Reviews with content warning for Blood - Vampires Never Get Old: Tales with Fresh Bite

Fun book! I don’t think short stories are particularly for me, but it was still enjoyable. Personally, I prefer my vampire stories a little more gory and gothic than most of these, which is why it isn’t higher. My personal fave was ‘The boy and the bell,’ but I also really liked ‘Bestiary,’ ‘The house of the black sapphires,’ and ‘First kill.’ Would recommend to people who enjoy pop culture vampires more so than horror vampires (which is not a dig, I’m a Buffy stan through and through!)

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jenny_librarian's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.0

Like all anthologies, it has its ups and downs.

I really liked the stories by Kayla Whaley (In Kind) and Mark Oshiro (Mirrors, Windows & Selfies). It was also really cool to read the origin of the show First Kill and see how the original material held compared to the show (much better!)

On the other hand, some of the stories were either plain boring or not clear enough. Dhonielle Clayton’s The House of Black Sapphire had too many characters and didn’t not feel that connected to its specific sub theme.

I don’t feel like the notes at the end of each chapter added much (except for the stories where the relation to the sub theme was nebulous), but they could be a good addition to those who don’t know much about vampire lore in general.

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obscurepages's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Loooovee how this anthology reinvents and reimagines vampire myth and lore! I also love the short commentaries after each story–tackling different aspects of the lore, the fresh twist that we see in the stories, as well as the questions that we ask ourselves when we think about vampires.

My favorites would have to be Mirrors, Windows & Selfies by Mark Oshiro, The Boy and the Bell by Heidi Heilig, and The Guidebook for the Newly Sired Desi Vampire by Samira Ahmed.

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Marking this book as part of reading challenge: #ReadQueerly2023.

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carlyoc's review

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

This anthology was everything it was hyped up to be. So glad I was finally able to sink my fangs into it.
I started out of order, reading the last story V.E. Schwab's "First Kill," so that I could watch the Netflix show based on it even though it was unfortunately canceled after one season. Then I went back to the beginning and read the rest. Each story brought something new to the vampire genre, but I had a few favorites.
Rebecca Roanhoarse's "The Boys from Blood River" had excellent rural horror vibes that chilled my blood.
"In Kind" by Kayla Whaley addressed how disability relates to identity, and the harmful narratives that occur when ableist caregivers and onlookers speak in the place of disabled people.
The anthology's instigators, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker wrote "Vampires Never Say Die," in which a young teenager befriends an ancient vampire through social media.
Dhonielle Clayton's luscious worldbuilding in "The House of Black Sapphires" felt like it was setting up for a full-length novel, which I would totally read.
I highly recommend this book to any and all YA vampire fans.

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victoriousbookworm's review against another edition

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adventurous dark

4.75

I originally picked this book up because I've read Natalie C. Parker and V.E. Schwab and felt like some short stories. These stories of queer vampires over time was fun, emotional, sometimes heartbreaking, but alway interesting. While First Kill was my favorite of the stories, they were are really engaging and interest.

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