Author: Caroline B Cooney Subject: The Vampire's Promise 2--Evil Returns Tone of Book: Philosophical Links: http://www.vampires.nu/pages/Books.cf... http://www.ffbooks.co.uk/n4/n20276.htm Characters: Devnee, Aryssa, Victoria, vampire, Devnee's mother, Trey, William, Karen My Response to the Book: Be Yourself. That’s what I feel the moral of this book should be. This book revolves around a girl, Devnee, and the vampire who takes away her shadow to live in her and to implant evil, dark thoughts into this innocent kind girl. Devnee’s only weakness was that she was not satisfied with herself. She wanted beauty, brains and to ‘have it all’. The vampire manipulated Devnee’s desire for beauty to his own best advantage, for when she desired beauty, she was willing to comply with everythingthe vampire wanted to do and needed Devnee's help in. This shows that you cannot really trust someone who claims to be on your side because whatever he is doing for you may not be the best for you, but for the person himself. Everyone has selfishness in him, whether or not it is just a tinge of it or a whole lot ofit. Devnee thought that the vampire was really keen on helping her and she never pondered why the vampire was helping her when he would get nothing in return but the souls of the people who Devnee wanted the talents from. I feel that it’s really pathetic that she relied on the vampire for support and help when the vampire was actually sucking away her soul and he was not helping her at all, he was making use of her to kill. And Devnee was naïve enough to trust the vampire and to let him into her every thought. But I was assured when Devnee finally woke up in the end and found out that the vampire was not her friend all along. It was her courage and determination to free herself as well as the others whose souls had been sucked by the vampire that destroyed the vampire, I feel, and not the weird things her mother hung on the wall to ward off vampires. No one knew of Devnee's evil deeds and no one was ever going to. Devnee rejected the vampire's offer of having everything because her conscience was starting to complain. She knew, deep in her heart, that all these were wrong. And that was when the strong side of her emerged from a weakling, and she returned beauty to Aryssa, and brains to Victoria. She is a brave girl who is willing to face the consequences of her actions and I admire her courage to stand up and confess. She is a truly courageous girl. I especially liked a certain line in this book. ‘She felt the vampire tapping at her skull and did not let him in. Force of mind could keep him out of her thoughts. It was only when she weakened, lowered her guard, or had wishes and yearnings and aches for things to be different—only then could the vampire come in.’ This line shows that when you are morally and emotionally weak, that is when foreign thoughts, often evil and undesirable, will pollute your mind. Which is why we all need to be strong-willed and when people try to talk you into, or out of, something, you'll know when to stop and say 'no'. Great lines from the book: ‘She was wilted, like a flower that had once been a proud tulip and was now just a broken stem.’ ‘But ahead of her, equally dark, attached to her feet the way it ought to be, spread her own shadow, huge and threatening in the setting sun.’ ‘She felt the vampire tapping at her skull and did not let him in. Force of mind could keep him out of her thoughts. It was only when she weakened, lowered her guard, or had wishes and yearnings and aches for things to be different—only then could the vampire come in.’
Solid sequel to the forst book in Cooney's vampire trilogy The Cheerleader, Return of the Vampire is much the as the original but with a different lead character and a different type of wish. The main character in this is a little less sympathetic than in the original which akes for good reading but again it's too Americanised and more suited to females because of it;s subject matter. Still though the Vampire of the story is again wonderfully described and suitably frightening and deserves a read.
