Review: Infinite Days, Rebecca Maizel

Lenah Beaudonte can’t stand the cruelty and sadness of being a vampire; she longs to be human again.  With the sacrifice of her lifetime love, Rhode, Lenah’s dream comes true, and she awakens a sixteen-year-old human who, like every other teenager, must go to school and make friends.  Lenah has been asleep for 100 years and as a result, needs to learn quite a few things about the twenty-first century; she has never listened to a CD, seen a vehicle, or used a computer.  She’s also in danger, as her coven will be looking for her just one month after she awakens.  Can she become human enough in that time to avoid their detection?

I liked the concept of this book a lot better than I liked its execution.  The vampires in Maizel’s world all long to be human, and when they cease longing for it, they go mad and must be killed.  People are rarely turned of their own free will for this reason, and are instead enraptured by a vampire’s charm, which isn’t always the case in other paranormal books I’ve read recently.  While vampires have supernatural senses, they lose a lot of their human feelings and become angry, vicious creatures; they’re seductive but they won’t be having relationships with human beings any time soon.

I think in large part the reason I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I might have is that it felt a little too melodramatic for my mood.  It’s somewhat deservedly melodramatic; life is actually at stake quite a lot of the time, and Lenah has reasons to feel that way.  It just felt very teenage to me in a way I didn’t like; in fact, I’m beginning to wonder if a lot of this vampire-y romance-y YA isn’t for me just because it does feel teenage, and I’d prefer not to remember feeling like everything was the end of the world.  It may make romance seem more breath-taking, but I think I prefer relationships that don’t feel like they’re about to end any second – in life and in reading.

It also bugged me just a little bit that of course Lenah falls in love with the big, blond jock, who only likes her because she’s beautiful.  Perhaps he learns later on, but I never really felt like he did, and actually never liked him much at all; how much sweeter would the book have been if she’d instead chosen Tony, her Japanese friend?  Once again, the minority ended up the sidekick and the heroine fell in love with the hunky white guy.  I have to confess I was disappointed, even though I read it would happen right on the back cover.

Also, I must admit that I was wondering where on earth the name Lenah came from in fifteenth century England.  Let’s not mention Rhode.  I’ve never seen anyone with those names in any of the reading I’ve done, and no medieval English person would get an award for baby name creativity.  I had to tell myself they’d changed their names when they became vampires, because in real life they would probably have been Anne and Edward.  I’d love to know if the author got these names from somewhere and if so, where, just for my own edification.

I am just about the only person who didn’t fall in love with Infinite Days.  It was a good story, but I just didn’t manage to enjoy it as much as I thought I should have.  Here are a few more reviews so you can form your own opinion:

• The Neverending Shelf
• Fantasy Book Review
• Jenn’s Bookshelves
• Dog-Eared and Well-Read

I am an Amazon Associate. I received this book for free for review from the publisher.