The Den of Shadows Quartet [Paperback]

 

 

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When Amelia Atwater-Rhodes started writing about vampires, she was only thirteen. Lots of aspiring authors do the same, especially now that Twilightmania has hit.

Unfortunately her early quadrilogy of vampire novels is a good example of why young authors should hone their craft before being published. "The Den of Shadows Quartet" starts off well with a very short but promising novella, only to crumble into a ghastly tangle. Lots of misunderstood vampire hotties, oh-so-sassy Mary Sues, and whatever else Atwater-Rhodes could cobble together from Laurell K Hamilton, Anne Rice, and episodes of "Buffy."

"In the Forests of the Night" is the best of the bunch -- a story about the vampire Risika, who lives near Concorde (oh shock, that was Atwater-Rhodes' hometown) and is tired of her lonely immortal bloodsucking life. Then she receives a black rose, which is apparently a message from another vampire named Aubrey. Since Aubrey apparently killed her beloved brother long ago, Risika obviously is going to fight him. Cue plot twist.

"Demon In My View" twists the whole thing into metafiction, with the jaded goth outsider Jessica Allodola (a published teen writer... why does this sound so familiar?) being shocked when her imaginary character Aubrey turns out to be... real. With the vampire community out for her blood, Jessica plays a game of deception with Aubrey, who is determined to keep her alive. But even Jessica is unaware of the real reason she has a superspeshul bond with the vampires.

"Shattered Mirrors" turns the attention to the vampire-hunter Sarah Tigress Vida, a member of one of the most powerful witch clans. Then she meets a hot vampire named Christopher (who, of course, drinks only animal/donated blood) who is, like, so sensitive and so dreamy and writes poetry. Of course they fall in love, only for Sarah to learn that his twin brother is an allegedly evil vampire whom Sarah has sworn to destroy. Very awkward.

And "Midnight Predator" becomes a problem for slave-turned-vampire-hunter Turquoise Draka, who infiltrates the vampire citadel Midnight to destroy the evil Jeshickah. No, I don't know why Midnight treats its slaves like hotel guests. Anyhow, a nice-guy vampire named Jaguar (cue love story) is in charge of the place now, and of course Turquoise starts to fall for him even as her nasty memories of the past return.

It's painfully obvious that Amelia Atwater-Rhodes was quite young when she wrote all four novellas in "The Den of Shadows Quartet." There's an overabundance of vampire hotties, vampire-worship, silly "gawthe" names and trappings, emo philosophy, centuries-old vampires who act and think like teenagers, and allegedly tough heroines who are either Buffy clones or Goth Loners Scarred By Life. In short, it's like peeping into a teenage girl's personal fantasies.

And sadly there wasn't much to recommend Atwater-Rhodes writing at this time either. While her first novella had some raw potential, the following three works are a disaster of cliches and thin plotting. Her prose is tepid ("Jessica seemed almost to embody the graceful perfection of a vampire"), her dialogue is choppy and juvenile (""Blood and death and people who know too much"), and often her "shocking" plot twists are painfully obvious from the book's beginning.

Nor are her characters worth the read. Risika is a shallow but inoffensive heroine, and the absurdly over-the-top Turquoise actually has some depth and feeling woven into her. But Sarah is a painfully obvious clone of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (her name is SARAH?) with a Wiccan twist. Worst of all is the transparent Mary Sue: a surly snotty teen author, who has a superspeshul bond with vampires and has an all-black bedroom. Oooh, so edgy.

"The Den of Shadows Quartet" starts off with promise, and soon deteriorates into a sad soggy mess of vampire cliches and Mary Sues. Give it a miss.

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