Released On: May 1st, 2010
Source: Bought at TLA
4 stars- I Really Liked It
The Van Helsing name reborn
Fourteen-year-old Alex has no idea that he's descended from the world's most famous vampire hunter, but that changes fast when he arrives at Glenarvon Academy and confronts two vampires in his first three days. Turns out Glenarvon isn't the only school near Lake Geneva. Hidden deep underground lies an ancient university for vampires called the Scholomance. And the deadly vampire clan lord known as Icemaker? You might say he's a visiting professor.
When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by Icemaker, it's up to Alex to infiltrate the Scholomance and get them back—alive. Assisted by the Polidorium, a top-secret vampire-hunting organization with buried ties to the Van Helsings, Alex dodges zombies, bullets, and lots—and lots—of fangs on his way to thwarting Icemaker's plans and fulfilling his family destiny.
Alex Van Helsing isn't your average teenager. He hails from a strong family of vampire killers and lucky for him, he's carried on his family's unique skills. The only problem is Alex doesn't know any of this until he's sent to a prestigious boarding school in Switzerland where he's not only attacked by a vampire, but he comes to learn about his family's heritage. The things he thought were only found in books, like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, really do exist.
Alex is a character I really enjoyed getting to know. He's smart, he's instinctive, and when he's faced with the unthinkable he doesn't show fear or back down. Plus he has some made skills and can kill a vampire by himself. There's also some great supporting characters around Alex who play some big roles in the story and I liked how they developed over the course of the book. Aside from Alex, I really liked his professor Mr. Sangster. I enjoyed the twist on his character and loved the bigger role he plays in Alex's life. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Alex's friends Paul, Sid and Minhi and seeing what will happen with them as the series progresses. There's also some great paranormal characters that include the vampires, a unique kind of zombies which play a very minor rule in the story, and there's the mention of werewolves.
One of favorite things about the story is the historical mentions. I absolutely love it when authors add historical references to their books and then give them a creative spin to add something unique to their story. Jason did just that with his mentions of the Villa Diodati group, which consisted of few well known writers like Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Byron's doctor friend John William Polidori, whom are all apart the story's history. One of the most intriguing aspects of the story is the way Jason integrated Mary Shelley's famous story Frankenstein in Alex Van Helsing. This not only created a rich back story, but it provided the story with some key elements and a great historical setting.
I really enjoyed this book. It was an engaging, fun, quick read. There's humor, classical references, down to earth and enjoyable characters and of course some great vampire hunting, butt kicking scenes. Now I can see why Alex Van Helsing made the Texas Lone Star List. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Voice of the Undead. This is a clean cut book I'd recommend to older middle grade and YA readers.
The paperback version of Vampire Rising will be out TOMORROW! You can purchase it here.
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