A review by tilly_wizard
Die for You by Lauren Jackson
adventurous
fast-paced
1.5
This was kind of a wild ride and not necessarily in a good way, but the author did make a couple of unexpected choices and it's always a novelty to be taken by surprise while reading contemporary genre trash.
I will get my worst indictment out of the way first, which is to say that this book includes multiple of those loathsome conversations which have become ubiquitous in contemporary/urban fantasy/romance, where, upon being introduced to some aspect of the supernatural world, the characters exclaim over how this (fairly bog-standard) fantasy setting isn't at all like the silly fantasy books they've read (or films they've watched, etc). This always comes off as the author protesting too much in defense of their own originality, and it's particularly egregious in the case of this book, which is being explicitly marketed as a combination of two other hugely famous vampire stories that have so far defined early 21st century vampire fiction.
Unfortunately, as a pastiche of The Vampire Diaries (TV version) and Twilight (which is the big selling point proclaimed on the back of the book), it isn't very good.
Most notably, the vampires aren't hundreds of years old, which isn't exactly a hate-crime against vampire fiction as a subgenre, but it does feel a bit like missing the point and consequently I think this will miss the mark for a lot of readers (e.g. me) who are fascinated by vampires/demons/gods/wizards etc etc because of the fact that they've experienced so much of the histories of their worlds in a way that can never be truly comprehended by us mere mortal readers. From a wish-fulfillment angle, this guy (Hunter) has the supernatural handsomeness and thuggish SJM-style slavering "protectiveness" over his "mate" which obviously a lot of people are into, and he speaks Italian which I think is supposed to give him some classic European aristo appeal (lmao), but I wouldn't be able to pester him to tell me about (say, for example) his personal philosophical debates about the nature of damnation with Dante Aligheri in the 13th century, so he wouldn't do anything for me even if I wasn't super gay.
The best aspects of TVD are the complex of relationships between the sprawling cast of characters, all of whom reflect various facets of one another (e.g. the initial conflict between the Salvatore brothers contrasts Elijah's touching but self-destructive loyalty to Klaus; the initial portrayal of Stefan as the friendly, self-loathing vampire and Damon as the hedonistic monster is upended by the reveals of Stefan's past identity as 'the Ripper' and Damon's tragic idealism; Elena's genuine friendship with Bonnie is contrasted with Katherine's dubious alliance with Emily; and so on), and the sense of place and time (both present and past) which is imbued into the town of Mystic Falls, which greatly increases the emotional stakes for both the characters and the audience, in this series of constant battles to save not just the people they love, but also this beloved home. Admittedly, by modern expectations the show did a fucking awful job of approaching the town's Confederate history with anywhere near the appropriate level of sensitivity, but the point is that a great deal of effort was put into developing the setting.
This book doesn't have the benefit of either of those creative choices - the handful of characters are quite shallow and it's a short book so we don't see much of most of them, and even scenes that should be "easy wins" for character-building aren't made use of because everything (other than the sex scenes of course) is so vaguely sketched (e.g. the characters watch movies but we are never even told what the movie is about, let alone how the characters feel about it); the romance leans very heavily on the overpowering attraction of magical vampire mating bond and the physical sexiness of the characters in lieu of emotional depth. Notably, quite a lot of pages are spent on developing the various relationships of the one character who dies at the end; on the one hand, this is a good thing because as a result he does feel like an actual main character who is part of the core cast group and not just a prop (even though he is blatantly death-flagged), but on the other hand, all those pages were spent on relationships which almost inevitably aren't going to matter much in the sequel, except as a memory.
The setting which gives its name to the series is the town (and vampire haven) of Red Thorne, but Raya is a stranger in town, and half the story (including the climactic showdown) takes place out of town anyway, so there's no exploration of the local quirks or history of the place.
The POV rotates amongst Raya and Hunter and an unnamed third character called "The Predator" (strangely, he remains unnamed in the chapter titles even after his identity has been revealed), who is stalking our heroes with some kind of violent intent, leading one to naturally assume that "The Predator" must be Hunter's evil brother Kian,
Definitely the most surprising aspect of this story was that
I am so torn about this because generally I fucking hate love triangles but considering the inspirational source material for this book it feels like such a waste of a character. I consider TVD to be one of the only good love triangle (or square) premises ever ("premise", not necessarily "execution") because the story is just as much about the reconciliation of the brothers as it is about which one Elena will end up with, with the romantic drama between Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Katherine being the catalyst for that.
All that being said, the first Vampire Diaries book wasn't anything particularly special either, and arguably neither was the first Twilight book, so where there's sequels there's hope.
