Ellen reads a collection of diaries and discovers the evils in her great-great-grandmother’s past. Kidzworld views Blood Sinister by Celia Rees, a vampire book for teens.
Blood Sinister Rating:
Author: Celia Rees
Ellen Forrest has a strange and incurable illness. Her mother sent her to her grandmother’s house while she recovers. Bedridden most days, Ellen yearns for the company of her childhood friend, Andy. But soon, Ellen discovers something in her grandmother’s attic that keeps her preoccupied—a collection of old dairies.
The Diaries
The diaries belonged to her great-great-grandmother, Ellen Laidlaw-Macmillan. But they aren’t filled with your everyday woes and excitements. They contain a detailed account of Ellen’s frightening teenage years. At sixteen, she met a most mysterious man named Count Fransz Szekelys. His skin looked pale as snow, almost transparent. Ellen’s father, a doctor, was planning to treat his unusual illness.
A Blurred Reality
Ellen spends every ounce of her energy reading the diaries. Soon her own life becomes intertwined with the life of her ancestor. In her dreams, she becomes her great-great-grandmother, looking through her eyes into the past. And she discovers a haunting secret about the once seductive Count—he’s a vampire. And he’s after Ellen.
The Bottom Line
Teenage vampire books are the latest trend, courtesy of Stephenie Meyer. Most contain the same plotline: girl meets boy, boy has a dark secret, girl can’t resist boy, boy can’t resist girl. But in Blood Sinister, Celia Rees tried to take a different approach to vampire fiction, going for the more traditional, Dracula-type approach. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Even for a short book, it’s hard to get through. The meager love story is not nearly intriguing enough. And the plot isn’t very interesting. It picks up a little bit toward the end, but not enough to make it worth reading.
