When asked to review Vampire’s Kiss, the second novel in Veronica Wolff’s Watchers series, I of course said yes. I enjoyed the first book, Isle of Night and was eager to find out what was next in store for Drew. While I enjoyed Vampire’s Kiss, I will say I came away feeling slightly let down and disappointed.
By her wits, blood, and sacrifice, so far Drew has survived the intensive training on the Isle of Night. As a second-year Acari, her ultimate goal is to become a Watcher, and now she has a shot at her first mission. Except nothing is as it seems. The vampire Alcántara is as sinister as he is sexy, Ronan is more distant than ever, and it turns out there are other vampires out there. Bad ones.
Ancient, bloodthirsty, and powerful, these undead are really old school. They’ve captured one of the Watcher vamps and are torturing him for information. The only chance to save him is to infiltrate a major summit the baddies are holding on their own island. There will be mortals there, serving as butlers, maids, and various hired help. Drew had better brush up on her skills as a serving girl, because she’s about to go undercover…
But, when their vampire prisoner turns out to be a gorgeous bad boy, Drew’s first mission quickly turns into more than she bargained for…
Vampire’s Kiss was a let down because the whole book builds up this mission that Drew is supposed to go on with Master Alcantara. It is super secret and she doesn’t even find out the details until about a week before she is to go. Once you find out what it is, is sounds really exciting and James Bond-ish in nature, but the mission really only takes place in the last maybe 25% of the book. I kept thinking, ok we’re gonna learn more about this mission, Drew is going to do some more training and book 3, Blood Fever will be about this uber secret and super cool mission. Yeah, WRONG! The mission only lasts like 20ish pages. It was rather anti-climatic for me. Does some action go down? Yes. Was it enough based on the buildup we got? Not in my opinion. There is kind of a shocker that happens and I am anxious to see how the consequences of it play out in Blood Fever, but overall, Vampire’s Kiss just fell really flat for me.
In my honest opinion, the book is mostly filler plot. The entire book takes place over the summer, beginning near where Isle of Night left off. However, I felt like there was a lot of jumping forward in time. For instance one chapter you’d hear about Drew’s day and what she was doing or the trouble she managed to get into (usually some bout with some Guidons who were jonesing to kill her…literally). Then the next chapter would start several weeks later. I got no segue at times between these minor plot points. Sometimes this type of writing is necessary and OK…but all the time? Yeah it got on my nerves. It felt very disjointed. I like more cohesion.
I really enjoyed Isle of Night and had high hopes for Vampire’s Kiss. I really like Drew and got invested in her character. I’m kind of nervous that this series may just end up being a trio…because I can’t see where Wolff is taking this it if that is the case. I feel like there is so much more in store for Drew, after all she hasn’t even completed her Acari year yet. I am very hopeful that Blood Fever will be much better. So…is it August yet?
Read Order:
Isle of Night
Vampire’s Kiss
Blood Fever (August, 2012)
Also reviewed by: Rex’s Robot Reviews, Michelle’s Cozy YA Blog, The Irish Banana Review, Young Adult Book Reviews
I agree with your review and was also disappointed in book 2. I felt that it was just a set up for book 3. I didn’t feel like a complete plot. It had beginning and middle but no real end.