Review of Social Vampire by James Schannep
A.E. Jackson Review Score: 4 / 5 Ravens
How was this review scored?
James Schannep’s coming-of-age teen comedy, Social Vampire, delivers Mariana Trench-level deep point of view. The novel is told from the perspective of the protagonist, Gordon. Who happens to be an immortal fourteen-year-old vampire. The strong character voice is not the author, or narrator, but the voice of the main character. And Schannep masters the execution with ease.
The novel is also filled with great theme-building right out of the gate. There is a strong 80’s or 90’s vibe - or that might be this reviewer projecting his own coming-of-age era on the scenes. The use of film motifs and storyteller jargon, topped off with just enough Nerd to upset a Beta, is blended with plenty of Dungeons and Dragons references to satisfy lots of different target demographics. All while serving the purpose of character development, premise support, and plot progression.
When you enter a new school, you get the chance to reinvent yourself, so... why not be a vampire?
Gordon is hiding something. It could be the fact that he's secretly a vampire. Yes - that's exactly what he's hiding. He decides to go with that. When the nerdy teen moves to small town Montana - where all the kids are obsessed with vampire fiction - Gordon reinvents himself as their dream character: dark & brooding, cool as hell, and overly susceptible to stabs through the heart.
The school’s alpha male jock is also garnering the attention of the most popular girl in Gordon’s class, and forming a close friendship with the girl next door (the only one who knows Gordon’s secret). Will he find that this new school is the perfect place for him to shine - or, better yet, sparkle.
Not if his classmates dig up the truth. That'll be the nail in his coffin...
The teen angst and snarky sarcasm is strong in this one. Throughout the novel, Gordon’s thoughts are Teen thoughts. Everything from his judgment of adults, and incomplete understanding of what his Dad faces, are handled from the internal monologue perspective of a frustrated teen. There are good jokes on almost every page that land just right and will put a smirk on the reader’s face.
The use of theater, film, and screenplay terminology was executed with apt skill. There were, however, moments when readers may not be compelled to continue reading the story. Near the muddled middle nothing seems to be happening even though there is a lot of activity on the page.
Still, once the plot line picks back up, readers find Gordon using his real-life frustrations for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with his old friends. The immortal fourteen-year-old faces a lot - his coming-of-age, the challenge of moving to a new town, and entering a new high school. All this while trying to meet people, make friends, and avoid trouble with existing cliques. Schannep gets it, and conveys Gordon’s emotions quite well.
Overall, the novel was quite entertaining but there was not much substance until the final moments of the story arc. This was a good, fun read with well-placed jokes that land every time. James Schannep plays off the tropes introduced by Twilight films with a tongue-in-cheek approach.
The book will remind older readers of the Michael J. Fox Teen Wolf movie. Kids, let me catch you up. A werewolf, played by a Fox, is an unpopular kid who gains great popularity through supernatural gifts that arrive with puberty. He then wrestles with the meaning of true friendship, kindness, community, and fair play. (Cue After School Special theme song…)
Social Vampire has enough Teen Wolf blended with hints of Twilight, and a healthy dash of Nerd Culture, to please any pop culture aficionado. The best part of the entire novel may be the BIG theatric surprise ending - readers will smile, laugh, and cry!
James Schannep is addicted to story. It started with just a few movies at friends’ houses, books at school, then getting the harder stuff from his older sisters and their boyfriends. Once he was hooked, James couldn’t get enough. He needed more, and in purer form and higher quantities.
Soon Schannep was on to whole book series and the seemingly endless RPG titles. It wasn’t enough to simply watch a movie anymore, he needed to know everything about it: minor characters’ names who weren’t even mentioned in the film, production notes, and so much trivia.
This is when James started dealing his own stuff. Nothing big, but enough to support his habit and that of his story-junky friends. James Schannep shared fan fiction with fellow nerds, he invented boardgames, made movies on the family camcorder, and even added his own voiceover to MST3K… When he created, it felt good.
Read more from James Schannep at https://jamesschannep.com and find him on social media at Facebook(@jamesschannep), and Twitter(@clickyourpoison).