It's not Twilight

Since my question for the discussion was about comparing Life Sucks to other modern vampires, I figured that would be my blog topic. To be honest I was having a hard time since we talked about it so much in class, but here it goes.

In the beginning we think Dave is just your average guy who works the night shift at the Last Stop convenience store. One would assume his life sucks because he has a crappy dead end job and has to deal with these weird goth kids who always stop by the store pretending to be vampires.

We eventually learn that Dave is a real vampire. Before we learn that though, we have no reason to think Dave is a vampire. He isn't like any of the traditional vampires we read about. I mean does this look like what we commonly think of for vampires?

Where is Dave's European castle or mansion? Why is he not rich? Why is he not hansom? Why doesn't he have any superpowers? These are all things associated with traditional vampires, or at least the romantic ones. Dave does have one major commonality with a majority of vampire lore, he can't go out in the sunlight or he will burn to ash. Even Twilight vampires can go in the sun, they get to sparkle.

 

*Sparkle Sparkle*

In Twilight most of the vampires we know about are rich. They can go out into the sunlight (and sparkle), go to school, get numerous degrees and apparently hold high paying job to keep up that rich lifestyle. They are also described as very attractive and even their scent is supposed to be like a drug to humans. Don't forget about the super powers. Almost all Twilight vampires have some special ability on top of their super strength and speed. Dave could have at least these and mind control if he drank human blood from the source, proven by his friend Jamal and "brother" Wes. However, like the Twilight vampires, he does not want to kill humans. While they only drink animal blood, Dave drinks from plasma bags from a blood bank run by a fellow vampire. Poor Dave, his life really sucks compared to Edward's. Edward is attractive, rich, has superpowers, and even gets to keep his girl after she is turned into a vampire. 

This is not all Dave has to deal with either. Dave has a master unlike more recent vampire stories such as Twilight and Vampire Academy. He is basically a slave to his master, Lord Radu Arisztidecu. In the other series there are rulers of different types but just because one vampire sired another doesn't cause one to become the servant of another. Radu himself is almost a mockery of traditional vampires. He has the European accent and while not wealthy enough to own a castle he owns his own version of one, his store. Radu and his older vampire friends like together in the basement and play cards in what looks like a bachelor pad. Not what you typically imagine vampire doing in their free time. In Twilight they learn to fight, play music, and study numerous different subjects. In Vampire Academy there is a whole political world to be involved in, younger vampires go to school but no one seems to ever worry about money in either. 

All in all Life Suck is nothing like traditional romanticized vampires. Dave is not rich, he is not hansom, he can barely afford to pay his rent, and he doesn't even get the girl in the end. Don't forget the castle, he doesn't have a castle. Overall, I was not a big fan of this book. I would much rather read about the rich vampires than the ones who could be living my life except that they need to drink blood to survive.