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The Last Vampire #4
Phantom
The dead alchemist's experiment is a success--Alisa is alive again after five thousand years, pregnant with a baby that grows at a supernatural speed--but only a stranger can tell her if the child will be an angel or a demon
179 pages, Library Binding
First published May 1, 1996
16 people are currently reading
1647 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pike
262 books5,478 followersChristopher Pike is the pseudonym of Kevin McFadden. He is a bestselling author of young adult and children's fiction who specializes in the thriller genre.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
McFadden was born in New York but grew up in California where he stills lives in today. A college drop-out, he did factory work, painted houses and programmed computers before becoming a recognized author. Initially unsuccessful when he set out to write science fiction and adult mystery, it was not until his work caught the attention of an editor who suggested he write a teen thriller that he became a hit. The result was Slumber Party (1985), a book about a group of teenagers who run into bizarre and violent events during a ski weekend. After that he wrote Weekend and Chain Letter. All three books went on to become bestsellers.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
June 3, 2015
Even after all this time I think THE LAST VAMPIRE series is still a good story. Even today it’s original and stands out against other vampire stories as something wholly different. PHANTOM carries on that tradition.
Alisa is finally mortal and this is where a baby is entered into the fray. This is probably the only situation where a vampire getting pregnant makes sense, mainly because she isn’t a vampire anymore. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something seriously wrong with her kid. It actually reminded me of the pregnancy/birth deal going on in the TWILIGHT series. It almost made me think that maybe SMeyer read these books but then I remember all those articles I read where she did little to no research on vampires and didn’t see popular movies or anything like that so getting my hopes up didn’t last very long. But there were similarities nonetheless. No, no uterus noshing.
Despite the fact that Ray was obliterated in the bomb blast from the last book he ends up back in Alisa’s life. I’m not going to go into the hows or whys of that because it’ll spoil the ending but I liked how Pike dealt with it. It’s surprising how much higher level spiritualism is going on in these books and I really do like it. It reminds me of his SATI book, when Alisa talks about Krishna and his teachings. There’s a lot of blending there. Not to mention the history Pike gave to Alisa. It still stands on its own today.
Alisa’s daughter . . . is something else. She forces Alisa to see just how difficult of a time she’s having being human and how, on her path in life, it may not work out for her. Again, I can’t go into too much detail here because of spoilers but I’ll say she’s an intriguing character. You don’t get to see her stretch her legs until book 5 but there are seeds here that are telling of what and who she is. I liked it.
By far some of the best vampire books I’ve read. On book 4 of the series I’m still not tired of it. Pike keeps the story fresh and so damn interesting with all the history he wove in. Alisa, while coming off a bit wooden, is still a dynamic character whom I can’t take my eyes off of. Her life is just fascinating. Really, these books would probably trend a little more toward New Adult than YA today just based on plot and what happens with Alisa but the story is the story and it works either way.
4.5
Alisa is finally mortal and this is where a baby is entered into the fray. This is probably the only situation where a vampire getting pregnant makes sense, mainly because she isn’t a vampire anymore. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something seriously wrong with her kid. It actually reminded me of the pregnancy/birth deal going on in the TWILIGHT series. It almost made me think that maybe SMeyer read these books but then I remember all those articles I read where she did little to no research on vampires and didn’t see popular movies or anything like that so getting my hopes up didn’t last very long. But there were similarities nonetheless. No, no uterus noshing.
Despite the fact that Ray was obliterated in the bomb blast from the last book he ends up back in Alisa’s life. I’m not going to go into the hows or whys of that because it’ll spoil the ending but I liked how Pike dealt with it. It’s surprising how much higher level spiritualism is going on in these books and I really do like it. It reminds me of his SATI book, when Alisa talks about Krishna and his teachings. There’s a lot of blending there. Not to mention the history Pike gave to Alisa. It still stands on its own today.
Alisa’s daughter . . . is something else. She forces Alisa to see just how difficult of a time she’s having being human and how, on her path in life, it may not work out for her. Again, I can’t go into too much detail here because of spoilers but I’ll say she’s an intriguing character. You don’t get to see her stretch her legs until book 5 but there are seeds here that are telling of what and who she is. I liked it.
By far some of the best vampire books I’ve read. On book 4 of the series I’m still not tired of it. Pike keeps the story fresh and so damn interesting with all the history he wove in. Alisa, while coming off a bit wooden, is still a dynamic character whom I can’t take my eyes off of. Her life is just fascinating. Really, these books would probably trend a little more toward New Adult than YA today just based on plot and what happens with Alisa but the story is the story and it works either way.
4.5
November 1, 2024
Well, that certainly was a ride!
This is the first book in the series that isn't truly self-contained, and ends with the dreadful cliffhanger. Pretty much all of the plot is still hanging loose out there, and there are more questions than answers at this point. Pike is playing so fast and loose with everything that you basically have to roll with it and just believe that he knows what he's doing and is not just flying by the seat of his pants.
