The Vanquishers

“Alexa, add Vampire Repellent to my shopping list!”
Superbly spooky! As a fan of Cinderella is Dead and Kalynn Bayronn's other works, when this was announced as BOTM for October I was so excited! As soon as I picked it up, I knew it was going to be spectacular! Perfect for ages 8-12 as a slightly spooky vampire read. Feels like stranger things, Amari, and Buffy wrapped up in one little book.

I'm so disappointed :(

This is my fourth Kalynn Bayron book and by far my least favourite.

For the first 40% of the book there isn't a plot, simply a setting and some characters for us to get to know. Then the premise of the book kicks off; a new friend to the group goes missing. I get that we had to get to know someone new to the group in order for the emotional connection to develop and for the disappearance to have meaning, but it just feels like it narratively would've made more sense for a member of the existing friendship group to go missing. It would've had more of an impact and meant that the book would've flowed better and had better pacing.

I like vampire stories but this just felt a little bit lacking. The resolution just felt too fast and like it wasn't earned. With a second book announced I think a bigger cliffhanger would've made more sense but instead we have most of the conflict resolved. There is still a story there but for most of the book the narrative felt like it needed a bit more to it to be enjoyable.