The most boring part of any vampire-hunting expedition is probably the hunt for the vampires' coffins - and that's the main focus of VAMPIREVILLE Aside from reminding us that her self-insert is GOTH GOTH GOTH every paragraph or so, Ellen Schreiber continues to spin up a plotless supernatural soap opera that never manages to grow a plot. Instead, we've got vampiric catfights and Raven stalking her nemesis.The vampire twins Luna and Jagger are still hanging around Dullsville, and apparently have dark and deadly designs for the much-despised Trevor. For some reason, Alexander and Raven have a problem with this and set out to stop them - so when they aren't fawning on each other, they're searching for evidence of Luna and Jagger's hiding places.In the meantime, Raven is stalking Trevor to make sure he hasn't already been turned into a vampire while getting jealous that he's enamored of the new goth chick in town. But finding the hiding places of the twins (in a pretty random location) is only the beginning of the conflict - Raven soon becomes galpals with Luna, but there's still a devious plan in place to snag Trevor.Ellen Schreiber's third novel left me with one major question: where's the plot? Thus far it seems to be primarily immature teen vampires and obnoxious human teens dating, smooching and whining about how The World Doesn't Understand Them. It's a bit like the worst teen dramas of the CW, but with more mall-goth trappings (Count Chocula as a "goth cereal"?! "Nightmare Before Christmas" alarm clocks?!) and immortal angst.Most of the story is devoted to Alexander and Raven meandering aimlessly around, poking in corners and failing to figure out where Jagger and Luna are. When they do find out...nothing really happens. There's no real feeling of urgency, since whenever Raven finds out some vital and urgent piece of info, she and Alexander have a leisurely dinner date and eventually get around to doing something ineffectual. It feels like Schreiber was diddling around randomly to fill out a page quota.And her prose continues to be an utter embarrassment - readers are informed every other sentence that Raven is GOTH GOTH GOTH and everything she does has to be connected to vampires, "edgy" things or the color black. And her dialogue is painfully silly, especially when she characters try to be romanic ("Alexander's so dreamy. His eyes are like milk chocolates").And the characters continue to be flat as boards - Raven's drippy fascination with Alexander seems to be less about his personality, and more about him being a male-vampire doppelganger of herself. She's a snotty, self-absorbed brat who bumbles around doing one dumb thing after another. Jagger remains a 2-D villain/stalker who is as menacing as a blob of oatmeal, and his sister loses any cool factor once it's revealed that she's basically a vampiric Raven. Waaa waaa, I'm such an outsider and I hate my little brother, boohoo.VAMPIREVILLE continues Ellen Schreiber's pitch-black losing streak - appalling characters, poor writing, and only the barest shadow of a plot. This book lacks any bite.
In general, I like YA fiction, but there are a few things that bother me about this series. In the first two books, the main character Raven seems to scream/yell everything she says - she can't ever seem to speak in a normal tone of voice. I am glad that she actually seems to speak at normal volume in this book. When E.S. started exploring the reality of being a vampire as compared to the romanticized version in Raven's head, I was really excited, however, that train seems to have left the station for good as I haven't seen any further evidence that she will continue to pursue comparing reality to fantasy. While I really want to like Raven, as she is the main character, she is quite annoying. It seems that every annoying aspect of being a teenager is overly exaggerated in Raven making her less than likeable IMO. As another reviewer stated, the story seems to move very fast. I understand that it needs to keep moving to keep the teen reader's attention, but at times the story moves at the speed of light leaving out a lot of detail that would enhance the story.I'm hoping that Raven will grow with the series creating a very enjoyable read.
What do You think about Vampireville (2006)?
Five star rating. I absolutely love this series and it does not wane in excitement, it increases and I can not get enough. I look forward to each book deliriously. I cant read fast enough. I would like to have seen a bit more action in each book as opposed to one or two big action scenes but then again each scene only brings me closer to each character. I love them all, I love the Gothic descriptions of all things Vamp or goth. A birds eye and unique view into how a TEEN vamp might live if they did in fact exist. On to book 4.
—Kimmy Yates
I thought the first book was okay since my library didnt have the second book I just went on to the third & I was very very disappointed. See, when I read the first book I was a high school freshman & now I'm a junior in college & this book just seemed so dreadfully disappointing. First, the author keeps reminding you how "gothic" this girl is. The author basically described shopping at Hot Topic: black lipstick, Nightmare Before Christmas clock, etc. (Don't get me wrong! Nothing is wrong with shopping at Hot Topic but is that all the author can come up with when describing the "goth" aspect of her character?)Second, if this is how she sees vampires.. WHAT A BORE! Shine a flashlight to a vampire & it immediately retreats??! C'mon, how weak is that?! Lastly, I think the events in her book progress so fast & I don't like how she writes the romance in the book. Overall, this is not a worthwhile book!
—Maria Manansala
Vampireville finds our main character, Raven in danger because Jagger's twin sister, Luna has come to town and she is looking for a mate for eternity. It seems Luna was the only child born to her parents that was human. ALexander's family agreed that when they were older, Alexander would turn her. However, Alexander had other plans that did not include Luna. So, Luna found another vampire to do the deed but not on hollow ground. She now has decided to find a human to turn who will be hers for eternity. That human just happens to be Raven's long time nemesis, Trevor. Alexander and Raven are working frantically to keep this from happening. Once again, the suspense was wonderful and kept you on the edge of your seat. I just wish that Ms. Schreiber would spend a little more time, letting the reader get a better feel for the relationship between Raven and Alexander. ALthough Raven swears he is her soulmate, I can't help but feel she is only interested in him because he is a vampire. It is hard for me to get a true feel for how they really feel about each other and at this point, I believe it is starting to hamper the plot.
—Marsha
