Stargazer by Claudia Gray

Stargazer is the sequel to Claudia Gray's Evernight. We're back at the academy for wayward, time lost vampires in the post Lucas-is-the-enemy period. It's a pretty decent show as far as sequels go. I didn't devour it the way I did Evernight- probably because the secret was out by then and I was in on it. Still, I'm impressed with the story Gray is creating here. The characters are actually likeable and intriguing. Bianca is smart, risky and a bit defiant without being insufferable.

The bit of history we're beginning to see on the other people in the story is a nice addition- who wouldn't want to know more about Balthazar. Now I'm probably just a sicko but I love that she's writing the blood drinking scenes as graphically as she is. These are vampires after all and they -should- be taking pleasure in the act. We can humanize them and romanticize them all we want but let's not forget that we are in fact reading about vampires. So I approve of that.

You can see this one coming- Not down with the whole "A wraith gave me my baby thing." Please, dear storytellers everywhere, for now, just don't mention any kind of procreation around me. Nothing kills a story like a freaking baby, even in the past tense.

Running off with Lucas was inevitable, and don't get me wrong, I'm on the lover's side but I just can't sympathize with the vampire hunters even though she's trying to paint them in as positive a light as possible. I can't find anything redeemable about any of them and well, they're rather a bunch of tools. My little romantic heart would have just gone pitty pat a bit faster if they'd simply run off together, forsaking either side.

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
- William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

I'm such a sap.