Myra was born after nightfall – after humanity’s
Weatherwizard was taken by the vampires, the world was plunged in darkness and
the vampires emerged from the shadows, led by their prince
Vampires now rule the world. Humans are a remnant of a
remnant, or bred in captivity to feed the vampires. Myra is part of the
resistance but with numbers and supplies dwindling all seems lost
They have only one last chance to save themselves – a desperate
mission to kill he prince and even that last hope goes terribly wrong when she
ends up the prince’s captive and tool in his own driven mission.
I felt a lot that this book has a story/theme it wants to
push. So that is what is going to be pushed – we will be going down that path
even when it feels forced or awkward.
Part of this is an ongoing theme that art is important,
creation is important. And it is an interesting one to develop, especially
since we have a whole lot of dystopias where survival is the be all and end
all. Often we question, in a dystopian, whether survival really is what we
should aim for – especially if we give up things like conscience and law. But
it’s rare for dystopians to discuss things like art – one of the big elements
of human existence that is lost when we’re reduced to mere survival.
This could be a really interesting conflict to explore. What makes humans humans? What makes our civilisations, our cultures and what is lost when we lose these?
To also have the vampires, glorious overlords of the
world they have no conquered, begin to realise this lack as well – to realise
the clothes they wear, the books they read, the music they listen to are all
created by humans and that, with humanity subjugated, there will never be
anything new created again.
But I think this story felt very forced in pushing these
themes – it kept them central too often and pushed them in ways that made Myra
look rather unsympathetic. She constantly struggles with the conflict over
trying to help her people and pursue the war against vampires, or keeping the
vampire king’s guidance in making her a better author.
