The Vanquishers

by Kalynn Bayron

Paperback, 2023

Status

Available

Call number

813.00

Publication

Bloomsbury Children's Books (2023), Edition: 1, 320 pages

Description

In an alternate San Antonio, there have been no known cases of vampirism since a group of masked vampire hunters called the Vanquishers wiped out the last horde of the undead twenty years ago, but twelve-year-old Malika "Boog" Wilson's parents are not taking any chances, especially when Boog's new classmate Aaron goes missing.

User reviews

LibraryThing member acargile

Vampires don't exist anymore after the Vanquishers vanquished them. Malika (goes by Boog) and her two neighbors feel embarrassed because their parents still adhere to the "old" ways of protecting yourself from a possible vampire attack. The other kids at school make fun of them, but they can't

argue with their parents and win. Therefore, they live with it. They had to their friendship circle, adding a fourth friend, Aaron. He and his mom are new to the cul-de-sac and fit in well with the families. One night Aaron goes missing.

As the town looks for Aaron, Malika's crew finds Aaron. He's changed. Yep--he's a vampire. The question is--who bit him? How many vampires are there? Who can fight them now after the Vanquishers have retired?

I found myself thinking, "Don't take the trash out after dark." How silly! I even had some nightmares with vampires in them. It's not a particularly scary novel, but you do get involved. I listened to the audio; the narrator did a great job.

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LibraryThing member clrichm

This was one of those books that had me screaming at it almost from beginning to end, as these children showed a near-constant desire to be killed off as quickly as possible, please. Despite living in a world in which vampires were known, if thought to be extinct, they'd apparently never seen even

a single vampire movie (which did exist, as they namechecked Twilight in particular) or paid attention enough to pick up on a single vampire trope. The lack of self-preservation skill or instinct was just jaw-dropping. On the other hand, though, as a mother...yeah, that checks.

The dialogue was the star of this book for me, with the kids' language, slang, and casual speaking style ringing a hundred percent authentic, as well as perfectly tailored to create distinct voices for each of them. I loved the banter, and it occasionally had me sucked in to the point where I could feel the kids' frustration with their parents and their suspicions about other adults around them. (Only, geez, get a clue about your teacher, Boog. Wow, again with the lemming emulation?) There were so very many threads left loose for the next installment that I actually feel nervous, because weren't they on sort of a shot clock to save Adam? Ahem. I'll definitely be reading the next book, and I'll definitely hand this off to kids (along with recommendations for some PG-rated vampire movies).

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