Guilty Pleasures

Okay, I admit it. I'm a fan of vampire fiction. I suppose this shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of, given the proliferation of such brain candy in recent months, but for an aspiring novelist attempting to plumb the depths of the human psyche, actually admitting to reading the stuff whilst working on said novel is a bit embarrassing.

But there it is.

I have not yet experienced the joys of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, though I certainly plan to in the near future. No, my latest excursion into the world of the macabre has led me to the Night World, a series of nine books by L.J. Smith. As I write this, a tenth is due for release in 2010.

To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much when I first picked them up. They're basically teen romance novels with vampires, werewolves and witches thrown in. The world is fairly well-developed, and the story revolves around the aforementioned creatures and something called the "Night World", a sort of shadow society that exists alongside normal humanity. A bit like J.K. Rowling's wizarding world. The creatures that inhabit this world interact with human society, but their laws forbid them from letting humans know anything about the Night World, including its existence. Vampires, werewolves, and witches especially aren't allowed to fall in love with humans. Doing so means death for the human and possibly for the Night Worlder.

Which brings us to plot device #2. We're basically talking about romance fiction here, so of course this means in every story, these laws are violated. Another big story point is the concept of "soulmates." In this world, everyone has a perfect match for them that the souls immediately recognize when they meet. Once again, this isn't supposed to happen between Night World people and humans, but of course, it does, in every story.

No problem. Lots of writers work from formula; in fact, many of my favorite authors wrote little else. Edgar Rice Burroughs, for one. Formulas work, that's why people use them. Ms. Smith seems to have found a good one, and she uses it very well.

The first volume, containing the rather unsubtly titled stories "Secret Vampire", "Daughters of Darkness", and "Spellbinder", may be a bit too formulaic for some. Each story revolves around the basic plot point of finding the soulmate, learning about the Night World, and making the choice to join the soulmate or not. The stories are over quickly and fairly predictably, with a few loose ends left and more than a few unanswered questions. For the most part, everyone gets what they wanted in the end and everything's packaged nicely. Stick with it, though; it gets better.

In the second volume things get a bit more complicated. Deception, deceit and violence are the order of the day here, and soulmates are found in the most unlikely of places. In "Dark Angel", a girl dying of hypothermia is rescued by a spirit calling itself an "angel". At first having a guardian angel seems like a blessing, but things go from good to very, very bad in short order. The second story, "The Chosen", is about a vampire hunter bent on destroying all vampires who learns her soulmate is, in fact, a vampire Lord dedicated to doing the same to humans. Finally, in "Soulmate", a girl who has visions of past lives learns that she has been reincarnated through thousands of years and in each of them has been the soulmate of an ancient and powerful vampire.

I haven't gotten to the third book, which contains the stories "Huntress", "Black Dawn" and "Witchlight", but I look forward to it. This is good stuff. You won't find deep philosophy here, but what you will find is good action and entertainment. Oh, and a little romance as well.

Now for the guilty part. I have to admit, what drew me to the series was not the titles, or the genre, or even a recommendation from anyone else. It was the girl on the cover of Book 2.

There, I said it.