★★★★☆ Best vampires ever!

Don't Want to Be Your Monster

Deke Moulton

Almost my first thought on beginning to read Don't Want to Be Your Monster was, “Is that an allusion to the Blood Libel, or am I imagining it?” I flipped to the back to check if there was an Author’s Note.

There was, and no, I was not imagining the reference to Blood Libel. Deke Moulton read Dracula and was annoyed at some of the downright silly rules that Stoker made up for vampires: they need to be invited to enter a home, they cannot withstand a crucifix, … Yeah, it’s all pretty weird and arbitrary — it annoyed me, too, when I read Dracula. But Moulton noticed other things I had not, which led them to believe that the vampire myth had its origins in the Blood Libel. From there they were led to reimagine vampires from the ground up. Moulton’s vampires are not Count Dracula, or even Spike and Angel from Buffy — they are much better thought out, and make more sense. They are people you can like and sympathize with.

By the way, I encourage anyone who’s interested to begin by reading the Author’s Note — it doesn’t spoil the story, and it will help you understand where Moulton’s ideas came from.

In fact, this is the story of a small family of vampires living in rural Virginia. The point of view pair is two brothers, Adam and Victor, who have questions about what they are and what’s the right way to live. On learning that a murderer is killing neighborhood kids, they feel morally obliged to do something about it. It’s a good exciting story.

If I have a complaint, it is that Moulton does tend to sermonize. I agree entirely with the point of the sermon and I think the story backs it up well. I just don’t like being preached at — I think most people don’t — and these heavy-handed “This is the point of the story” harangues weaken the lesson instead of making it stronger.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advance reader copy of Don't Want to Be Your Monster. This review expresses my honest opinion.

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