Blue Bloods review

Blue Bloods

by Melissa de la Cruz

Hyperion

March 2007

First line: "The Bank was a decrepit stone building at the tail end of Houston Street, on the last divide between the gritty East Village and the wilds of the Lower East Side."

This series features absurdly wealthy teens in upper-class Manhattan, whose vampiric heritage is passed down from generation to generation. These vampires do sport fangs and occasionally drink blood, they are "immortal" in the sense that they are frequently incarnated, but other than that they don't share very many vampiric foibles such as problems with sunlight, crosses or garlic. Celebrity name-dropping and name-brand conciousness figures heavily here, as the students of exclusive prep school Duchesne: outsider Schuyler Van Alen, her best friend Oliver Hazard-Perry, love interest Dylan Ward, popular twins Jack and Mimi Force and Texan newcomer Bliss Llewellyn, gradually come to realize their true natures. The teen years are when new vampires are at their most fragile, and some uber-vamps known as "Silver Bloods" are hunting them.

Things gets a bit confusing at the end, with the revelation that the teens have been reincarnated over many centuries, with significant ties to the Mayflower, the Roanoke Colony and Ancient Egypt. Some of the vampires are descended from arcangels, and many of them are in incestuous relationships. Jack and Mimi apparently were an item in past lives, something Mimi would very much like to resume. Jack is interested in Schuyler, who might or might not be his former wife, his mother and simultaneously his aunt. See? Confusing. Lots of suspense... is Charles Force, the twins father, a villain, or just a grouchy patrician? Is teen dreamboat Dylan human or vampire? Is Dylan innocent or is he the one responsible for Blue Blood murders, or is he just a pawn? The series reads a lot like Gossip Girls, which makes sense, as the author is also responsible for the popular Au Pairs series. This is a light, fluffy, quick read, promising a series worth returning to.

Compare to:

Crave - Melissa Darnell
Infinite Days - Rebecca Maizel
House of Night series - P.C. + Kristin Cast

Vampire Academy series - Richelle Mead

I borrowed this book from the library.