This is a YA book, and the only reason it was on my shelf in the first place was because I picked it up for a quid somewhere. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoyed Department 19, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the target market for it, being female and 35. I am partial to books that weave the Dracula legend into their stories, which I suppose helped, but I just found it to be extremely readable and entertaining. I also didn't feel it was dumbed-down the way some books for a younger audience can come across. This was a very interesting book. I loved the whole vampires thing and I especially loved how they managed to bring it into the new world with guns and technology while still keeping the fear of vampires alive. They also managed to keep as many of the old vampire beliefs in as possible and it was just all really interesting to me.The Characters: I pretty much liked all the characters. The only problem I had was that all the main characters all seem to be the same age. Jamie describes practically every single one (Larissa, Kate and Matt) as being the same age as him, or a little younger or a little older but never by much. I don't see why Kate couldn't have been a bit older like twenty, twenty two, and Matt be younger, like thirteen. We would get a age difference and it would kind of be a bit more believable. The fact that all the main characters are around Jamie's age is a bit much for me. Other than that I liked the different personalities and the different character flaws that they each shared because they all did have them and that was what made them interesting and likable, because they weren't all annoyingly perfect.The Story: It's quite a good story line. I liked the twist and turns when it came to his mother and her fate and I liked how he beat the main villain. One of the other parts that did annoy me (though this is more character wise than story wise) was how brilliant Jamie was straight away, how much natural talent he had. That is a bit of a cliche. But apart from that I liked the different way the story went and the pace was good, enough time for Jamie to really become strong before he came down to the final fight and while some bits were predictable, the rest wasn't.The Love Interest: My biggest pet peeve. Why does every love interest have to happen automatically? So far there are four books out but Larissa and Jamie end up together pretty quickly.I'll give it to the author for at least waiting until the end of the book before they really got together at least but even that as a minor blessing. The fact is through most of their encounters Jamie is constantly noticing how beautiful she is, Larissa is constantly flirting and they're just so obviously going to end up together.I am sorry, I don't care how hot a guy or a girl are. When your mother has been kidnapped and you have discovered vampires in the world (and the hot guy/girl in question is also a vampire) the last thought on your mind is your dick. It's the safety of family and friends around him. Maybe one at the beginning he would notice her beauty, but after that he would be completely focused on family, but a good too much of some of their encounters includes detail as to how red in the face he is, how his heart beats faster and just how beautiful and wonderful this girl is.The love interest and minor flaws are the reasons that I had to take a star off. It could be so much better and I hope the rest of the books will improve since it does have a lot of potential.
What do You think about Departamento 19 (2013)?
Entertaining, and the ending played out very well but felt it slightly dragged in places.
—raith
Not bad for YA. I'm definitely reading all of them!
—anj
one of the best books I've read, very suspenseful
—troygabriela06
