Zombies vs. Vampires

Last week I finished two books, each a hallmark of the vampire or zombie craze.  The vampire book was Breaking Dawn (book 4/4 in the Twilight series) by Stephanie Meyer.  Zombies were represented by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (although Jane Austen gets first billing).

I've already discussed my thoughts on the Twilight series, and I don't want to give any spoilers.  I'll limit myself to saying that Breaking Dawn shared many of the same strengths and weaknesses as the first three books in the series, except that Book 4 did no tip-toeing around adult issues.  If anything, protagonist Bella grew up at lightning speed over the course of the final book in the series.  I was shocked that Meyer didn't spread Bella's journey to adulthood over a few more best-selling books.

As for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the idea of the sister warriors was comical, but entirely unbelievable.  Grahame-Smith made no attempt to offer readers a reason these young ladies had the raw material to be so suddenly transformed into effective zombie-killers.  But with a healthy dose of suspended disbelief, their training scenes were amusing.  The narrative was at its best when it was the most gruesome and gross.   Any time the storyline veered away from rotting carcasses it reminded me entirely too much of the original.  I think I might prefer having my brains eaten to spending an afternoon with Mary and Kitty.

Of the two books which did I prefer?  It's hardly fair for me to choose based on the merit of the books.  I'm all about vampires.  Zombie stories are okay, but they just don't hold the same appeal for me as vampires.

Vampire stories are psychological.  They touch on emotion, instinct, desire, hope, fear.  They touch on what it means to be human, but more than that, speculate on what it would be like to be more than human, to have great power, strength, and longevity, to see what man might be capable of if he were more. Zombie stories also explore the human condition.  Zombies show us what it is like to be dead, what it is like to be nothing more than a body, a shell, without any spark of consciousness.  Zombies get into the nitty gritty of mortality: rot, decomposing, loss of body parts.  Zombies often lose thumbs, shed limbs, eat their own tongues.  They shamble on, asking us how much we can lose and still claim to be ourselves.

Vampires let us experience immortality, zombies rub our noses in the reality of our mortality.  I guess between eternal life and putrid death, I find eternal life more fun.

Breaking Dawn ranks #59 in Books on Amazon.com.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies ranks #540.  Both books are available in Kindle format.

The Sharing Knife, Book 1

I just finished Book 1 of Lois McMaster Bujold's Sharing Knife fantasy series, of which the fourth (and series final) book was published in January 2009. Books 1, 2, and 4 are available in Kindle format. Book 4 ranks #31 in Kindle's "Epic Fantasy" category. Publisher, Eos, is proud to point out that Book 4 ranked #30 on the NY Times Extended Bestseller list (as of Feb 15th).

This gives a picture of The Sharing Knife as a current fantasy series which, while not topping the charts, is certainly selling.

The Sharing Knife series is a down-to-earth romantic fantasy. In Book 1 Bujold balances life and death, procreation and a grim fight to save the world- all with endearingly honest characters, and a sense of humor. She treats sexuality with a no-nonsense, mature attitude that addresses both its pleasures and social complications. This book is far too explicit for teens and those who blush easily, yet Bujold never crosses the line into vulgarity. The worst I can say of her love story is that it serves little purpose other than to entertain and confirm mainstream values of love, sexual union, and marriage. The conventional aspect of the story can be forgiven as these values are explored by a man and woman of conflicting cultures. Book 1 foreshadows dangers in which this special union may cause painful conflict, but may also offer hope in the battle against evil.

We have already seen the smash success series like Twilight have enjoyed by stirring together spec fiction and soft-core romance. It will be interesting to see how the popularity of different spec fiction genres, such as fantasy, react to the infusion of romance.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle

Today when I checked the Amazon Kindle bestseller list, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was at tenth place, below the first four books of the Twilight series (all in the top four slots), The Shack in English and Spanish, and three "New Year New You" self-help nonfiction. We know that the Twilight series is vampire fiction. The Shack is religious fiction. So what is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle?

Amazon categorizes Wroblewsi's book as "literary fiction" or "contemporary fiction." Fair enough- there's probably not space in their categorization system for thriller/espionage, coming of age story, historical, magical realism, ghost story, and murder mystery. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle was all this, and literature, too.

When I first downloaded a sample of this book onto my Kindle, I read part way through the sample, then decided to pass on it. At first I was entranced by the prose in this book. The scene Wroblewski described was so vivid- every word a color, a texture, a taste, a smell. The problem was, that the book was clearly a thriller set in South Korea during the Korean war. Of course there's nothing wrong with an historical espionage book- but that's just not the kind of book I wanted to read. And, far worse, I could see that the plot was heading toward cruelty to a dog. I'm a huge softy for animals. I decided not to buy the book.

A few months later I was browsing the Kindle bestsellers and came across The Story of Edgar Sawtelle once again. The synopsis made it sound like the coming of age story of a boy in Wisconsin. What? I went back to the sample on my Kindle, muscled through the horrible scene with the dog, and met Edgar.

