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fantasynovel's review against another edition
3.0
I love Catherine Jinks. I got Evil Genius from my dad when I was around nine, and I've read it every other year since then, so about five times. It's a great book, everyone should read it. I've read the others in the series too, but since I don't own them, I've only read those once each. So I was pretty excited to read Support Group.
It starts off promising enough--a group of down-in-the-dumps vampires trying to solve the murder of their asshole sire or grand-sire. Then there's a burst of action in the first half of the book; a road-trip through Australia, a werewolf fighting ring, the bad guys who run said werewolf fighting ring.
Unfortunately, the werewolf is the hottest hottie to ever hot, which is just so annoying. Jinks might be mocking the hot-werewolf cliche, but it just comes off as a blind following of the formula, which is annoying because the book starts with a bunch of tropes subverted.
The book really goes downhill when the road-trip arrives back home in Sydney. In Jinks version of the vampire lore, vampires aren't even alive during daylight hours. They black out when the sun comes up and wake up when the sun goes up. It's interesting when it's used as an obstacle, but not so interesting when it leads to endless summaries of what happened when the narrator was knocked out. At least two chapters went like, "I wouldn't know this until I woke up, but at the very moment I was passing out, X was doing this, this, and this, and this happened, etc. etc. etc." So a lot of the book was summary, which could have been avoided.
There was also a forced romance, which was fun, like always. The bad guys were turned into vampires which meant they were automatically forgiven for forcing teenagers to fight to the death, which was ridiculous. And it just wasn't what I was hoping for.
Honestly, I was hoping for something with more plot, more excitement. The inside flap said Nina would learn what being a vampire really meant, but her turnaround in thinking came from nowhere. I was picturing her getting more shit done. Scaring a few people. Finding some excitement. Not sleeping through half the book and then summarizing what the non-vamps did during that time.
It's especially unfortunate because Evil Genius is just. So. Good. Maybe I'll go read that instead.
It starts off promising enough--a group of down-in-the-dumps vampires trying to solve the murder of their asshole sire or grand-sire. Then there's a burst of action in the first half of the book; a road-trip through Australia, a werewolf fighting ring, the bad guys who run said werewolf fighting ring.
Unfortunately, the werewolf is the hottest hottie to ever hot, which is just so annoying. Jinks might be mocking the hot-werewolf cliche, but it just comes off as a blind following of the formula, which is annoying because the book starts with a bunch of tropes subverted.
The book really goes downhill when the road-trip arrives back home in Sydney. In Jinks version of the vampire lore, vampires aren't even alive during daylight hours. They black out when the sun comes up and wake up when the sun goes up. It's interesting when it's used as an obstacle, but not so interesting when it leads to endless summaries of what happened when the narrator was knocked out. At least two chapters went like, "I wouldn't know this until I woke up, but at the very moment I was passing out, X was doing this, this, and this, and this happened, etc. etc. etc." So a lot of the book was summary, which could have been avoided.
There was also a forced romance, which was fun, like always. The bad guys were turned into vampires which meant they were automatically forgiven for forcing teenagers to fight to the death, which was ridiculous. And it just wasn't what I was hoping for.
Honestly, I was hoping for something with more plot, more excitement. The inside flap said Nina would learn what being a vampire really meant, but her turnaround in thinking came from nowhere. I was picturing her getting more shit done. Scaring a few people. Finding some excitement. Not sleeping through half the book and then summarizing what the non-vamps did during that time.
It's especially unfortunate because Evil Genius is just. So. Good. Maybe I'll go read that instead.
protoman21's review against another edition
4.0
The concept for this book was very strong, and while the story and characters were fairly entertaining and engaging, the novel tended to get a little bogged down in the details. Listening to characters discuss who should wear which pair of sunglasses does nothing for the story or the characters, and yet we spent several moments during a tense trip discussing this. I'm hoping this book doesn't turn into a series, so I don't have to feel guilty for stopping with this one.
abaugher's review against another edition
4.0
start: by the author of Evil Genius, read by an Aussie, setting is down under. no kangaroos or dingos so far, but an interesting version of vamps as not so strong and superhero-like.
end: ok, excellent! vampirism is an infection! it doesn't make you stronger, it makes you SICK! (all this is established early on). and the hilariously muddled situations that the whole group keeps getting into is great reading, even while you're wincing along with the characters.
i've gotta get the second book!
end: ok, excellent! vampirism is an infection! it doesn't make you stronger, it makes you SICK! (all this is established early on). and the hilariously muddled situations that the whole group keeps getting into is great reading, even while you're wincing along with the characters.
i've gotta get the second book!
kimlynn77's review against another edition
I tried. I really did. I just couldn't get past the neurotic, constantly complaining vampires. I may give it a go again later, but it was just not holding my interest.
maddie_wecker's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good. Best part is the fact it's based in Australia
jcousins's review against another edition
4.0
A new voice in the vampire genre. Very funny and a good read.
korra_oh's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book, what feels like, a decade ago and LOVED it. Coming from the classic YA theme with vampires and zombies and romance and "forget who you are for love," I thought this book was a creative and well done reimagining of what real life as a vampire might be like. The characters are colorful in their joint sickliness and the writer does a great job of showing us that the world created has more to it without taking away from the story.
stacyschuttler's review against another edition
3.0
Good book...It became a bit slow towards the end and then there were so many things going on at once that you really needed to stay alert. I don't think that the characters were introduced all that well at the beginning. There were many vampires who were introduced...the next few chapters focused on three characters and then then it was hard to remember who was who.