In junior high school, I discovered the wonderful world of novels written by Christopher Pike. I read everything he wrote except for some lesser known works. But for the most part, if he wrote it, I read it. The same goes for R.L. Stine but that’s another post.
I recently bought one of his popular series (apart from the Final Friends and Remember Me trilogy) reprint by Simon Pulse: The Last Vampire. There are six books in the series and Simon Pulse released Thirst: No. 1 which includes the first three books in the series: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice.
For its time (for me), I enjoyed the thrill, the kick-ass nature of the protagonist, the vampire elements, and of course, any sex involved. Reading this through the eyes of a much better read adult, the writing is amateurish, the motivations aren’t clear, and the plots are predictable. I loved not knowing the end result as a pre-teen. However, presently, I can’t even stomach some of this writing. I found myself trudging through the pages and checking to see how far along I got until I completed the chapter.
There are some young adult novels that get better with age (Lois Lowry’s The Giver – again, another post) but these have not.
Christopher Pike was one of the best selling young adult authors in the mid-nineties (behind R.L. Stine) and now, young adults now don’t even know who he is. He’ll forever live in our junior high school years and stay there because that’s where he’s remembered, rejoiced, and on top. Rock on, Christopher Pike!
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