Department Nineteen (Department Nineteen #1)

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I think that this book had a good idea of the plot, but the author wrote it in a way that this great idea was drowned in everything else. The idea about this book is that Jamie's mother is kidnapped by some vampires, and Jamie discovers Department 19 or Blacklight. He then has only two days of training and of course he is a vampire killing prodigy. He then goes on this dangerous quest to rescue his mother. Nice idea right, but in a way it was kinda stupid.

First I will talk about the ups and downs of Jamie. He had anger management problems, that much was obvious from the beginning. He took his frustration of not being able to rescue his mother on other people. He was way to reckless and a bit arrogant. He did not listen to anyone's ideas, and only thought that he was right. He walks into traps without thinking at all, he should at least stop and think it through. He basically gave up his life for the vampires, and offered them to kill him.

There is also the problem of his amazing vampire killing skills. He could not of gotten his amazing skills of vampire killing so quickly, even it was in the bloodline. It said that in the book it took months of training to get any good at killing vampires, but of course, Jamie had to be basically perfect after two days. That is not possible, and ruins the book a bit.

I think that also all the characters did not grow on me. This book was all action and did not build up on the characters themselves. When it was coming up to a point where the characters were being described, all of sudden, a vampire appeared out of the sky and killed someone, ruining the building up of the characters. I fell that the character that I could like a tiny bit was Kate, and she was hardly in anything.

The romance also between Larissa and Jamie was really stupid, it did not work at all. All Jamie thought about how beautiful her face was covered in blood. No love at all, just Jamie starring at her blood soaked face and thinking how pretty she is. There was nothing.

I think that the little flashbacks in between the modern story was a good idea but also it was delivered in the wrong way. It was inserted into the story at the wrong times. So it was a massive battle raging then the chapter ended, and went to the past. If you did not read the chapter title, you would be awfully confused.

There is also the problem with the Dracula remains. In the modern part of the story, it said that Dracula could rise again if they got hold of the ashes and performed a ceremony. In the past part of the novel, after that part, Van Helsing realizes that Dracula could rise again. So they trotted of to Dracula castle and dug up the remains. They planned to examine them, and then seal it away in a box somewhere. I was thinking that was stupid as the vampires could just break in and steal it, then Dracula would rise again. And of course that happened. I was thinking 'How stupid can these people be?' They should of just thrown it out into the breeze, and then Dracula would be dead forever.

I think that this book would be good for teenage boys who just want action, and nothing else. There is hardly any build up of characters, just one thing happening after the other.

After reading the summary of this story, I was pretty intrigued and thought it could be quite interesting. Sadly, I quickly realized that the book would not be for me. There were a myriad of things that I did not like about this book: the characters (none of whom I gave a flip about), the jumps in time (which made it even harder to care about the characters, because so rarely did a scene continue on in the next chapter), the rather pompous chapter headings, the fact the vampires can fly (just leap up in the air and fly like birds), and the fact that there are two epilogues.

The timing and plotting of the story seem a bit weak. As an example of the former, I should like to discuss vampire killing. Readers of YA fiction are probably expecting Jamie, as the hero of the piece to be a bit of a badass. And he is. After only two days of training (upon the conclusion of which he does the best job of like anyone ever on some simulation test thing). And it's not like he was particularly athletic in school. He seemed really average at the outset and then suddenly he has crazy vampire killin' mojo? I just wasn't buying it; yeah, there's a family history for it, but that really doesn't mean anything.

Not to mention the fact that the whole plot line of it being possible to bring Dracula back to afterlife could have been avoided if everyone were not stupid. Seriously. Spoiler Alert. It occurs to Van Helsing's crew several years later that reanimation from his cremated ashes might be possible, so they go back to Transylvania to make sure he's still there. He is, hurrah! The world is saved. Except that the guys just take the ashes and stick them in a super secure, totally unsinkable room. Which is, of course, breached. Whoever could have seen that clever plot twist coming?!?! What they should have done was dumped the ashes out on a windy day or throne them in the ocean. Good luck finding all of his pieces again.

In the climax of the story, Jamie finally finds Alexandru, having purposefully walked into a very obvious trap, what with Alexandru having left notes for him and all. Alexandru has killed hundreds of people to get Jamie's attention and make sure he comes. After all of that, when Jamie gets there, Jamie's mother yells for him to run to safety and Alexandru tells him "Listen to your mother, boy" (492). These are not the words of the man who's been writing "Tell the boy to come" all over the place in blood.

Another frustrating element was his obsession with Larissa. She tries to kill him at their second meeting. Then, he comes to visit her in her cell and has trouble concentrating on saving his mother, because she looks so lovely with her face all covered in blood. Right... I'm not saying he can't be into a vampire, but, seriously, she's not going to be looking her best just then. Being covered in blood just isn't sexy and, as a True Blood fan, I should know.

For a story with a lot of promise, I thought Department 19 was a major clunker. I was bored pretty much the whole way through (and it's a long way through). Recommended to teen boys with more interest in action scenes and gore than in plot. For me, this is the end, even though a sequel is likely planned.

I CAN'T WAIT TO START THE SECOND BOOK!