The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepen
The novel’s title leaves a lot of room to assume its storyline, but its actual storyline is really creative. The Vampire Stalker is a blast from the past for me because I actually read this in Middle School! I thought this was a really well-written novel back then, let’s see if I changed my mind!
Info
Tags: Fiction | YA | Urban Fantasy | Fantasy
I actually picked this novel back up when I got started on Libby, and I remember the storyline fondly. As a teen/pre-teen reading this, I thought this was the most romantic and action-packed novel I could ever read (absolute lies, but this was good).
Synopsis
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.
(Goodreads, 2021)
I never realized it but I do like the urban fantasy that the author added to the novel, and I probably should look further into other books similar to this. At this point in time in middle school, I had a fairly romantic outlook on vampires (partially due to the twilight movies coming out that I was too young to watch).
Based on the title of the novel alone, I really thought that the novel was about someone who was stalking vampires. This is partially true, but it’s more along the lines of a vampire-hunter category than what I was originally thinking of.
I had found Amy very relatable (with some exceptions) and a rather likable character, and the fact that she loved books as well made it all the more sweeter. I was a bookworm when I was younger (and still am now!) and more often than not, can be found in the Library or the local bookstore.
*Contains Spoilers*
However, if you go a little crazy with it, I think it would end up very cluttered and there’s the potential to leave gaping plot holes here and there. There were a lot of rather cute moments in The Vampire Stalker, and while I know some people will cringe a little bit, it’s always been a little cute in my opinion.
Vigo of course is a very textbook vampire villain, and he kind of reminds me of a young Victor Dashkov from the Vampire Academy series (also another series I grew up reading).
He’s that brand of evil mastermind that makes my blood go cold when I think about it, nothing to lose and willing to take advantage of others to get his way.
Other than the groundwork originally laid out about his ‘evil-ness’ he didn’t quite do much while in the modern world like he did in the Otherworld (name of the book series in the novel, and the fictional universe Vigo and Alex come from).
Alexander Banks is pretty much a toned-down version of a character from a historical romance novel, but he has that edge that’s attributed to being a vampire hunter. It made him a very interesting character to read with all the chivalry, but badass-ness as well.
The vampires in the novel are pretty much the textbook vampires you know of, but more human-like and with hierarchy. I’ve always wondered if there are books that kind of cross vampires in the Victorian or Regency eras because it would sound like an interesting read.
The only thing that confuses me about the novel is that Amy and Alexander end up going to either bars or clubs, I can’t remember if they had fake IDs to get in. Or if they went to youth nightclubs (yes apparently they’re a thing), but if I remember correctly there was mention of drinking. Maybe it depends on what country/state they’re in and the legal drinking age?
Despite there being vampires mentioned in the book. I opted to place this under my YA tag because the vampires kind of take a backseat to Alexander’s trying to learn how to be a modern teenager. Overall, I really recommend this book to teens and those looking for a fun read.
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