Review: Vampire Tale Set in Ireland
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 25, 2013
Thirst is a nice change of pace from the typical vampire universe - the vamps in this book are not the usual heartthrobs of modern YA stories. In fact, they're quite unattractive and smell of rot. Lovely! Their bodies begin to decompose if they don't have fresh blood, and they're not exactly great in the bedroom department. No fresh blood means no particular body parts getting what they need to perform...Ava isn't your usual kick-ass heroine either. She gets pinned down a lot, is as physically strong as about the average woman, until she learns to embrace who she is.Ava is a twenty-five year old hybrid (human-vampire) living in an unnamed city in Ireland. She keeps to herself, too afraid to get close to humans in case she attacks them. Her mother was bitten while she was in the womb, and as a result, Ava ingested poison. She's a daywalker and thirsts for human blood, but she lacks vampire strength, or so she believes.When she saves a human from becoming a vampire's meal, she unintentionally binds that human, Carl, to her. He becomes her slave, and Ava sets about trying to undo this accident. She meets a vampire hunter, Peter, and some kind of magical being, Eddie. Suddenly, Ava is the hunted one. In a world where vampires haven't been able to turn humans in over a century, Ava represents hope to their dying race.This is a quick, enjoyable read, just right if you want to spend a few lazy hours curled up on the couch. There's no real romance here, unless you count Carl's minion-like adoration for Ava, or the tentative attraction between Ava and Peter. It's actually refreshing for a vampire novel not to have any love triangles or angsty romantic undertones.Peter was probably the most interesting character for me. We know his family was killed by supernaturals, but how? He's not your typical six foot plus hunk of a hero either. Peter's an average attractive guy who can handle himself. I liked Peter and hope he plays a bigger role in the second novella in this series, Taunt.One thing I felt the story lacked was setting. There wasn't much description in this book, so I found I had to simply imagine my own landscape. Also, there was a lot of dialogue. That being said, it piqued my interest enough to go and buy the second in the series.