Book Review: Peeps (Parasite Positive) by Scott Westerfeld

Sep 02, 2008 19:20




Peeps / Parasite Positive
by Scott Westerfeld
Young Adult, Horror
Trade paperback
307 pages
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really fun and interesting book! I picked it up sort of on a whim. I was planning to get Pretties, since I'd just finished Uglies, but they didn't have enough copies at work for me to borrow one, so I thought I would try one of his "one-shots." (Actually, this has a sequel, I just didn't know it at the time.) Imagine my surprise when I turn it over and it's about.... vampires.

The Twilight saga are my favorite series - but I went into those having barely read anything involving vampires (I think The Historian was the exception.) and I left them still not having a strong desire to read about OTHER vampires. I like my vampires sparkling and vegetarian, thank you. :D

But this book treats them very differently. Vampirism is a DISEASE, and the main character is a carrier, not fully infected, trying to halt the spread. It said right on the back of the book that even people who weren't into vampires would like it. So, I gave it a shot, and I'm so glad I did!

Westerfeld's take on the whole "vampire" thing is really interesting. He gets into fairly in-depth discussions of various types of parasites and how they have evolved over time to accomplish amazing things, both good and bad. I definitely know much more about parasitology than I ever did before. Yes, some parts were really gross, but it was still fascinating.

I also liked how Westerfeld basically blamed all the various legends about bloodthirsty creatures into one category - all the fault of the parasite - not just vampires, but also zombies, werewolves, chupacabra, etc... why not?

I liked the characters, and Westerfeld writes smoothly, with action balanced well with exposition and scientific explanations. The end caught me by surprise, and left me very excited to read The Last Days.

As long as you're not super-squeamish (and it's more about the parasite stuff than any actual gore or violence) I would definitely recommend giving this book a try.

My review on GoodReads

vampires, books, book reviews, ya

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