Vamped by David Sosnowski
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I am always looking for a well-done vampire story and the cover of this book really grabbed my attention. I have had it sitting on my shelves for quite a while and even featured the book on a Books from the Backlog post a couple of years ago. I am so glad that I pulled it off my shelves and finally gave it a try because it was just as good as I had hoped it would be.
I have read a number of vampire stories and this one is a little different. Marty became a vampire during World War II and has seen the world change quite a bit. Marty and some of his friends decided to increase the population of vampires many years ago, although he doesn't share that information, and vampires now rule the world, and humans are kept only to be used. Things didn't work out quite as he had planned and with vampires running the world everyone is back at work and the world is somewhat normal, although without humans and all of their needs. Everything changes when Marty meets 6-year-old Isuzu Trooper though.
Marty decides to keep Isuzu safe instead of having her as a snack, which was his first impulse. If anyone ever finds out about her, she will be in terrible danger. This book covers quite a number of years and we get to see Isuzu and Marty learn to live with and trust each other. Since the world is full of vampires, there aren't any kids around anymore and Marty realizes how precious she really is. These two don't always get along and they both have a lot to learn but I enjoyed getting to see them both build a life.
Marty is a great character. He has done some pretty violent things and I appreciated the fact that we do learn his history during the course of this story. He doesn't always have the right impulses but he does try. In a lot of ways, Marty felt like a normal person just trying to figure out what to do with a kid that suddenly becomes his responsibility. Isuzu was also a wonderful character. She lived with her mother before living with Marty and has seen the world very differently. She was rather stubborn at times and didn't make things easy for Marty. I really thought that these two were a great match.
I would recommend this book to others. This is not your typical vampire story which is one of the things that I really enjoyed about it. I liked the fact that there was a thread of humor throughout the story which felt natural for the characters. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of this author's work in the future.
Initial Thoughts
I have had this book on my shelf for a very long time and I am so glad that I finally read it. I really liked Martin and enjoyed getting to know him through his history and the parts of his life that we see over the course of this story. He really grew over throughout the book. I enjoyed all of the other key characters and really liked the fact that there was a thread of humor throughout the book.
Book source: Purchased