Susan Hubbard

I gulped down The Society of S last night in one sitting. It is very compelling and being a monstrous (heh heh) vampire fan I could not resist it. There is very little of the usual vampire business in it. Instead it is a gradual unfolding of a secret kept by a father from his daughter. Said daughter, the narrator, is an incredibly precocious thirteen and adapts to all the changes that happen in a brief period of time with implausible sangfroid. Perhaps that is the vampire nature. You will show more not encounter any Bram Stoker or Anne Rice vampires in this book but there are vicious acts and thoughtfulness on a par with those writers.

In the final analysis this vampire story is, I think, a metaphor for the world today. The end is a plea for all creatures to get along in harmony somehow. It is much more thought provoking than most vampire literature. It is also Susan Hubbard's first novel. I hope she plans more. show less

I'm just going to jump in here and say that I have had severe issues with most vampire books I've read (granted I haven't read that many...). I absolutely loathed Twilight (and its craptastic sequel, New Moon. Haven't ventured further than that and don't ever plan to), I hated Companions of the Night, and thought I Am Legend was just "okay". I have read an anthology of classic Victorian vampire short stories and that was pretty good, but overall, my experience has been very "meh"-like. Hence show more why The Society of S has been falling further and further on Mount TBR. So, I finally said "Screw it!" and decided to read it. And surprisingly enough, I kind of sorta loved it.

This is the first vampire novel that I've read that's actually intelligent. Most of the ones I read are just pure fluff (like the Sookie Stackhouse series which I like a bit, but don't love). Now there's absolutely nothing wrong with fluff (it's good for the soul, after all), but once in a while I like to read a smart book about monsters. I don't really care what kind. The Society of S deals heavily with science (in regards to how vampires are made and how they co-exist with us mere mortals) and also deals with the ethical dilemnas in being an "other". It wasn't all "I'm a vampire, so now what?", which I liked. Plus, the book compares Poe and in one instance Freud to the likes of the modern-day vampire, which was all types of awesome.

The Society of S is narrated by a thirteen year old girl. Most of the time I have an issue with teenagers narrating books about vampires because usually they do it in such an annoying way that I spent the whole novel rolling my eyes at these girls who give teenagers and women in general a bad name. But I actually really liked Ariella. First off, she was smart (seriously, take notes Stephenie Meyer. Not all us women are incredibly shallow, naive, and just so anti-feminist), but most importantly, her emotions seemed so real that I found myself caring about her. I also absolutely loved the parents, especially her father. I'm a complete and total sucker for a man with a dry sense of humor. There's just nothing I can do about (not that I would want to, of course).

The supporting characters were all more than adequate, except I really wanted to know more about the mysterious Root. Maybe in the next book in this series (which I'm so picking up really soon). One thing, though, was that the Big Bad wasn't really all that big. I mean, they were bad, but I didn't get the sense that Ariella was in too much danger at the beginning (or middle). Everything else was interesting enough, but I really missed the viciousness of the vampire a bit. So, I guess I want more Big Bad or a bigger Bad.

So, anyway, I highly recommend The Society of S for those who want a unique twist on vampires, but don't want them to veer so off script that you want to cry because vampires so aren't supposed to sparkle... Also, if you want something deeper than the current batch of vampire novels, then this is definitely the one you need to pick up. My faith in vampires has been restored once more (or at least until I read another crappy one that makes me want to yell and not in the "this is totally creepy and I'm fearing for my life right this minute" kind of way). show less

In a surprising deviation from conventional vampire lore, Susan Hubbard has created a coming of age novel that is elegantly written and lingers long after the last page has turned. But if readers are expecting the typical tale of lusty vampires mired in melancholia, then the unraveling journey of young Ariella Montero might prove a bit tame.

The Society of S evolves meticulously to chronicle the quest of 13-year-old Ariella who endeavors to solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of show more her mother. But every clue brings her closer to discovering her own true nature-an identity that her father has strangely suppressed.

