Review: WWARVD? (What Would A Real Vampire Do?)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2011
On Halloween, when you pull on your cape, slide on those plastic fangs, and apply makeup, I'm sure you will be filled with thoughts of beauty and immortality that come with playing a vampire. But I want you to think about what a real vampire would be doing at that exact same moment.In Vampires Revealed, Bektamun, a 3000 year old vampire, takes us down a long and complex road of folklore, facts, fiction, and human history involving vampires. In a journal entry fashion, she spills all the inside secret laws, politics, behaviors, scientific makeup, and thoughts that come with being one of the oldest born vampires still living.That's right folks. I used the words "born" and "living" in the same sentence with "vampire". Bektamun's story unravels all the way back to the birth of the first vampires. While telling us all the mechanics of a vampire, she shows us small slide show pieces of her life, and the growing pains of discovering what she is.But don't fret, for those of you with dreams of becoming a vampire, the trade secrets lay within the pages. Being a vampire is not for everyone though, even if you get permission from the counsel (there is quite an extensive testing session), persuade a vampire into falling in love with you (almost impossible), talk that said vampire into changing you, you would still have to live through the transformation (which doesn't have a high success rate), and then have to shed your humanity and cope with your new and overwhelming existence (some actually go insane from the bombarding of new sensations). While being a made vampire is different from being a born vampire, Bektamun is unable to describe the feelings involved with the transformation, since she has always been a vampire. She introduces us to a made vampire, Nicole, as she tries to explain to the reader how it has changed her life.Overall the story gave us a look at what the hardships would be in becoming a vampire. The human disguises, the constant identity changes, the death of people you care for, always moving, always adapting to your surroundings, the strict vampire laws (almost all punishable by death), and the strange catch twenty-two of embracing myths because most of them are wrong and deter humans from their discovery. In another words, vampires, pretend to be human, pretending to be vampires, so that they can pass as human. Confused yet? Bektamun will do a better job of sorting it out for you.FROM THE BOOK:In all honesty, there are more than a couple of myths vampires themselves had a hand in perpetuating. We didn't start them, but when it became apparent we could use them to our advantage we shamelessly did.Rebeka Harrington style of writing and storytelling took me back to Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire, but the story has been revamped (pun intended) for a more modern and classroom feel. I found some areas slightly repetitive, but overall it is a fascinating read for vampire lovers all around. It's a compilation of the pros and cons of what a vampire truly is, and everything that makes them function, even down to their anatomy. Rebeka does a fine job of blurring the lines of reality and fiction as the story moves on. It is not a story of characters, obstacles, and resolution, but the teaching that vampires are killers, and always will be (no sparkling). A vampire may befriend you, and take you in as a pet, but in the end, you are still just a source of food for them. It leaves you wondering: Would becoming a vampire really be as great as some people think it would be? You'll have to read the evidence and decide for yourself.