I didn't really like Kalika or find her a compelling villain. There are so many questions about her, too - what happened to the people she hunted? She claims karma, but what is that? She's also forever shielding herself with humans or other creatures, which is supremely irritating. IDK if I can take two more books of a cat and mouse game between mother and daughter. I'm glad we're only reading one of these a year, LOL.
All in all, a nice way to cap our Halloween nostalgia re-readathon this year!
This is the first book in the series that isn't truly self-contained, and ends with the dreadful cliffhanger. Pretty much all of the plot is still hanging loose out there, and there are more questions than answers at this point. Pike is playing so fast and loose with everything that you basically have to roll with it and just believe that he knows what he's doing and is not just flying by the seat of his pants.
I didn't really like Kalika or find her a compelling villain. There are so many questions about her, too - what happened to the people she hunted? She claims karma, but what is that? She's also forever shielding herself with humans or other creatures, which is supremely irritating. IDK if I can take two more books of a cat and mouse game between mother and daughter. I'm glad we're only reading one of these a year, LOL.
All in all, a nice way to cap our Halloween nostalgia re-readathon this year!
September 13, 2010
So, Alisa has turned human, and as usual, everyone around her is dying and then coming back to life and such. She also discovers that she is pregnant. All I'm saying, is wow, Stephenie Meyer... wait to come up with that totally original idea of a vampire-human demon spawn thing that grows at an insanely fast rate and almost kills the mother and is creepy and old beyond her age and super powerful. Did you detect the hints of sarcasm? or perhaps the subtle hints that she jacked the whole idea of 'renesmee' from this... Anyways, these stories are quick reads. The writing isn't amazing, but I'll still keep reading them.
September 26, 2018
And the buddy read continues! Should you ever want someone to dissect the plots of these books and examine all the characters in depth with you, Roberta from Offbeat YA and I are totally your girls. These conversations are intense as only true fandom love can be. There are spoilers ahead for The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice. Trigger warnings: body horror, violence, gore.
Thanks to Arturo’s alchemy, Sita is human again after five thousand years of being a vampire. When she learns that her lover, Ray, is still alive and has also performed the experiment, they start a blissfully happy human life together. Sita’s joy is complete when she learns she is pregnant, but it quickly turns to fear and dismay when it becomes clear that her daughter is anything but human. Kalika grows faster than any human child, and her hunger rivals Sita’s as a vampire. Is her daughter good or wicked? Has she been blessed or cursed?
I struggled with the rating on this book. While I don’t enjoy the fact that one of my favorite vampires of all time is human for the majority of this book, I can’t fault the way that Pike brings the story together. It’s much better plotted than Red Dice, and the character development–the lessons Sita has to learn while she’s human–, however painful, is well-written. It’s altogether more cohesive and more satisfying than its predecessor for a number of reasons. Pike also gives us Seymour, who grieves the loss of Sita’s supernatural life along with the reader and understands only too well that it means the magic has gone.
Sita may have given up her supernatural abilities, but her basic personality hasn’t changed. Some of the first scenes in the novel prove that she still mistakenly thinks she can handle anything, charges into situations with an astounding lack of foresight, and remains as sassy as ever in the face of death. (In short, I love her.) I don’t enjoy Ray resurfacing in this novel or the way Pike handles it (without being spoilery, it tests my suspension of disbelief), but there’s no denying that he’s good for the plot and the development. It’s clear early on that something weird is going on with him, and he’s far from the gentle and compassionate Ray of the first book. His presence also forces Sita to confront some painful truths about herself; as always, her suffering is great for the plot.
For the first time in the series, the women outnumber the men! Sita makes a human friend in Paula, a kind and devout woman with an unusual baby on the way. I love that we finally see Sita with a female friend, and Paula’s story is as interesting as it is mysterious. I’m usually put off by religious overtones, but I like the way Pike weaves it in with spiritualism and the supernatural and comes out with something utterly unique. It gives the series an extra layer that isn’t present in most paranormal fiction.
Then there’s Kalika, my queen. As usual, Pike excels at writing plausible and terrifying villains, and Kalika may be the best in the series. (I know I said that about Eddie too, but Kalika makes him look like child’s play.) Where Sita is fire and impulse, Kalika is cool detachment and calculated violence. I love that even when she’s ripping heads off, I can’t tell which side she’s on. Even when I know what happens, I’m constantly second-guessing and searching for motive. If you’re the sort of person who falls in love with wicked characters, this book is for you. The end scenes are especially tense and emotional, and I remember being horrified by the last chapter the first time I read it. Take from that what you will. Or, if you haven’t yet, begin at the beginning and read this series that is pretty much unlike any other vampire series out there. Highest recommendation.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
Thanks to Arturo’s alchemy, Sita is human again after five thousand years of being a vampire. When she learns that her lover, Ray, is still alive and has also performed the experiment, they start a blissfully happy human life together. Sita’s joy is complete when she learns she is pregnant, but it quickly turns to fear and dismay when it becomes clear that her daughter is anything but human. Kalika grows faster than any human child, and her hunger rivals Sita’s as a vampire. Is her daughter good or wicked? Has she been blessed or cursed?
