How did PJ get this book?
Wal-Mart & Rebecca Maizel

Purchase:

BookDepository
Amazon.com

 Stalk the Author:

Web |
Blog |
Twitter

Rating:



This review is part of BlogwithBite.com

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

PJVs QUICKIE POV: I have to admit, I read this book for the first time and wasn't blown away, but it  burrowed under my skin like a beetle. It stuck with me, it ate away at me, I thought about it and replayed scenes? WTH? Then I won the audio book, so, even though I had just read the book I listened. And I listened. Maybe it was my state of mind while reading - or maybe I rushed through it - or maybe the voice of the reader {Justine Eyre} who was two shades of freaking awesome, but I was completely and utterly impressed. I think it was a little bit of allowing it to steep and then the revisit sank it home. The book was excellent, vampires are not "out" - Rebecca Maizel proves that they just might be here to stay.

REVIEW: The statement when reading/listening to this book that went through my head a lot, was that this was Twilight's anti-thesis. The main character/vamp is a female, Lenah Beaudonte, the baddest of the bad, Lenah terrorized England for 500 years. She formed a tight coven around her for the sole purpose of being unstoppable. These vampires don't sparkle. They kill. They have no feelings besides the ones that make them better predators, they have lost all sense of touch, limited smelling ability, and their entire existence is painful. 

Lenah is on the cusp of insanity and she makes a decision, she wants to become human again. The process is deadly though and takes 100 years - and their is no guarantee.

She awakens 100 years later in the modern era, a human, confused about modern life. She is forced to attend a mortal high school to blend and hide from her coven and immersed in human life she finally gets to experience life, the human life that was stolen from her.

Like I said at first, the supposed idiosyncrasies stuck out like a sore thumb to me. Like why would a 500 year old vampire have to attend high school? Secondly, why would a 500 year old killer let stupid 16 year old girls bully her? Those kind of got into my "craw" so-to-speak, but then on deeper reflection I began to realize that there really are two people, Lenah the vampire and Lenah the human.  These aren't your soul-possessing, hugable, lovable vamps -  upon the change into vampire all humanity is lost - so technically, while Lenah is in possession of her vampire memories, she really is a "new" person. So, once I ditched that POV I was able to embrace the novel, immerse myself in Maizel's voice - which is simply poetic - and revel in the underlying story which actually holds a very deep message. 

Beautiful character portrayal, writing that drips upon the paper like caramel and a very interesting interpretation of the vampire - Infinite Days is the embodiment of the great YA that is being published as of late.  Hats off to Ms. Maizel for an exceptional debut. Read the book, or get the audio book, they were both excellent.

RECOMMENDATIONS: There are some darker topics that are covered in this novel. I recommend the book for mature teens. Fans of books such as Twilight, Vampire Academy and The House of Night series should enjoy.

RUMINATIONS: This is for the spoiler area!

I actually had a fascination for having Lenah hook up with Tony. I wanted to see that happen and was actually tragically affected by the end turn-out. Why did you do it Ms. Maizel?? Ack! Then to top it off, I was horror-struck by the end - but then was quickly relieved of that horror by the "excerpt" from book 2 which canceled the ending. Who thought that one up??? Ruins the suspense and slavering need to rush out and buy book 2. You could have given a little time between the release of this one and the excerpt being released. IMHO.