# Non-Twilighty Vampire Novels for YA recommendations requested. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781 "2010-07-06T21:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/1 "2010-07-06T21:43:04Z")
I have several nieces with birthdays in the future and would like to get them more reading matter. They are fond of the old Buffy the Vampire Slayer books and unfortunately the Twilight series, but also will read about vampires or humans associated with vampire stories as villians (they really enjoyed the Blood Confession). I’m looking for recommendations for well, anything, better than more Twilighty vampires and their ilk. Much thanks in advances. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/2 "2010-07-06T22:17:06Z")
[_Cirque du Freak._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque_du_Freak) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/3 "2010-07-06T22:23:21Z")
“Salems Lot”, by Stephen King, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/4 "2010-07-06T22:29:15Z")
[P. N. Elrod’s _Vampire Files_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._N._Elrod#Vampire_Files) series might be worth a look, possibly depending on the ages of the nieces in question. They’re sort of “vampires plus noire detective” novels about an ex-reporter turned vampire who teams up with a PI and tangles with mobsters, murderers, and occasional vampire hunters in post-Prohibition Chicago, told from the perspective of the vampire. Most of them are short, fun reads, though the later books get substantially darker–_Cold Streets_ gets positively nasty. There are sex scenes, but they’re not particularly explicit, and they’re " vampire sex", so the penetration involves teeth and happens well above the waist. (As one wiseguy put it, “He still had his pants on.”) Most importantly, there is no sparkling. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/5 "2010-07-06T23:20:49Z")
Well, Dracula by Stoker was a great, great book. As a classic, it might not appeal to their age group, but maybe you could get them to read a good literary work with the idea that “this is the book that started it all.” Also, The Vampyre by Byron is good and, according to wikipedia, “is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction.” > **[The Vampyre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampyre)** > > "The Vampyre" is a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 by John William Polidori taken from the story Lord Byron told as part of a contest among Polidori, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley. The same contest produced the novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. "The Vampyre" is often viewed as the progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction. The work is described by Christopher Frayling as "the first story successfully to fuse the disparate elements of Aub... ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/6 "2010-07-06T23:58:27Z")
Depends what you mean by YA. I was reading Stephen King at age 12, for reference. And I really liked [Children of the Night](http://www.amazon.com/Children-Night-Diana-Tregarde-Investigation/dp/0812522729)by Mercedes Lackey when I was, what, in high school or college. It does have some sexual stuff, and a non-explicit rape IIRC. Perhaps more disturbing is the concept of people having their souls ripped out, but I just thought it was entertaining as a young woman. Mercedes is great for fun, proper trash, as opposed to the confused, crap-written abstinence porn cranked out by Meyers. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/7 "2010-07-07T01:17:25Z")
[The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Grade_Bites) are popular with kids. The main kid is a vampire and he’s not all gay and sparkly. Pretty funny, too. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/8 "2010-07-07T01:55:36Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Well, Dracula by Stoker was a great, great book. As a classic, it might not appeal to their age group, but maybe you could get them to read a good literary work with the idea that “this is the book that started it all.” > > Also, The Vampyre by Byron is good and, according to wikipedia, “is a progenitor of the romantic vampire genre of fantasy fiction.” > > [The Vampyre - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampyre) It wasn’t by Byron and IMHO wasn’t that good, although it was highly influential. Byron’s physician John Polidori was the actual author. In any event, I don’t think this story is especially likely to appeal to young girls today. It’s also only about 10 pages long, so it wouldn’t keep them occupied for very long either. Of the two I’d consider _Dracula_ by far the better choice. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/9 "2010-07-07T02:15:42Z")
The _Last Vampire_ series by Christopher Pike seemed good (but I’ll admit I only read the first two books in the series). The heroine is a 5000 year old vampire who appears to be about 17. It’s a YA series but there are some mentions of sex. The series was originally published in 1994 but it was recently re-issued (post-Twilight) under the name _Thirst_. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/10 "2010-07-07T02:21:19Z")
_Child of an Ancient City_ by Tad Williams is pretty good and quite youth-friendly. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/11 "2010-07-07T03:20:00Z")
There’s LJ Smith’s [Vampire Diaries series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Diaries_%28novel_series%29), though I always preferred her [Night World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_World) books more. Vampire Diaries involves two brothers who are vampires and a teenage girl who reminds them of the girl who turned them into vampires in the first place… way back in the Renaissance. It’s got 4 books now iirc (most came out when I was a teen, the last only just came out last year iirc, they are enjoying a rebirth thanks to Twilight). Night World is set in a similar setting, you have vampires, witches, old souls (can’t recall if there are any werewolf types, quite likely) and all the signs point to the end of the world. There is also Annette Curtis Klause, [The Silver Kiss](http://www.amazon.ca/Silver-Kiss-Annette-Curtis-Klause/dp/0440213460) is a vampire novel, [Blood and Chocolate](http://www.amazon.ca/Blood-Chocolate-Annette-Curtis-Klause/dp/0440226686/ref=pd_sim_b_1) is a werewolf one. Along similar lines is also Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/12 "2010-07-07T03:51:25Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > It wasn’t by Byron and IMHO wasn’t that good, although it was highly influential. Byron’s physician John Polidori was the actual author. In any event, I don’t think this story is especially likely to appeal to young girls today. It’s also only about 10 pages long, so it wouldn’t keep them occupied for very long either. > > Of the two I’d consider _Dracula_ by far the better choice. Well, I screwed that one up pretty good - but I’m sticking to my guns on Dracula, I think everyone should give it a read. ---
