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Hearts at Stake

by Alyxandra Harvey

Stalked by throngs of fanged bachelors and hunted by a bloodthirsty queen, Solange Drake is bracing herself for a seriously sour 16th birthday. In Alyxandra Harvey’s sassy and action-packed novel – the first instalment of The Drake Chronicles – Solange finds herself in the middle of a vampire civil war centuries in the making.

Solange is the first girl born to the Drake family in 900 years. An ancient prophecy foretells her rise to vampire queen. Her 16th birthday will mark the transition from human to vampire, if she’s strong enough to survive the dangerous metamorphosis – not to mention the aggressive suitors hypnotized by her wacky pheromones, and the reigning queen and her allies, who want the potential usurper not just undead, but dead. Further complicating it all is Solange’s mysterious attraction to a young vampire hunter seeking revenge on the Drake family.

The story is alternately narrated by Solange and her witty and fearless human friend Lucy, who has a knack for breaking noses. The novel’s most convincing character, Lucy must contend with a troubling attraction of her own: to the brooding Nicholas, one of Solange’s seven handsome vampire brothers.

As both royalist vampires and rogue vampire hunters converge on the Drake compound, Lucy and the vampire clan – led by their warmongering mother, Helena – throw themselves into a dizzying series of battles that will determine the fate of both the precious Solange and all vampire society.

With the novel’s extensive Drake family history, its brisk march from one plot point to the next, and occasional detours and character marginalia, the storyline is sometimes bewildering. And while the central characters are endearing – particularly the gutsy Lucy – the narrative seldom travels very deep into their teen psyches.

Yet Harvey’s take on the currently ubiquitous teen vampire saga is fresh, fun, and edgy. Best of all, at its heart is a pair of smart and independent young women who are perfectly capable of wielding their own stakes, crossbows, and fencing foils, and of kicking butts, both alive and slightly less so.

 

Reviewer: Caroline Skelton

Publisher: Bloomsbury

DETAILS

Price: $12.5

Page Count: 320 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 978-0-80272-074-0

Released: Jan.

Issue Date: 2010-3

Categories:

Age Range: 12+