I will get my worst indictment out of the way first, which is to say that this book includes multiple of those loathsome conversations which have become ubiquitous in contemporary/urban fantasy/romance, where, upon being introduced to some aspect of the supernatural world, the characters exclaim over how this (fairly bog-standard) fantasy setting isn't at all like the silly fantasy books they've read (or films they've watched, etc). This always comes off as the author protesting too much in defense of their own originality, and it's particularly egregious in the case of this book, which is being explicitly marketed as a combination of two other hugely famous vampire stories that have so far defined early 21st century vampire fiction.
Unfortunately, as a pastiche of The Vampire Diaries (TV version) and Twilight (which is the big selling point proclaimed on the back of the book), it isn't very good.
Most notably, the vampires aren't hundreds of years old, which isn't exactly a hate-crime against vampire fiction as a subgenre, but it does feel a bit like missing the point and consequently I think this will miss the mark for a lot of readers (e.g. me) who are fascinated by vampires/demons/gods/wizards etc etc because of the fact that they've experienced so much of the histories of their worlds in a way that can never be truly comprehended by us mere mortal readers. From a wish-fulfillment angle, this guy (Hunter) has the supernatural handsomeness and thuggish SJM-style slavering "protectiveness" over his "mate" which obviously a lot of people are into, and he speaks Italian which I think is supposed to give him some classic European aristo appeal (lmao), but I wouldn't be able to pester him to tell me about (say, for example) his personal philosophical debates about the nature of damnation with Dante Aligheri in the 13th century, so he wouldn't do anything for me even if I wasn't super gay.
The best aspects of TVD are the complex of relationships between the sprawling cast of characters, all of whom reflect various facets of one another (e.g. the initial conflict between the Salvatore brothers contrasts Elijah's touching but self-destructive loyalty to Klaus; the initial portrayal of Stefan as the friendly, self-loathing vampire and Damon as the hedonistic monster is upended by the reveals of Stefan's past identity as 'the Ripper' and Damon's tragic idealism; Elena's genuine friendship with Bonnie is contrasted with Katherine's dubious alliance with Emily; and so on), and the sense of place and time (both present and past) which is imbued into the town of Mystic Falls, which greatly increases the emotional stakes for both the characters and the audience, in this series of constant battles to save not just the people they love, but also this beloved home. Admittedly, by modern expectations the show did a fucking awful job of approaching the town's Confederate history with anywhere near the appropriate level of sensitivity, but the point is that a great deal of effort was put into developing the setting.
This book doesn't have the benefit of either of those creative choices - the handful of characters are quite shallow and it's a short book so we don't see much of most of them, and even scenes that should be "easy wins" for character-building aren't made use of because everything (other than the sex scenes of course) is so vaguely sketched (e.g. the characters watch movies but we are never even told what the movie is about, let alone how the characters feel about it); the romance leans very heavily on the overpowering attraction of magical vampire mating bond and the physical sexiness of the characters in lieu of emotional depth. Notably, quite a lot of pages are spent on developing the various relationships of the one character who dies at the end; on the one hand, this is a good thing because as a result he does feel like an actual main character who is part of the core cast group and not just a prop (even though he is blatantly death-flagged), but on the other hand, all those pages were spent on relationships which almost inevitably aren't going to matter much in the sequel, except as a memory.
The setting which gives its name to the series is the town (and vampire haven) of Red Thorne, but Raya is a stranger in town, and half the story (including the climactic showdown) takes place out of town anyway, so there's no exploration of the local quirks or history of the place.
The POV rotates amongst Raya and Hunter and an unnamed third character called "The Predator" (strangely, he remains unnamed in the chapter titles even after his identity has been revealed), who is stalking our heroes with some kind of violent intent, leading one to naturally assume that "The Predator" must be Hunter's evil brother Kian,
Spoiler
but in the climactic battle, it turns out "The Predator" is actually a hitherto unknown vampire seeking to avenge his murdered family.Definitely the most surprising aspect of this story was that
Spoiler
it doesn't appear to be working towards a love triangle, and that Kian is regarded purely as a 'psychopathic' villain, seemingly without any sympathetic hidden depths. There is a suggestion that he has Daddy Issues but it was throwaway enough that I don't expect we're going to get a second book full of psychoanalysis about it.I am so torn about this because generally I fucking hate love triangles but considering the inspirational source material for this book it feels like such a waste of a character. I consider TVD to be one of the only good love triangle (or square) premises ever ("premise", not necessarily "execution") because the story is just as much about the reconciliation of the brothers as it is about which one Elena will end up with, with the romantic drama between Stefan, Damon, Elena, and Katherine being the catalyst for that.
All that being said, the first Vampire Diaries book wasn't anything particularly special either, and arguably neither was the first Twilight book, so where there's sequels there's hope.