The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen
- Pub. Date: June 2011
- Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
- Fromat: Hardcover pp257
"What if the characters in a vampire novel left their world--and came into yours?
Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he IS Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book and is in hot pursuit of a wicked vampire named Vigo. Together, Amy and Alexander set out to track Vigo and learn how and why Alexander crossed over. But when she and Alexander begin to fall for each other, Amy wonders if she even wants him to ever return to the realm of fiction."
Amy is in love with someone who doesn't exist: Alexander Banks, the dashing hero in a popular series of vampire novels. Then one night, Amy meets a boy who bears an eerie resemblance to Alexander. In fact, he IS Alexander, who has escaped from the pages of the book and is in hot pursuit of a wicked vampire named Vigo. Together, Amy and Alexander set out to track Vigo and learn how and why Alexander crossed over. But when she and Alexander begin to fall for each other, Amy wonders if she even wants him to ever return to the realm of fiction."
First Sentence: There was a festive vibe in the air that reminded me of fourth of July.
Review: The Vampire stalker had potential...a lot of potential but it just didn't quite hit it.
There have been plenty of times I've wished one of the fictional characters I've read about actually were real. And thanks to a very creative theory called literary physics, Alexander Banks is able to cross over into the dimension in which Amy lives in. Seriously literary physics is a genius of an idea. I loved it, especially since I was curious about how Van Diepen was going to bring Alexander into Amy's world.
Now as far as the characters are concerned I was able to relate to Amy's bookworm personality, but that was about it. As far as her feelings for Alexander, her anger towards her dad, and her annoyance towards her sister, it just all fell flat. I couldn't feel any of her emotions. When it comes down to it all the characters in the novel could have been more fleshed out. The relationship between Alexander and Amy also happened way to fast for my likes. Maybe if the novel wasn't so short their relationship could have developed in a more deeper and meaningful level.
Then their was Vigo the antagonist. He just wasn't something to be fearful of, not to the extent Amy and Alexander made him out to be in the novel. Maybe it's just that I've read way to many novels with far worse villains than Vigo, the ones that actually get under my skin and make me worry about the protagonist.
I also have to admit I wanted to know more about the story within the story. Alexander Banks Otherworld Chicago sounded so much more intriguing and I hope Van Diepen decides to write about that world someday soon.
Overall don't let the cover or the name fool you. Vampire Stalker was in the end a fun, quick, and very light read. But it had the potential to be so much more.
