Book Review: The Fell of Dark
Good Morning Blogiverse!
It’s Friday! I hope you’re ready for a long labor day weekend. I sure am! I lucked out and got today off, so I’ll be chillaxing a bit while doing some serious writing later on.
Anywho, I finished a book last night and it’s review time! This time around I read The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig.
I found this new release and many others from a friend on WordPress who posted about new YA releases for late summer.
YA, LGBT, AND vampires? Ding, ding, ding, jackpot! I just had to read this baby. So what did I think? Well let’s get right into it!
Blurb:
The only thing August Pfeiffer hates more than algebra is living in a vampire town. Located at a nexus of mystical energy fields, Fulton Heights is practically an electromagnet for supernatural drama. And when a mysterious (and annoyingly hot) vampire boy arrives with a cryptic warning, Auggie suddenly finds himself at the center of it. An ancient and terrible power is returning to the earthly realm, and somehow Auggie seems to be the only one who can stop it.
GoodReads
The Review:
I gave this novel three bloodsucking stars.
I had really high hopes for this one, but by the time I finished I felt more … annoyed?
Don’t get me wrong, there are great things about this book, but there are just about as many not so great things.
In a nutshell, this book is about a gay teen named Auggie Pfieffer living in Fulton Heights, a hotspot for vampires due to the Nexus present. Still, like any gay kid his age he wants to find his place in the world and his first boyfriend. But when he receives a bizarre warning from a vampire, his life is turned upside down. According to the vampire, he is going to end the world. Is this all just one big joke, or is there really something to be concerned about?
I enjoyed the writing style of this book. It’s witty, full of sarcastic metaphors, and blends pretty well for the most part. That was the thing that really drew me in at first.
Also, how could you not like Auggie? A sassy gay main character? We need a lot more of those in the world! His viewpoint made sense in the beginning. He just wants to live his life without all the supernatural craziness of the town getting to him. But when stuff really starts hitting the fan, Auggie made quite a few bad decisions.
Obviously I don’t expect him to be a saint. He is a teen after all, but I found he was a bit too willing to put himself in danger or make hasty decisions, which made certain situations worse or didn’t make enough sense.
As for other characters, I liked the best friend Adriana and her abuela, as well as Daphne. They stuck to their personalities pretty well.
The plot was intriguing at first, but I think by the halfway point I felt there was too much going on. There were way too many interested parties in Auggie’s plight, and that really muddied things up and made it confusing. Also, I found that at a certain point the plot followed an annoying pattern, which was plot point, drama fest, plot point, drama fest.
Yes, yes, Auggie is a gay teen and that often includes drama, but there’s only so much a reader can take. After a while it felt like he was just whining about his circumstances for the hell of it.
Lately the new YA books I’ve been reading have followed this trend of teens being overly emotional like this, but I don’t completely buy it. Not all teens are complete emotional messes, and it would’ve been nice to see Auggie calm down and get his crap together at some point.
Was this book fun? Yes. Annoying? Yes. Worth a read? Not completely sure, but it could be the right reading journey for you if you like all things YA, LGBT, and vampire.
That’s a Wrap!
Thanks for stopping by, and happy reading!
Have you read this book before? What did you think? Do you have a book recommendation similar to this one? Feel free to share in the comments!
If you’d like to see other reviews of mine, feel free to check out the book review section of my blog or my GoodReads. You can also follow my GoodReads reviews here. There are some great binge-worthy books on there!
Have a great day!
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Good review as usual. I, too, have noticed the trend toward super emotional teens in YA fiction.
Thank ya!
Yeah, it’s really disappointing that teens are made out to be super insanely emotional and not showcasing other more valuable traits.