and revenge. My kind of vampire tale.
This story had a very vampire noir feel to it. It was a totally different style to what I have been reading thus far from Marr, but I absolutely adored the dark and twisty nature of it. I’m not sure why, but as I read this, I was picturing the 20s flapper style clothing and hard-boiled detectives running around in the background. Even though neither thing was even touched upon in this story.
This whole story featured a ridiculously vicious cycle. Honestly, it started out as filled with the potential for a semi-decent relationship, but that quickly went away. Ending in a fairly dark and twisty conclusion which starts the vicious circle all over again.
Earth and Skye 