Wroblewsi refused to pick a genre and stick with it when he wrote The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle. I was surprised again and again, as the book took turns into fantasy and thriller that seemed so at odds with the lives of the plain-folks dog trainers living on a family farm. But it wasn't only the genre that morphed to suit the needs of the story- Wroblewsi's language also transformed to meet every mood necessary to tell his tale. I could tell when something important was about to happen- the prose became crystal clear, detailed to the point of painfully beautiful. When it was time to get to know Edgar, things slowed down, we approached the world in a more plodding, plain prose. The chapters through the eyes of Edgar's best friend and dog captured the character of a devoted animal with more skill than I would have thought possible.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is selling well- it has Oprah's endorsement, and today rests at #10 on the Kindle bestseller list, and is Amazon's 26th overall best selling book. Yet the genre confusion at the opening nearly lost my sale. Maybe I just need to loosen up my genre expectations...but with the advent of the downloadable sample chapter, should writers be thinking more about how the first few pages set the tone of their book?

Twilight- Does it Suck?

A few weeks ago, when I saw Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga series books topping the Kindle bestseller list (including fiction and nonfiction!) with only the president elect's books as company, I decided I had to try the series. Today as I write, Meyer has four of the top five bestsellers on the Kindle's bestseller list. The author is also topping out Kindle bestsellers in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Children's Chapter books.

This last category is what I really want to focus on today. Young adult genre fiction has made a big splash in the adult market. As I read Book 1 of the Twilight series, I was watching to see how this young adult vampire romance would appeal to a more mature audience. Based on the sales ranks, it's hard to believe grown-ups aren't participating in the series' success.

I've rubbed die-hard fans the wrong way in the past when I don't emphasize where I'm coming from in a review about a much-loved author or series, so here are a couple of caveats:

1. The only book I have ever read by the author is Twilight Book 1. All my comments are related to this book, alone.
2. I haven't seen the movie.
3. If you're a young adult reader, please have tons of fun with this series, and don't bother reading further. This review deals with the book's appeal to adults.
4. There are some spoilers below.
   

When I downloaded the first chapter of Book 1, I was impressed. The beginning of the novel does a great job setting up the protagonist's situation and introducing character and setting, all the while keeping the reader intrigued with a sense of mystery as the protagonist is inducted into the world of the occult. I am embarrassed to say that despite being fluent in Italian, I skipped right over the obvious hint of the protagonists name (Bella, Italian for beautiful) and bought into the fact that she was a clumsy, pale, not particularly attractive teenage girl. The voice was so genuine, so down-to-earth, that I believed the unreliable narrator. That alone earns Meyer my genuine kudos.

But, of course, Bella is actually drop-dead gorgeous- and lives out the teenage girl's fantasy of discovering she is not ugly, but instead the boys at her new school are practically brawling for her affections. As an adult reader I was a little disappointed at this point. I was all set for a book in which the not-so-pretty heroine is swept off her feet by the handsome vamp because he's that attracted to her unique smell, and could care less about her physical charms. Meyer didn't choose to go this route, but she did keep beautiful Bella so clumsy as to make me feel like a ballerina. So I kept reading.

There followed some actual interesting mythology- the slow revelation of Meyer's take on vampire lore, and setting up a rivalry between the local vampires and the tribal clan of werewolves native to the region. Meyer had given enough seeds for a promising spec fiction world, and her writing style was holding up with a good balance of decently-crafted prose and narrative warmth.

Then the mystery between Bella and her vamp boyfriend dissolved, and with it, a lot of my interest. There is a portion in the middle of the book in which the only tension is a sort of virginal romantic anticipation of a relationship between Bella and her boyfriend. This section involves a lot of swooning, dizziness, and collapsing into vamp boyfriend's arms- and as readers, we had already been subjected to a lot of swooning and being carried to safety in previous chapters. All that fainting was getting a little repetitive. The only thing keeping this portion of the novel afloat for the adult reader is the ominous suggestion that Bella's "number is up," that she seems to be in constant danger of death, a danger from which only her vamp boyfriend can defend her. Of course, it is just as likely vamp boyfriend will lose control, and be the cause of Bella's death, himself. That conflict was just enough to carry me through the multiple swoons.

The final third of the book involves a prolonged action scene, in which we get to meet a bunch of other vampires, and Bella proves herself to be more than just a pretty face, but an excellent strategist, as well. Bella's character development by the end of the book shows promise for new adventure in the rest of the series, but if the book were simply a stand alone, her character arc would not have been completely satisfying.

Book 1 ends with a high school prom, Bella dancing with her vampire date. The scene mirrors one of my favorite scenes in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. Comparing the two teenage vamp romances, there is no doubt that Twilight Book 1 offers less appeal for adults than Buffy. In the Buffyverse we get a lot of action and adventure, with corny moments of romance that are sweet in the context of the world and well-developed characters. Without the contrasting high stakes in both action-adventure and character conflict, Twilight's corny romantic moments come off, well, a little corny.

There is a definite kernel of promise in Twilight Book 1, characters and situations that could produce fun stories. I was impressed enough that I'd try Book 2. Whether or not I go on to Book 3 will all depend on Bella, where Meyer is willing to take her protagonist in this romantic, young adult series.