Risika became a vampire hundreds of years ago, on the night of her brother's death. As time has passed, she has learned how to live on the fringes of both human and vampire societies, uncomfortable with either. But when she comes up against her brother's killer once again, she finds herself burning with a renewed purpose: revenge.

I admit, most of my fondness for this book comes from nostalgia, since it was one of the handful of books I owned in my early teens and one of the books that sparked my own interest in writing. Objectively, it isn't a very good book; the plot is pretty thin, and the rather-shallow characters fall into many of the pitfalls that come with teenage writing. (The author was 14 when it was published.) Still, there are some vivid images painted here and scenes that I feel do an excellent job of demonstrating the "feel" of modern gothic lit.

One of the starter books for the Vampire Bookbox

I'm claiming this book from the Vampire bookbox. It's the first in the "Den of Shadows" series, and as such stands on its own quite well, with its tale of vampire shapeshifters with strong bonds to specific animals. It's told in the first person, in a mix of past-tense flashbacks (where we see how Rachel became Risika) and present-tense chapters describing the current events of the story.

I was pleased to see some regional references - Risika lives in Concord, MA, which is laden with early US history...

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series, with some entertaining tidbits.]

I left this book in the charmingly painted (but apparently in need of some maintenance) LFL in Manville Park on this lovely day. Hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in RI here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Keep Them Moving release challenge. ***