A Thing (amongst others)

I have a Thing for vampire books. You know what a Thing is - an indescribable draw to something that you are slightly ashamed of, but you can't seem to keep away from. I have a Thing for vampire books, and it's morphed slightly into anything "paranormal" (like those dumb ghost hunting shows). I wrote my senior thesis for my undergrad on the way vampire literature is used to view humanity using Dracula, 'Salem's Lot, Interview with the Vampire, and the Sookie Stackhouse novels. It was quite a bit of work, but I loved every second of it. To this day, it's still one of my favorite papers I have written.

At Munchkinland, one of the older kids was reading Blue Bloods. Considering the cover image was a neck with fang marks, I assumed it was a vampire book and asked about it. The kid said it was good, and I should check it out. I did. I'm now reading the third book. It's been about two weeks since she told me about it.

It's definitely an interesting take on vampires. Their background story, or legend, is that they are the angels that rebelled with Lucifer and were kicked out of the Kingdom of Heaven. They chose immortality to repent for their sins and hopefully one day be restored into the presence of the Kingdom. The Blue Bloods reincarnate -  their physical shell dies but their "blood" (and personality) live on to be implanted in another body later. The Blue Bloods are the cream of human society and take an interest in bettering the lives of the Red Bloods, or humans.

They are not violent creatures, shockingly. This is definitely a deviation from most "accepted" vampire lore. They take "human familiars" to supply them with blood, but the humans volunteer and are never killed. There is a strict Code that regulates the behavior of the Blue Bloods. Of course, they have a nemesis (how else would it be a book?). The Silver Bloods, including Lucifer, are the evil spirits who are not trying to regain entrance into Heaven. They kill Blue Bloods, gaining all the knowledge and memories of that specific immortal. They are considered Abomination with all that knowledge. Interestingly, Silver Bloods are blamed for the disappearance of the Roanoke colony (that is honestly the most intriguing part of the books - their take on American and world history).

The book is a guilty pleasure read for sure, but I can't seem to put them down. I am slightly ashamed whenever someone asks, "Whatcha reading?" But really, who doesn't have a Thing with some sort of slightly shameful genre?