Tag: novels

Books

From Fear to Love

rovallee

In this post, I will provide you a little explanation of the evolution of the gothic genre through time with different examples of books that were really popular in this genre.

First of, I will describe how The Castle of Otranto set the standards for the future gothic pieces. This story was written by Horace Walpole in 1764. It was the first story that follow the gothic genre we know today. This story really set the standards for this genre and, even nowadays, some gothic pieces are inspired from it. At first, the gothic genre really focused on the aspect of setting. The setting of a story is really the base because it will decide whether or not the reader will be frightened by the piece or not. In The Castle of Otranto, the setting is, in my opinion, the most important elements of the story. Actually, the fact that it is set in strange places really far from anything else is what makes the reader afraid. On the contrary, if the story was set in the middle of the city in a beautiful house, the tension in the book would certainly be destroyed.

Following the same idea, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written in 1897, also put emphasis on the setting of the story. In this book, the fact that Count Dracula’s castle is far from the city makes the readers believe even more in the “evilness” of the character. Even in the story, the protagonist, Jonathan Harker, is afraid to go to the Count’s castle because it is set in a far and strange place and no one is really sure of what’s happening there. Once again, the tension found in the book is essentially created by the setting of the story.

On the other hand, more recent gothic pieces put emphasis on completely different motifs to create tension. For instance, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, published in 2005, created tension based on the archetype of the damsel in distress and forbidden love. The forbidden love situation is mainly represented in Bella and Edward’s relationship. The fact that he is a vampire and she is a human, makes it technically impossible for them to fall in love, even though this is exactly what happens. Adding to this situation, Bella, one of the main characters, is essentially represented as a damsel in distress. Meyer puts Bella in different situations that sometimes put her in danger, but mainly creates vulnerability. It is in those cases that the archetype of the damsel in distress will create tension for the readers because they will fear what will happen to the girl.

With this glimpse of information, I hope you understand a little better the evolution of the gothic motifs through time and that it makes you realize how the authors create the tension you like so much about gothic novels.

                                                                                      Rosalie                                                       

Books

The House of Night

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The book series “The House of Night”
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Who does not like vampires? We must admit that they always are a good distraction; we pretty much never get tired of the stories or movies of which they are used as principal “creatures” to create some fear and suspense. However, there are two types of vampires; indeed, there is the terrifying one known as the one who sucks all the blood from human necks (in other words, the killer vampire), and there is the cheesy vampire known as the one who lives in harmony with humans. Which one do we prefer? Are we actually obligated to have a preference? I would say we do not, and that is the reason why I want to share this series of novels I discovered 3 years ago.

Written by Phyllis Christine Cast and Kristin Cast, the first volume of a series called the House of Night was published in March 2009 and was titled “Marked” (just so it is said, the last volume, “Lost” was published recently, in July 2018). The 18 volumes of this series (yes, indeed, 18 volumes!) contain all of what is necessary to entertain anyone who is interested in fantasy, love, magic, mystery, action and of course, vampires. I assure you, we can find them all in the same series! Isn’t it simply amazing?

You must wonder: Ok well, but what is this about? Overall, this is the story of Zoey Redbird, a 16-year old girl who is Marked to become a vampire and complete her Change, or die. The story mostly takes place in Tulsa, in the state of Oklahoma in the United States (yes, I know, another American fantasy, but I swear, it is a good one). The issue from which the story starts is that she does not have the same mark as other vampires do; indeed, she has been marked as special by the vampire Goddess Nyx and it is for you to discover why.

In brief, here are some reasons why you should take the time to read this series:

  1. There are some vampires (this reason by itself is enough to convince you, right?).

Well, if you need some more…

2. There is a love triangle (oh yes, you’ve read well!).

3. There is suspense (sometimes, you just won’t be able to stop reading, I can testify).

4. There is death.

An extra one for you: you do not need to wait for the next episode to be released (you know what I’m referring to, don’t you?), once you finished one tome, you can start the next one right away!

Good luck and have fun in the vampire world!

DelphineC