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A review by jpeaslee
The Radleys by Matt Haig
3.0
English village vampires, posing as regular humans until bloodlust overcomes the unknowing vampiric daughter, causing ripples of chaos and change throughout one family and their surrounding community. This was a truly interesting premise - sort of Twilight meets Chocolat. I wish I had read this when it was first published.
I will say, the first three-quarters dragged a bit. I felt like every "twist" was obvious, and certain parts of the writing were too on the nose ("Sympathy for the Devil" as a ringtone? Please.) There are tropes in this book that were played out even 10+ years ago, like the revelation that pretty much every famous person/artist throughout history was/is a vampire. Most importantly, I really disliked every single character - I couldn't root for any of these people!
And despite hearing this book called a "dark comedy," I failed to see the humor in almost any of it.
But around 70% of the way through, I felt more connected to the characters (probably because). I'm sure that transition was intentional of Haig, but it still made three-fourths of the book really boring to me.
However, once the action started to ramp up, I didn't want to put the book down - even though I was pretty sure I knew where the story was headed, I greatly enjoyed the ride. The ending pulled it all together, and the final chapter made me cry.
This is a quick read, and there's enough freshness here to made it worth the read for fans of vampire literature.
I will say, the first three-quarters dragged a bit. I felt like every "twist" was obvious, and certain parts of the writing were too on the nose ("Sympathy for the Devil" as a ringtone? Please.) There are tropes in this book that were played out even 10+ years ago, like the revelation that pretty much every famous person/artist throughout history was/is a vampire. Most importantly, I really disliked every single character - I couldn't root for any of these people!
And despite hearing this book called a "dark comedy," I failed to see the humor in almost any of it.
But around 70% of the way through, I felt more connected to the characters (probably because
Spoiler
once the family starts drinking blood, they all become more raw and realHowever, once the action started to ramp up, I didn't want to put the book down - even though I was pretty sure I knew where the story was headed, I greatly enjoyed the ride. The ending pulled it all together, and the final chapter made me cry.
This is a quick read, and there's enough freshness here to made it worth the read for fans of vampire literature.