Book Review | The Society of S by Susan Hubbard

Lissywrites/ July 31, 2013/ Book Reviews, Novel/ 0 comments

These posts are for book discussion and to express my overly-fangirly nature over certain books and series. Though I already have an extensive library with plenty of reading material, I’m always looking out for new or interesting titles. Not only is this for me, but for other writers! Often times, writers forget they started off as readers. Support your fellow authors and read!

WARNING: SELF-PROMO IS NOT ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS
It will be considered spam and deleted immediately. However, if you would like me to buy and read your book, I’ll gladly take recommendations on this page. Fill out the contact sheet with a link to your book, and I will get to reading! While I will read most recommendations, I won’t review them all. If the book in question would probably get less than three stars, I’ll simply keep the review to myself, and either email the author directly (if they themselves sent me a contact sheet), or just not discuss the book at all. I want to recommend books that I will read, and that I think others will enjoy. No need to embarrass or completely wreck a book’s reputation in the name of reviewing.

Now, with all of the “rules” and “disclaimers” out of the way, on to the books!

I read the first book of the Ethical Vampire series, The Society of S by Susan Hubbard.

Genre: YA/Paranormal
Rating: 3/5

Let me start out by saying, there is no doubt that Mrs. Hubbard knows her craft. She’s a master at it, but, in saying that, she spends far too much time showing it off and not enough time on showing me what the book is about. To be honest, most of the book could’ve been summed up in about 100-150 pages, but Mrs. Hubbard spread it out to a nice 304.

But, like I said, she is a master at her craft. The gothic descriptions reminded me so much of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire, and they had me enthralled from beginning to end, but I also said that drug out the plot. Thankfully, I did eventually figure out what the book was about.

Ariella, nicknamed Ari, is an intelligent thirteen year old, whose days are spent reading about the world she has never experienced and having her fill of a poorly prepared vegetarian diet.  Her mother left her and her father the very day Ari was born, and though she has never met her, Ari feels a strange connection with her mother.  In an attempt at discovering more about herself, her father, and the answer as to why her mother left, Ari finds herself face-to-face with the realization that she’s not quite the human she had always assumed.

She’s a vampire. The series is called the Ethical Vampire series. She’s a vampire. I couldn’t help, but laugh at all the obvious references to her being vampire, but without her blatantly saying so.

Her father’s basement kitchen had a very “gamey” odor to it. She is lucky that she has “strong teeth.” They’re vamps, my darlings! Vamps!

But I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t question myself at some points. It’s obvious that she’s a vampire, but my paranoia had me wondering if she was actually another creature. It would be my luck that she actually was just a human,  or a werewolf. Thankfully, the paranoia didn’t last long, and I was reassured in my assumption.

The book has plenty of drugs, teen-drinking, and other things young kids do while trying to find out who they are, and I’d be lying if I said that my friends and I didn’t also want to dye our hair black and become pagans, but we certainly didn’t party as much as these kids did at their age. Regardless, when I finally made it to the plot, I felt as hazed and nauseous as the MC. Mrs. Hubbard is fantastic with weaving descriptions and feelings together. It was realistic and interesting. Love, love, loved it.

At this point, the book probably would have gotten a whopping 4/5, but as quickly as I had gotten to the plot, more descriptions were dumped on me. It messed up the wonderful pacing that had been built up, and also left me hanging as far as where the next book was going to go. There was no hint or even indication of a sequel. If I hadn’t already bought the entire series, I might not have even checked for another.

This book teased me, pleased me, confused me, then hurt me, but I loved every second of it, or at least I loved most of it. I would recommend this book in a heart beat.

Purchase Status: Purchased

Thanks for reading!

-Lissy