Infinite Days (Vampire Queen, Book 1) by Rebecca Maizel
Reviewed by JenniferRatings
Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content
LANGUAGE
VIOLENCE
SEXUAL CONTENT
ADULT THEMES
Ratings Explanation
Language: Around 15 instances of swearing plus several uses of “slut” and “whore”. Another handful of exclamations referring to deity.
Violence: Rhode teaches Lenah about her new desire to kill once she becomes a vampire; he teaches her how to sink her teeth precisely. It is stated that Lenah, during her nearly 600 years as a vampire, killed thousands of people. There are only a couple of individual murders that are described, and they are not graphic. Murder briefly relieves the emotional pain of a vampire. She kills a couple while at the opera and rests her feet on them for 2 acts. A room full of vampires descends on one innocent victim. Lenah’s coven had no need to feed because they had decimated a boarding house the night before. It is stated that Lenah murdered a young child for its pure blood. Vampires murder a young man leaving bite marks all over him and letting him slowly bleed to death.
Sexual Content: Before Rhode makes 15-year-old Lenah a vampire, he runs his finger between her breasts down to her belly button. She is wearing a see through nightgown and he presses her to him. As a vampire, Lenah and Rhode were “lovers” sometimes. As a human teenager in present-day, a girl calls Lenah a “slut”. Lenah laughs, realizing that she has never even had human sex. A teenage art student states that he can stare at girls’ boobs and pretend it’s for art. There is a poster for safe sex. While Lenah is wearing a bathing suit, Justin’s eyes travel up and down her body. He runs his hand along her body from shoulder to thigh. School friends see Lenah and Justin come out of her room and assume they have been together. While visiting his family, Lenah and Justin are on her bed with their clothes on, but his hands are all over her, trying to unbutton her jeans. She lets him see her for just a few seconds in her bra and underwear. A group of teenagers goes to a club called “Lust” decorated with enormous paintings depicting couples in “moments of passion”. The people dancing are pressed tightly together, pumping and thrusting, and they look like they are “making love”. Three descriptions of very deep kissing involving tongues, moaning, and lots of touching. Lenah invites Justin up to her room; he closes the bedroom door and as the next chapter starts, they wake up in bed together.
Adult Themes: A casual tone used to describe Lenah’s former life as a murderous vampire. Sometimes she kills people just because she is bored. All vampires have a lust for tragedy, tears, blood and murder. A group of teenagers use fake IDs to sneak into a club. Justin, a high school student, gets very drunk.
Synopsis
In 1418 Lenah Beaudonte was an innocent 15-year-old girl living with her family in England, but for nearly 600 years, she has been one of the most lethal and blood thirsty vampires in Europe. She is the ruling queen of a magically bound coven of vicious vampires, but like all of the un-dead, she longs to be human again. She wants to feel sand beneath her toes, let sunshine pour through her window and smell the air. She wants to live the life that was taken from her.
After sleeping for 100 years and executing an ancient ritual, Lenah wakes up as a 16-year-old girl in modern-day Massachusetts, enrolled in an expensive private school. Rhode, her soul mate, best friend and creator discovered the ritual, but it cost his life. Now Lenah goes about adjusting to the 21st century, attempting to live the life Rhode envisioned for her and for which he sacrificed his existence. Experiencing life, emotions and sensations again is exhilarating and when Lenah meets Justin, he makes her feel more alive than she ever thought possible. But the magic that binds her to her coven is not broken with Lenah’s transformation. She feels the coven on the move, searching for their queen. Can she outwit them and save herself and her new friends? Or will they find her and wreak their revenge?
When we attended the Book Expo of America in May, 2010, Infinite Days was presented by the young adult editor at St. Martin’s Griffin as their best YA selection coming out this fall. It is billed as “edgy” and “sizzling” and it lives up to both labels.
The best quote of the book came from Rhode, “Do not be surprised by your greatness, Lenah Beaudonte. Be surprised that no one expected it.” I was pleased with Lenah’s transformation and her ability to regain her humanity after centuries of blood lust. The twist on the classic vampire tale caught my interest and the story is compelling, but I am concerned with the amount of sexual content when it is marketed as a young adult novel. The YA category is problematic because it generally encompasses ages 14-25. There is, obviously, a huge difference in maturity and experience between a 14-year-old and a 25-year-old. I would not recommend this book for any reader under the age of 18.
Infinite Days is the first in a series entitled “Vampire Queen”.