Slayed [Paperback]

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

SLAYED is a little like what Buffy might have been (with a Romeo & Juliet twist) if she'd partnered up with Cordelia and had to teach her the vampire slaying ropes. There is shallow fun dialogue, a somewhat campy foe, and a forbidden romance that you root for from the start.

This is an example of a great premise (the teenage descendants of the two most famous vampire hunters: Van Helsing and Harker, meeting up and falling for each other despite their feuding families) that turned out to be a good book.

The characters were all very believable and pitiable in their own way. Daphne as the bitter slayer whose parents don't seem to care about the danger they constantly put her in or the truly cloistered life she's had to live. Then there's Kiki, the washed up former child star whose parents kicked off the family TV show when she put on weight at the age of five. And finally Tyler, the slayer who has been living in a car with his disturbed father ever since his mother got turned and had to be staked.

Everyone is a mess, but in a can't-look-away-car-crash-on-the-side-of-the-road way. Daphne cuts out magazine pictures of the friends she imagines having (and the prom date she fantasizes about getting to second base with), Kiki is a plastic surgery addict with serious promiscuity issues, and Tyler is barely hanging on to his father's sanity.

Compared to the more thoughtful character development early on, the ending of SLAYED felt pretty rushed and much too easy. Another fifty pages would have gone a long way towards smoothing out some of the convenient plot developments and jumpy action sequences (not to mention the much too perfect epilogue). But the feuding vampire slayer dynasties and fascinatingly damaged characters make SLAYED a fun, if flawed, read. I believe this is a stand alone story (although there is ample opportunity for a sequel, so you never know), but Amanda Marrone has several other Paranormal YA's under her belt that I plan on picking up.

Sexual Content: References to sex. References to homosexuality. A scene of mild sensuality.

Amanda Marrone's Slayed is well written spin on the descendents from `Dracula'.

The protagonist, Daphne, 17 years old, has traveled over the east coast most of her life `slaying' vampires. She yearns to be normal; to have friends, to experience having a boyfriend or to at least have the opportunity to hold hands with a boy! There's even pictures of potential prom dresses for a prom she'll never go to. She has a scrapbook of sorts that she has collected over the years; in those pages are pictures of imaginary friends she's drawn, a yellow house with a dog sitting in front just waiting for her to come home to. These are the `normal' things she yearns for, instead of life on the road with no friends, no home and not even a curling iron to call her own! Her mother, Joy is a controlling rigid woman, doesn't allow Daphne to read any other magazine except for Jennifer-Kate, a magazine devoted to clean living and isn't all `sexed-up'. Her father is more laid back; always deferring to her mother. Despite this type of sheltered life, she has seen more than her share of horror in the form of vampire slaying. Daphne's a great character; she's smart, witty and real. I loved her!

When the story starts, Daphne and her parents, descendents of THE Van Helsing, her father anyways, are heading towards South Bristol, Maine. There have been strange occurrences; traditional vamp activity but also a rash of infants being admitted to the hospital with anemia and weakness and some have died mysteriously in the night. No sign of any fangs present.

When the Van Helsing's arrive they meet up with the Harkers, yes, from Dracula, once friends now foe; Nathan and Tyler Harker, father and son. Tyler's the same age as Daphne and has the whole Goth look going. Daphne doesn't understand her mother's hostile attitude towards Mr. Harker and is surprised at how angry she gets when they are meeting with the police chief to discuss the assignment and the price. It's decided that the Van Helsings and the Harkers will work together on this assignment with a $5000 bonus going to the family with the most kills. The race is on!

Mr. Harker has some unique ideas; vampires aren't harming/killing the infants but something else is..... Could he be right? Tyler, our Goth dude with guyliner has some surprising character developments; his life hasn't been easy but he is easy on the eyes.

Kiki aka Maybelle Crusher, is a rich girl who was once a part of her family's famous children's band and television show: The Disco Unicorns. Daphne meets her on a recon trip and Kiki is one of the most hilarious characters!Kiki is a plastic surgeons dream with a chip on her shoulder and lots of money to burn. Kiki decides that slaying is her calling & Daphne has to teach her. Kiki is a riot and despite her `spoiled girl' tude, she's got guts, humor and a surprising sense of empathy that makes you want to be her friend once you get to know her.

The story flows very nicely. It held my attention, I liked the characters and there were some unexpected developments that I wasn't expecting. I especially liked the humor and found myself laughing out loud at some of Kiki's antics. There is also some sorrow and heartbreak; all in all, there is a nice balance of chills and thrills, romance and comedy blended with real characters who have suffered greatly.

Meet Daphne Van Helsing, she's part of the famous Van Helsing vampire slaying family. The only this is that Daphne doen't like it, or being related to the original Van Helsing, and being in that blood line. She just wants a normal teenage life, friends, school, proms, and boys. Daphne and her parents travel around killing vampires. There's another famous vampire slaying family, the Harkers, and Daphne's mom wants nothing to do with the Harkers. When both families come to a town that's over run with vampires, the two families have to put their feelings aside, and deal with the problem at hand, vampires, and not normal vampires. Super vampires. It seems that the vampires in this town are the baddest of the bad vampires, and this is something that neither family has seen before. And something more sinister is waiting, waiting for the right time to show itself. Daphne meet's Tyler Harker, and sparks being to fly. Along the way, they meet Kiki, a slayer wannabe. I don't want to give to much of the plot away.

The characters are fantastic. I love Daphne and Kiki, Kiki is so funny. What I like most about all of the characters, is that as the story unfolds, we get to see that the characters have many layers to them, and it gives them depth. You can't help but to get to know them, and care what happens to them.

The writing style is okay. This is a fast read. For me, there was one problem. For some reason, some of the font is in cursive. It was very distracting when I came across it. I had to read the sentences a few times when just one word was in cursive.

This was a fun read. I've read other books by Marrone, and enjoyed all of them.

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