The first impression of Vamps: Fresh Blood was that is would never be my cup of tea. I just wasn’t interested by the title at all. However, that changed the moment I found out it’s about vampires. Vampires on a boarding shcool even. And you know, I enjoy that setting. I was a little hesitant still as it gave me major Vampire Academy vibes and that’s one of my favorite young adult series of all time. I still was curious and decided to wait for the Dutch release to support the Dutch publisher. The book arrived on April 12 (release day) and I immediately started reading it. Because, despite my reluctance, I was still curious and excited. Did this novel live up to my excitement?
- Title: Vamps: Fresh Blood
- Author: Nicole Arend
- Series: Vamps #1
- Publication date: January 3, 2023
- Publisher: Atria Books
- ISBN: 9781668013786
- Number of pages: 336
- Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
This “fast-paced and enthralling” ( The Sun , London) debut transports you to an elite vampire academy where a half vampire, half human struggles to hone his bloodthirsty side.
Nestled in the Swiss Alps, VAMPS is the ultimate academy for the children of the most wealthy and powerful vampire families. Unfortunately for Dillon, he’s an outsider—to be more specific, he’s a dhampir: a vampire that is half human.
If he wants to survive more than a single term, he’s going to need to embrace his fangs. But blood never lies and soon, it becomes clear there is something special and deadly flowing in Dillon’s veins. But as his power grows, so does the target on his back…
“An alluring and fast-paced read for fans of The Atlas Six , A Deadly Education , and True Blood ” ( Library Journal ).
In Dutch, the first sentence of the blurb literally says ‘Twilight meets Vampire Academy meets Harry Potter‘ and that’s honestly something to make me nervous. These books are 3 huge YA classics and how will this end up when you mix these? I still had my doubts after reading the first few chapters. This book is full of the classic YA tropes and I somehow got the feeling that a lot has been copied to certain extend from other work. Moreover, I was curious whether I would have outgrown this type of book or not. Fortunately, it all got better later on and once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed my time reading this. It’s just the casual reading without the real need to focus and think, exactly what I happened to need.
Whilst reading, I immediately noticed a few things. Firstly, the amount of characters that get introduced at once. We get introduced to our main character Dillon, a dampire who has never heard of the vampire world at all. His human dad sends him to Vamps, the exclusive boarding school for mainly the elite vampires, somewhere he really doesn’t want to go. His mother is avampire and her wish is for Dillon to get to know her world right after his 18th birthday. This way, the reader gets introduced to new characters and a new world at the same time as Dillon. This mass introductory dump could be overwhelming and it could be tough to tell everyone apart at first. Once I found my flow into this book – and that was quite quick -, it became addictive. This story contains many classic vampire clichés like rich parents with power and influence. The trope that the main character has more talent than expected is a real cliché as well. Is this bad? No, not at all.
Secondly, the writing style stood out to me. This book read super fast and easy. The writing is not flawless at all, but sometimes that’s not necessary. This writing style is accessible for the YA reader and honestly that’s what’s important right? As I stated before, this book was addictive despite the many classic tropes. I wanted to know how Dillon would grow and what this threat of danger would be. The dynamics between the students on Vamps was interesting to read about. A little bit chaotic, especially in the beginning. Everyone has an opinion on Dillon being a Vamps student, whether it’s positive or negative. I also find it refreshing to have a male main character for a change, we usually get the female chosen one main character. Especially in YA.
Despite the fact that Vamps: Fresh Blood by Nicole Arend contains a lot of overdone tropes and clichés, I really enjoyed reading it. The story was easy to follow because of the author’s writing style. It’s far from perfect, but it invites readers to continue reading, especially YA readers. It’s just really accessible and made the book addictive. The introduction of many new characters at once could be a little overwhelming at first. However, I got used to it quite quickly. I really enjoyed the dynamics between the students on Vamps and I also kept intrigued by Dillon’s growth. I wanted to know what would be happening to him next. The ending makes me curious for a sequel and I hope we will get that ASAP.
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