24) You Suck: A Love Story
by Christopher Moore
by Christopher MooreThis is a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story
, which I read a few weeks ago. There may be a few spoilers for the first book here, since a major event happens at the end of that one which heavily influences this second part.
With Jody having turned Tommy into a vampire, she creates a new set of problems for the very mismatched but sometimes adorable couple. They recruit a teenaged goth girl minion and her gay best friend, but save for a Smurf-like hooker, the rest of the characters stay the same.
The events of the story follow immediately from the first book and span the course of about three weeks compared to the three months of the predecessor. Right away, this created a disconnect because Moore wrote the first book in 1995 and this was published in 2007. Based off the references and technology used in this one, he's retroactively placed the first book in the future. While it shouldn't have, it really threw me off.
There appear to be some structural parallels between this vampires in San Francisco trilogy to the Back to the Future series. Bloodsucking Fiends was written independently of anything else with a coda that leaves the story open for a possible sequel but it largely works on its own. The same applies to the first installment of Marty McFly and Doc Brown's tale. Demand grows to the point that somebody greenlights a sequel, except the story is big enough to encompass two books in the case of Moore's characters and movies in the case of BttF. To save money and/or time, the two are made concurrently, but, as a result, the second in the series makes for a weaker story. Yes, Back to the Future II has some great moments and gave us hoverboards, but it never feels complete and tends to get sidetracked with reliving moments from the first movie. Look at it this way: I can always watch the original Back to the Future without any problem and call it a day. However, if I start watching part II, either on TV or DVD, then I better have part III on standby or else my day is going to feel unfinished and empty.
That was the problem I had with You Suck. Half of the book keeps wanting to relive and summarize the original, probably because Moore cashes in on the Twilight craze by writing a sequel to a twelve year old vampire book that few in the demographic read the first time around. Until I read Bite Me: A Love Story
, I don't feel like my opinion of this particular part can feel fully formed.
, which I read a few weeks ago. There may be a few spoilers for the first book here, since a major event happens at the end of that one which heavily influences this second part.With Jody having turned Tommy into a vampire, she creates a new set of problems for the very mismatched but sometimes adorable couple. They recruit a teenaged goth girl minion and her gay best friend, but save for a Smurf-like hooker, the rest of the characters stay the same.
The events of the story follow immediately from the first book and span the course of about three weeks compared to the three months of the predecessor. Right away, this created a disconnect because Moore wrote the first book in 1995 and this was published in 2007. Based off the references and technology used in this one, he's retroactively placed the first book in the future. While it shouldn't have, it really threw me off.
There appear to be some structural parallels between this vampires in San Francisco trilogy to the Back to the Future series. Bloodsucking Fiends was written independently of anything else with a coda that leaves the story open for a possible sequel but it largely works on its own. The same applies to the first installment of Marty McFly and Doc Brown's tale. Demand grows to the point that somebody greenlights a sequel, except the story is big enough to encompass two books in the case of Moore's characters and movies in the case of BttF. To save money and/or time, the two are made concurrently, but, as a result, the second in the series makes for a weaker story. Yes, Back to the Future II has some great moments and gave us hoverboards, but it never feels complete and tends to get sidetracked with reliving moments from the first movie. Look at it this way: I can always watch the original Back to the Future without any problem and call it a day. However, if I start watching part II, either on TV or DVD, then I better have part III on standby or else my day is going to feel unfinished and empty.
That was the problem I had with You Suck. Half of the book keeps wanting to relive and summarize the original, probably because Moore cashes in on the Twilight craze by writing a sequel to a twelve year old vampire book that few in the demographic read the first time around. Until I read Bite Me: A Love Story
, I don't feel like my opinion of this particular part can feel fully formed.
