I’m right there with the vampire genre.

Bram Stoker, Keifer Sutherland, Boris Karloff, David Bowie, Keanu and Winona, Buffy and Angel. I even read all the Anne Rice books, that’s how willing I was to put suspenders on my disbelief and buy into the whole terrifying-bloodsucker-with-awesome-hair-who-lives-forever-and-always-bites-the-girl-in-the-end thing.

Which makes it a little surprising that I hadn’t joined the queue of squealy fourteen year old girls writhing about in front of the Twilight books. For some reason it didn't really cross my radar until after the movie had started its hysterical hype and Robert Whatshisname’s face was doing its best Byronesque scowls (hang on while I rearrange my hair, ok is this pretentious enough?) out of every magazine rack.

It kinda put me off and it wasn't until I got poleaxed by the flu last week and was casting about for something very undemanding to read that I finally read the entire saga. (The fact that I read the entire saga, by the way, is no reflection on how good they were, I have read far, far worse books, and all their sequels. I never know why but I suspect it’s something akin to the reason people keep watching Neighbours year after year.)

As vampire books go, it’s got ticks in all the boxes: misunderstood heroine whose true beauty cannot be seen or appreciated by normal human eyes? Check. Various dangers from which helpless heroine needs supernatural rescue? Check? Dark, brooding, tormented vampire lover who could kill her in a heartbeat but struggles to overcome his rampant bloodlust because of the great star-crossed love a several hundred year old overeducated vampire feels for a teenage girl? Check. Evil vampire/werewolf/other supernatural baddies trying to kill helpless girl? Check. Dark, damp, mysterious surroundings? Check. Etc etc cliché cliché cliche …

Having said all that, the books are actually not terrible. The writing is a little slow at times, but the characters and plot, while unsurprising, are still interesting enough to carry you through. I have to say that I expected it to be a lot worse than it was (hello Anne Rice if you’re watching).

It’s not something you would want to waste your time with if you like serious literature, but for a week on the couch with a box of tissues and a shitload of codral, you could do a lot worse.

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