Tuesday, July 6, 2010

THIRST NO. 1 -- Book Review


First and foremost, I despise vampire stories even before trying them out. It’s because all of them just came popping out after the success of Twilight! And I just hate that book because I think it’s nothing but a love story (sorry for the fans), but I guess it’s wrong to judge them all that way.

Now I will review the vampire book, Thirst no. 1 by Christopher Pike. Here is its premise:

Alisa Perne is a five-thousand year old vampire, the last one of them as she believes. But now her long-lived life is threatened as she discovers she is being investigated by Detective Michael Riley. After speaking to him, Alisa (or Sita, her real name) figures out that the one who wants her investigated knows a great deal about her, and this intrigued her as well as alarmed her. She killed Mr. Riley without even choking the truth out of him which left Alisa with only one lead, Mr. Riley’s computer. This computer can only be accessed with the use of a password that led her to meet with Mr. Riley’s son, Ray. But her encounter with Ray stirs something inside Alisa, something like love.

Her meeting with Ray starts her adventure within  as she ventured with him and the other people around him. Who is the one wanting her investigated? Can the love of a five-thousand-year-old vampire be returned? What destiny will befall this feisty female vampire?

Thirst no. 1 is a compilation of the first three books of Christopher Pike's series, The Last Vampire. This includes The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice.

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Thirst isn't necessarily a love story, which I actually like. It is a vampire story—Sita’s story (I want to use the name Sita more because she uses it more often in the book than Alisa). But the love angle in her story is definitely crucial for the development of the story because with it, the readers will easily know this feisty woman’s pains, feelings, and thoughts.

The book is told in the first person point of view. At the start of the book, I cannot even see a five-thousand year old maturity in Sita, it sounded like Sita is nothing but an egoistic self-adoring b*tch but it’s good that at the second and third parts of Thirst 1, she began to display the wisdom of a vampire that has lived in thousands of years. But at times, it seems irritating that she still makes reckless decisions throughout the book, which is out of character because she should’ve learned more in her long time of living.

Sita is a vampire with religion. She has been alive by the time Krishna (the avatar of Vishnu, a Hindu God) and decided to devote her life through his teachings. This is a good idea provided that it will give a depth in such a vampire story as well as lessons for the readers. But for me, the downside of this is at times, the book starts to get preachy that every once and then, well most of the time, she discusses Krishna’s teachings. It gets to my nerves at times.

Action-wise, the book is full of fight scenes, mostly at the second and third parts of the book. It can be described as mildly macabre with lots of blood spilt in the story. Sita is an expert with guns and weapons which magnificently portrayed her as a femme fatale that is thirsty for blood (Hot!).

The story progress was just fine. The start wasn’t really remarkable, it was just okay. But as the book progresses it gets better. Though there wasn’t really much of a climax in the book, it still holds big ideas that may appeal to readers.

The good thing about Thirst is that it stays to the thought that vampires are bloodthirsty creatures but emphasizes that they too can have a good nature and can be admirable at times. Sita’s story is a tale of life, of love, of faith, and of death. Follow her story with Thirst no. 2 which includes the next three books of Pike’s The Last Vampire series.


In a concise review:

Thirst no. 1’s story is anticlimactic at times but is redeemed by the big ideas inculcated in it (though they are not really executed very well).


6 comments:

  1. I actually saw this in K-Mart on Saturday. Well it was actually book 2 but the cover got me interested and now I want to read it. Although, I bought Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1 and it's good lol. But yea, a 5,000 year old, kick-ass female vampire?! I'm down lol.

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  2. this was actually published long ago called the Last Vampire...and actually, the Krishna mentioned in this book is not exactly the Hindu god but a separate character, one of Pike's own creation, as the Krishna of the Hindu myth doesn't fit in with the one in the book...I loved Christopher Pike's other books a lot better, you should try them all.
    Great review though, nice to know older vampire books are coming out in newer jackets...

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  3. Loved your concise review! I felt pretty much the same way when I read the book.

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  4. I love the thirst series I just finished book 3 (it would be book 7 in the last vampire series) and it is amazing the whole thing makes it hard to understand Sita's tale until you get closer to the end. Pike is going to continue with a book 8 or thirst 4 and that is going to come out this summer of 2011. I can't wait to see what happens to Sita and Matt. Who would of thought of that twist. i won't say anything the story is just to juicy to reveal check out the other thirst books to see how Sita makes life a living h*ll for her friends. Also see as all of her old emotions start to come out with her first lover as a vampire Yaksha, and his new suprises for her.

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  5. I don't really appreciate the way you are talking about the book.. A lot of people like it and when we ask for a short summary or just a summary I don't think that we are asking for the way you didn't like it. Just saying.

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  6. Madison I think you are confused what a review is. A review in definition is not a summary. A review is an assessment, which the blogger did a nice job of. If you want a summary of a book go to Amazon,

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