My Library

Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead's second novel and her first effort in the Young Adult market, opens with Rose, our heroine, and Lissa, her best friend, under attack by what they think are Strigoi, the evil immortal vampires of human legend. Rose is a Dhampir, a human/vampire hybrid, and Lissa is a Moroi, a mortal but pureblooded vampire with powerful magic, and a Princess at that. They've run away from St. Vladimir's Academy, a vampire boarding school in Montana of all places, and the Academy wants them back. [Spoiler of sorts, but nothing you won't find on the book's cover or deduce from the title - they get taken back.] The book manages to combine typical school age gossip and rivalries with royal intrigue and the complexities of Mead's own vampire society. The entire story is set against the related mysteries of why Rose and Lissa ran away from the Academy in the first place and the unusual telepathic bond between the two.

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The Renaissance Soul: Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One by Margaret Lobenstine is aimed at people who might be described as multiply interested, the cliched «jack of all trades and master of none.» She calls them «Renaissance Souls» (the modern, PC version of «Renaissance Man».)

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Succubus Blues is Richelle Mead's debut novel and the first in her Georgina Kincaid series. The novels center around a neurotic, conflicted, possibly even moral succubus living in Seattle, Georgina Kincaid. From the cover to the storyline to Miss Kincaid's job, at a bookstore, Mead writes a story in the tradition of the best rock and roll songs - the best rock songs are about being a rock star; this book is about being a book freak. (I think it should be obvious that I mean that in the nicest possible way, being a book freak myself. The politically correct term is bibliophile, but I hate political correctness almost as much as I hate pretentious words. Ironic.)

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