Can I say how much I enjoy M.T. Anderson's writing? Soooo much. His books are sophisticated and intelligent, and very refreshing after reading a lot of exciting but cliche-ridden YA bestsellers.

Thirsty does not romanticize vampires. It starts off pretty funny and you think this is going to be some camp novel that makes fun of anything that takes itself too seriously. But then the story gets darker and darker and pretty soon you realize that Anderson has a lot more going on than you thought.

This is the kind of YA novel that could be taught in a 10th grade English class.



( )

I was absorbed in this when I first read it upon its original release. As an adult, I tried a year ago to read it and was far too bored to finish it. Now, I was determined to get through it because I wanted to read certain passages again that I'd remembered from when I was sixteen. This book was still BORING. The passages weren't as vivid as I remembered, but overall I liked how some of them seemed to link the world together. The vampire god plot was stupid, as was the savior aspect. This book could have been a lot shorter. I wanted to know more about Rebecca, but maybe the author was too afraid of writing romance. Romance can be tricky, is what I mean. I never got to know anyone as characters because there were too many stupid subplots in there. You know what could have been interesting? The book keeping the first few chapters, and focusing on Rebecca and also the Sad Vampire festival. Chris fears the Sad Vampire festival and struggles with his life changes, and his family could grapple with their discovery instead of him crying about angels. The book could -end- a year from where it started, with the Sad Vampire festival. Chris gets caught for killing Jerk because he was moving apart from his friends anyway, and killed. Boom. Much more emotional book and ending. More consistent with the vampire worldbuilding and possibilities. But no, the author made the decisions that he did and churned out something absolutely boring. What a waste of time. ( )

Seriously?!? This book won The National Book Award?!?!?!? This is one of the most poorly written books for young adults I've read in a long time. This is also the worst book I've finished in recent memory.

What a whole lot of nothing building up to...a whole lot of nothing. Rather disappointing. The characters are stereotypical and the story is boring. The 'humor' was not only unfunny, but terribly mean spirited, even for a vampire novel.

The only scene which sort of stood out is when Chris, the protagonist, talks to Rebecca, the love interest, and his fangs start growing, which causes him to lisp. This was only sort of interesting because while I was reading it, I thought "What a random thing to borrow/steal from Buffy."

I'm not sure why I was compelled to finish it, but I would definitely NOT recommend this book. ( )

Chris and his friends begin drifting apart in high school, with good-looking Tom hanging out with the cool kids and nerdy Jerk is embarrassing. And Chris has begun to feel strange ever since they saw a captured vampiress being led to her execution, when she stopped and locked eyes with Chris for some reason. Now he is thirsty all the time, can't eat or sleep and walks around school exhausted. Also, the mentor who has appeared to help Chris, Chet the Celestial Being, has promised that he can keep Chris from turning into a vampire if the boy helps destroy the vampire lord who wants to take over the world. Chris really hates that he's becoming a vampire, as he'd rather just be able to talk to the girl he likes.
An alternate world of humans going about their normal lives, yet protecting themselves from vampires with ancient rituals preformed at carnivals and chasing down witches. ( )

A modern day study in tragedy. ( )