The Society of S

Here it is, finally, The Society of S by Susan Hubbard.  You know, since I've only received one vote so far for my poll on whether to link to Amazon or LibraryThing, I will continue to take the easy way out and link to Amazon, even though I am NOT an Amazon Associate, nor do I have any plans to suck up to any particular bookseller.  Anyway, I'm just trying to get you guys to vote on that, because if you really appreciate LibraryThing, you can certainly expect that I'll comply and post those links instead.

Now ... this book is from The Strand, and I bought it hardcover without any ...um... cover on it, so this description is entirely my own interpretation of the English language.  We have Ari, a lonely pre-teen girl with a broken family, living in Saratoga Springs, New York.  I hate to spoil it for you, but she's a vampire (gasp!), as is her father, her only living family member that we get hear about in the first half because Ari's mother is gone. Gone, as in, she left them right after Ari was born.  So as Ari grows up with an abandonment complex, pushing her to search for her long-lost mother, she develops a lonely-vampire one right alongside it, as she takes us through her world of teenage "angst."

This seemed much more a coming-of-age novel than a spooky, or romantic vampire story.  Ari reminded me so much - almost too much - of Bella in Twilight:  I couldn't really connect with her.  Ms. Hubbard does make an effort every now and again to draw the reader into the story through Ari's character, but I found her only technique in doing this was through cliches.  What else do we have here?  The plot - pretty predictable, event after event, not to mention the same old vampire lore you've read before.  If you're not into the vampires at all, the story is probably not enough to take you in, either.  The epilogue does take a shot at explaining the purpose of the novel, but fails in my opinion.  Now for the good:  Poe!  Plenty of Poe references, which is that special thing that kept me reading, especially the beautiful, sorrowful Annabel Lee.  I'll leave you with a snippet of poetry tonight then, and wish you a quiet, beautiful and lonesome evening tonight...

... And neither the angels in Heaven above,

Nor the demons down under the sea,

Can ever dissever my soul from the soul

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: —

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee ...