Guest Post: Ali, The Romantic Scholar!

Today we have another special guest with us sharing her insight on Vampires! Please Welcome Ali, the owner of The Romantic Scholar! Thank you so much for doing this Ali. :)

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Hey all, so my name is Ali. I'm the reviewer from The Romantic Scholar, and I'm so thrilled to be a guest poster on Eli's page. As you have probably guessed by my blogs name, I am very big into stories that have a little romance in them. But I do love fantasy and supernatural genres. I'm so glad I get to share my two bits on vampires with you!

Vampires. So many different stories, so many inconsistencies. But who’s to judge what’s right and what’s not? I guess no one really can. Since there is no true story as to how vampires come about and what they are like and everything is based on myth and superstition, authors have been able to take liberties and put their own spin on the supernatural race. Take Stephenie Meyer for example: her vampires were able to go out in the sunlight without receiving harm and they glittered. And her “vegetarian” vampires were not weakened due to the fact that they did not drink human blood. Not to mention that they could enter a dwelling without an invitation. They were almost human. Which in a way worked, because it made the relationship more believable, but it made it harder to see them as vampires. So many people did not like that she took those liberties. But who’s to say that all of her ideas are wrong? Another vampire story? It all comes down to a matter of preference.

I for one don’t like all of the liberties that Meyer took. Because of all of the other things out, it just seemed odd that her vampires had no major weaknesses aside from bloodlust. I prefer the vampire who has limits. Who is no longer human, although can retain shreds of humanity. Take Darren Shan’s Cirque du Freak for example: Darren is a half-vampire once he is turned. He can still go into the daylight. He doesn’t have to live off of human blood yet, but it makes him weak not to. It’s so much more believable that they are a different species and not just some super human. Then you have The Vampire Diaries. In this series, vampires can go out in sunlight, but only if they have a special ring on. They can survive off of animal blood, but it weakens them. They are unable to enter a dwelling unless invited in. These are very similar points to another vampire craze: Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In Buffy, the rules are the same: except for there is only one ring and no retained humanity except for in Angel who has a soul.

There are so many different takes on vampires out there. And each person has his or her own preference. I don’t think it’s fair to say that others are wrong, but with the amount of variances, it’s not so hard to do. I think that aspects of vampires are going to continue to evolve. It’s become inevitable. So let’s just see what’ll come of it. ;)

-Ali