**Author:** ![blackhobyah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blackhobyah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blackhobyah)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/13 "2010-07-07T04:07:16Z")
The Vampire Academy series might work.[http://www.richellemead.com/books/vampireacademy.htm](http://www.richellemead.com/books/vampireacademy.htm) I’ve read one and it was kind of fun. Heavy on the emoting but without the creepy masochism of the Twilight books. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/14 "2010-07-07T04:43:30Z")
[Thirsty](http://www.amazon.com/Thirsty-M-T-Anderson/dp/0763638951/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1278477702&sr=1-1) by M.T. Anderson is pretty good, if I recall correctly. I read it on a car trip several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/15 "2010-07-07T06:53:24Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > [P. N. Elrod’s _Vampire Files_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._N._Elrod#Vampire_Files) series might be worth a look, possibly depending on the ages of the nieces in question. They’re sort of “vampires plus noire detective” novels about an ex-reporter turned vampire who teams up with a PI and tangles with mobsters, murderers, and occasional vampire hunters in post-Prohibition Chicago, told from the perspective of the vampire. > > Most of them are short, fun reads, though the later books get substantially darker–_Cold Streets_ gets positively nasty. There are sex scenes, but they’re not particularly explicit, and they’re " vampire sex", so the penetration involves teeth and happens well above the waist. (As one wiseguy put it, “He still had his pants on.”) There’s sex with the pants off in later books but nothing explicit IIRC. A great series though. I liked the _[Blood Books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tanya_Huff_novels#Blood_Books)_ aka the Vicki Nelson series by Tanya Huff, although there’s the occasional not-too-graphic sex scene. ---
**Author:** ![sleepy67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@sleepy67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleepy67)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/16 "2010-07-07T07:02:24Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > There’s LJ Smith’s [Vampire Diaries series](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vampire_Diaries_%28novel_series%29), though I always preferred her [Night World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_World) books more. Vampire Diaries involves two brothers who are vampires and a teenage girl who reminds them of the girl who turned them into vampires in the first place.. way back in the Renaissance. It’s got 4 books now iirc (most came out when I was a teen, the last only just came out last year iirc, they are enjoying a rebirth thanks to Twilight). Also helped by being The CW’s best new series of last year. ---
**Author:** ![Chimi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Chimi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimi)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/17 "2010-07-07T07:33:15Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > There is also Annette Curtis Klause, [The Silver Kiss](http://www.amazon.ca/Silver-Kiss-Annette-Curtis-Klause/dp/0440213460) is a vampire novel, [Blood and Chocolate](http://www.amazon.ca/Blood-Chocolate-Annette-Curtis-Klause/dp/0440226686/ref=pd_sim_b_1) is a werewolf one. > > Along similar lines is also Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I liked the _[Blood Books](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tanya_Huff_novels#Blood_Books)_ aka the Vicki Nelson series by Tanya Huff, although there’s the occasional not-too-graphic sex scene. Silver Kiss and The Blood Books are great ones, came in to recommend them myself, and Blood and Chocolate is wonderful non-Hollywood werewolves. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/18 "2010-07-07T07:46:10Z")
I recently finished [_Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter_](http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Vampire-Seth-Grahame-Smith/dp/0446563080) and was fully impressed by how entertaining it was. It does a very good job of weaving Civil War era history into a thrashing yarn about Vampire warfare. It spans Abe’s entire life and does a pretty decent job of incorporating the real events of his life into the story, essentially boiling down every up and down of his life and presidency to a lifelong battle with the Vampire underworld. I highly recommend it for people into the Vampire genre who don’t take it to seriously and like period pieces. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/19 "2010-07-07T13:42:39Z")
[Darkangel](http://www.lovevampires.com/mapdarkangel.html), by Meredith Ann Pierce, is a really interesting vampire story. For one thing, it’s set on the moon. It’s not modern-world, mopey-teen vampires; rather, the protagonist is a teenage girl kidnapped by a vampire lord and forced to be his fourteenth wife. It’s weird fiction, and I have fond memories of it. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781/20 "2010-07-07T14:06:08Z")
One of my favorite vampire novels is [Sunshine](http://www.amazon.com/Sunshine-Robin-McKinley/dp/0142411108), by Robin McKinley. It’s not YA, but it’s not too graphic. I recently read a good standalone YA vampire novel: [Companions of the Night](http://www.amazon.com/Companions-Night-Vivian-Vande-Velde/dp/0152166696/), by Vivian Vande Velde. And I’ve read a couple of Rachel Caine’s [Morganville Vampires](http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Houses-Morganville-Vampires-Book/dp/0451219945) series, and they were pretty good. Caine is bad about cliffhangers, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-twilighty-vampire-novels-for-ya-recommendations-requested/545781.md?page=2)