Issues begin to plague her beyond normal teenage angst-why is her mirror image always skewed? Why can't her father be photographed? Why is she always anemic? Who is watching her in the shadows? What is going on in the basement with her father's research with Seradrone? Something is churning in the depths of her that she doesn't recognize-something not entirely human. And it wants out.

As these permutations unveil in their gloomy Saratoga Springs manse, her research scientist father observes the ultimate experiment in his daughter, with a curious detached fascination-determined that nature take its course without interference. Has he begat a predator, a distinctive "other", or an ordinary mortal?

Hubbard cautiously skirts around the issue, as if not ready to let go of the secret of Ariella and her father. There is no exclamatory "a ha!" once the secret is revealed. Strangely devoid of the passion that makes vampire mythology so enticing, Hubbard engages in subtlety. There are no vampires morphing into bats, or lashing out in dramatic fights with antique Valenciennes lace at their necks.

While it may not be a "Hollywood" or "Bram Stoker" vision, or even resemble anything closely to Anne Rice, the Society of S begs to challenge the reader by analyzing what it means to be immortal through the eyes of literature. Clearly the pursuit of knowledge is the theme throughout the book and a worthy occupation for the undead.

Readers will be strangely riveted by Hubbard's take on the modern vampire, despite the apparent mundane suburban feel within the fabric of the plot. But the novel captures an indefinable something that makes it appealing as well. Worth the read to discover that the journey is just as important as the destination.Copyright(c)Nicola Mattos show less

It isn’t until homeschooled twelve-year-old Ari makes her first real-friend that she realizes that there’s something strange about her father. Being raised as an only child in a single-parent home, and living a very sheltered life, has led to Ari being educated in Edgar Allen Poe, not in pop culture. So when she sees her first vampire movie, things start to click. Soon she discovers the truth – her father is a vampire, her mother is a human, and she may or may not be a vampire.

In a show more search for the truth about her mother, and what happened between her parents, Ari leaves home one day and starts on a road trip that will take her to her mother’s doorstep, with a few stops along the way, including the emergence of Ari’s own vampirism.

The Review
This book was on my TBR list since it first came out, and yet I was a little bit afraid to read it because of how much vampires got unvampirized in the past few years. For The Society of S, on one hand, there is still the thick gothic atmosphere that I love about Dracula but the vampires aren’t scary monsters in it – they’re sympathetic creatures and aren’t much different than humans.

I loved everything about this book while I was reading it, but the more I think about it the more I can pick out a few things that I didn’t particularly enjoy. I think that is the beauty of Hubbard’s writing in this book (can’t say about all her books, as this is the only one I’ve read so far) – it is so gorgeous and lyrical that I’m more interested in the actual act of reading than I am with what’s going on in the book. Her writing is amazing and I would gladly read anything else that she’s written if her writing style is even a fraction as enjoyable as it was in this book.

The Society of S was part gothic novel and part coming of age story – both of which I typically love, so I was thrilled that this book had a little bit of both going on. Ari’s self-discovery, and her realization of who she is and what her family is, is thoroughly enjoyable to witness. She grows so much through the book that it’s hard, thinking back now, to realize that she’s the same character at the beginning that she is at the end… even though she changed very gradually through the book.

And yay gothic feeling of the book! But it was strange – the gothic feeling in this book seemed to disappear pretty much as soon as Ari reached Florida. Looking back, this is disappointing, but while reading it I didn’t notice too much at all.

The one thing that really bothered me while actually reading it, though, was the epilogue. Oh, how I do not enjoy epilogues, and this one is no exception. Would’ve worked better just leaving the book at the end of the last chapter – there was closure, so I don’t know what the point of it was. Bother.

The Bottom Line
But as mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed the book while actually reading it (except for the epilogue). I loved the little bit of mystery that was thrown in, I loved the feeling of Ari’s family house, I loved Ari’s self-discovery. It was quite good, and I would definitely highly recommend this to non-romantic-vampire fans. And I’m definitely going to be on the look-out for other books by Hubbard. show less