Daylight

I detest vampire fiction and stopped reading "Interview with a Vampire" because I was so freaked out by the evilness of the characters. So why did I buy this book? The setting and the writing. My family has visited Menton, France, where much of the action takes place, and I love the entire region on both sides of the French/Italian border. I skimmed the book at the bookstore and immediately was hooked by Knox's prose. I also enjoy historical fiction and parts of this novel are set in the past. About two-thirds of the way through, I was getting uneasy about the possibility of a nun and saint being a vampire. Way too creepy. However, I persevered and was positively blown away by Knox's satisfying ending. I was worried that she would leave show more loose ends, but she didn't. All is revealed. I can't believe the reviewer who couldn't tell who was a vampire and who wasn't. This is no mystery by the end of the book. I still do not like vampire fiction; "Daylight" did include some pretty horrifying descriptions. However, the writing is so beautiful and characters so deftly drawn, that "Daylight" was worth the discomfort. show less

This is a strange novel and really hard to follow—you always have the nagging sensation that you’ve forgotten something that the author wants you to have remembered, that you’re missing something. What the book does a good job of capturing is, if you will, the pros and cons of being a vampire. The yearning for light, the fear of what you have become and what you might do to others, the desire to keep living, the desire to be a part of something others know nothing about. Eve’s devotion to her sister, whom she once believed dead, is touching and sad; Eve must give up her own normal life to act as an enabler. It was Eve that Ila meant to take, but she gives no sign that she wants to be a part of their world, warning Bad away.

It is an unfortunate fact that I almost never enjoy adult works by writers whose YA writings I love – cases in point, Ursula Le Guin and Diana Wynne Jones (I'm still waiting for the kamikaze sex, Diana). This, sadly, is no exception. It's a vampire story, with a very original and different take on the mythology, but I found it slow and dull, and the characters unengaging.