- Joined
- Aug 5, 2012
- Messages
- 332
- Reaction score
- 21
- Location
- Fort Worth, TX
- Website
- www.andreatheend.com
I've got to get this off my chest, and none of my friends read much, so I turned to AW.
First off, I've known this for a while, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone that enjoys his writing, but Christopher Pike is a hack.
See, when I was a wee lad, around 13 or 14, I found a book at a resale shop called The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood. This being 10 years or so before the newer explosion of vampire romance, and having only ever read Stoker's Dracula, I picked it up.
Now here was a mythos I fell in love with. Pike's vampires are fantastic creatures. The story and history of the main character is absolutely brilliant, and the spirituality throughout the books was something I still haven't seen in any other paranormal, or at least vampire, novels. The Last Vampire series actually got me interested in religion, if you can believe it.
Now, toward the end, specifically in The Last Vampire 6, the writing got a little shoddy. It was plain that Pike had lost his interest in it, and just wanted it done.
Then, years later, at the height of the vampire explosion, he comes back to it. Compiles the first 6 books into 2 volumes and renames it Thirst. The covers are redone in what is now the typical teeny parom style. (Is parom a word? If not, I just invented it and would like full credit.) Then he writes three more huge volumes that were, frankly, terrible. This last one, which I was dumb enough to go buy last month, I just finished. It was awful. So bad that I don't know if it could be worse if he was trying to make it so. He casually retcons his own story 3-5 times in each new volume, or else seems to forget what he wrote in earlier volumes. The ending is not an ending at all. It almost cuts off mid-sentence.
I could go on and on because I'm so angry, but I really shouldn't. I'm mad at myself more than the author, because I keep coming back for more. It's because I can't let go of the character, and I keep hoping that there will be more of the magic that was in the first few books.
Anyway, I was going to ask if anyone else has read through all these, and found a way to enjoy them. If not, are any of you as disappointed as I am?
First off, I've known this for a while, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone that enjoys his writing, but Christopher Pike is a hack.
See, when I was a wee lad, around 13 or 14, I found a book at a resale shop called The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood. This being 10 years or so before the newer explosion of vampire romance, and having only ever read Stoker's Dracula, I picked it up.
Now here was a mythos I fell in love with. Pike's vampires are fantastic creatures. The story and history of the main character is absolutely brilliant, and the spirituality throughout the books was something I still haven't seen in any other paranormal, or at least vampire, novels. The Last Vampire series actually got me interested in religion, if you can believe it.
Now, toward the end, specifically in The Last Vampire 6, the writing got a little shoddy. It was plain that Pike had lost his interest in it, and just wanted it done.
Then, years later, at the height of the vampire explosion, he comes back to it. Compiles the first 6 books into 2 volumes and renames it Thirst. The covers are redone in what is now the typical teeny parom style. (Is parom a word? If not, I just invented it and would like full credit.) Then he writes three more huge volumes that were, frankly, terrible. This last one, which I was dumb enough to go buy last month, I just finished. It was awful. So bad that I don't know if it could be worse if he was trying to make it so. He casually retcons his own story 3-5 times in each new volume, or else seems to forget what he wrote in earlier volumes. The ending is not an ending at all. It almost cuts off mid-sentence.
I could go on and on because I'm so angry, but I really shouldn't. I'm mad at myself more than the author, because I keep coming back for more. It's because I can't let go of the character, and I keep hoping that there will be more of the magic that was in the first few books.
Anyway, I was going to ask if anyone else has read through all these, and found a way to enjoy them. If not, are any of you as disappointed as I am?
