Review by Ivy
“When you leave this place, step out into late evening quiet for the first time, reborn. Take in the glittering, crumbling streets around you. Look into the ink-black night. It’s dark. And full of diamonds. And you, dear one, are made of stardust.”
From “A Guidebook to the Newly Sired Desi Vampire” by Samira Ahmed
I am a fan of vampires. Though I never partook in the era of Twilight madness (I promise to read them someday!) I still have a heavy appreciation and general fascination with the creatures of the night, as I know many do. Vampires Never Get Old (September 2020) is correct in its assumption that we all miss vampires and fills that hole with eleven beautifully fleshed-out, creative, diverse, and spooky stories that are as emotionally impactful as they are delightful.
We are in the middle of a vampire renaissance in young adult literature, with books like The Beautiful by Renée Adieh and The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig pulling the undead back into style. That said, Vampires Never Get Old is certainly not ahead of the curve, but I am perfectly okay with them being right in the middle of it. If vampire stories are the current trend you’re not going to find me complaining.
Overall, Vampires Never Get Old has the biggest sucker punch of a titular pun I’ve ever read and nearly a dozen modern blood-sucking tales featuring queer, disabled, and racially diverse teens biting and being bitten. It’s a lot of silliness mixed with a whole lot of heart because you can tell that every contributor shares the one thing most YA readers still secretly possess: an embarrassingly deep love of vampires.
Rating: four stakes to the heart/five
BookPeople Teen Press Corps 