I struggled with the rating on this book. While I don’t enjoy the fact that one of my favorite vampires of all time is human for the majority of this book, I can’t fault the way that Pike brings the story together. It’s much better plotted than Red Dice, and the character development–the lessons Sita has to learn while she’s human–, however painful, is well-written. It’s altogether more cohesive and more satisfying than its predecessor for a number of reasons. Pike also gives us Seymour, who grieves the loss of Sita’s supernatural life along with the reader and understands only too well that it means the magic has gone.
Sita may have given up her supernatural abilities, but her basic personality hasn’t changed. Some of the first scenes in the novel prove that she still mistakenly thinks she can handle anything, charges into situations with an astounding lack of foresight, and remains as sassy as ever in the face of death. (In short, I love her.) I don’t enjoy Ray resurfacing in this novel or the way Pike handles it (without being spoilery, it tests my suspension of disbelief), but there’s no denying that he’s good for the plot and the development. It’s clear early on that something weird is going on with him, and he’s far from the gentle and compassionate Ray of the first book. His presence also forces Sita to confront some painful truths about herself; as always, her suffering is great for the plot.
For the first time in the series, the women outnumber the men! Sita makes a human friend in Paula, a kind and devout woman with an unusual baby on the way. I love that we finally see Sita with a female friend, and Paula’s story is as interesting as it is mysterious. I’m usually put off by religious overtones, but I like the way Pike weaves it in with spiritualism and the supernatural and comes out with something utterly unique. It gives the series an extra layer that isn’t present in most paranormal fiction.
Then there’s Kalika, my queen. As usual, Pike excels at writing plausible and terrifying villains, and Kalika may be the best in the series. (I know I said that about Eddie too, but Kalika makes him look like child’s play.) Where Sita is fire and impulse, Kalika is cool detachment and calculated violence. I love that even when she’s ripping heads off, I can’t tell which side she’s on. Even when I know what happens, I’m constantly second-guessing and searching for motive. If you’re the sort of person who falls in love with wicked characters, this book is for you. The end scenes are especially tense and emotional, and I remember being horrified by the last chapter the first time I read it. Take from that what you will. Or, if you haven’t yet, begin at the beginning and read this series that is pretty much unlike any other vampire series out there. Highest recommendation.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
September 19, 2024
Μετά την σοκαριστική αποκάλυψη με την οποία ρίχνει αυλαία το 3ο βιβλίο της σειράς, και αφού οι εκδόσεις Πατάκη αποφάσισαν πως δεν θα κυκλοφορήσουν τα υπόλοιπα στη χώρα μας, το πήρα απόφαση να τα διαβάσω στ' αγγλικά. Και πολύ καλά έκανα καθότι, τώρα άρχισε να μπαίνει το νερό στ' αυλάκι, κι αν στα προηγούμενα τρία βιβλία υπήρχαν συνεχείς ανατροπές κι εκπλήξεις, αλλά και πολύ έντονη και δυνατή δράση, όλα αυτά τα χαρακτηριστικά έρχονται να κορυφωθούν ακόμα περισσότερο. Το παρελθόν μπλέκεται με το παρόν, τιμήματα ζητούν να ξεπληρωθούν και ο καθένας πρέπει να έρθει αντιμέτωπος με τις επιλογές του, καθώς και με τη ζωή που έχει ζήσει ως τώρα, για να μπορέσει να δει πως θα ζήσει -αν ζήσει- την υπόλοιπή του.
May 9, 2009
How can a book that I first read over ten years ago still move me the way this book did?
Pike is a great author, and one who I wish more of my students read.
This book is the story of Sita getting everything she ever wanted: a daughter, and the man who she has loved for 2,000 years. It's too good to be true, and she must decide what she really wants, and at what cost.
So good.
Pike is a great author, and one who I wish more of my students read.
This book is the story of Sita getting everything she ever wanted: a daughter, and the man who she has loved for 2,000 years. It's too good to be true, and she must decide what she really wants, and at what cost.
So good.
August 4, 2021
Definitely had a lot that I recognize as very Christopher Pike--it's RL Stine with an injection of mythology. This one in particular really drinks from Hindu mythology; IVE READ THE BHAGVAD GITA TOO, CHRIS! but it was fun. Easy to jump straight in the middle of the series.
July 29, 2019
3 ½ Stars
Phantom is the fourth book in The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike. In this book Alisa/Sita finds herself human again after 5000+ years. The experiment worked- but has left her confused, vulnerable, and PREGNANT. The baby is developing at a phenomenal rate- so this is no ordinary pregnancy. What will the baby be? Who is the ‘stranger’ from the past who seems to know everything? What will become of Alisa, and the baby?
These books have been in my bookcase ever since my daughter was a teenager, and I came across them again while rearranging my bookcases recently. I had read the first few books many years ago now, and couldn’t really remember them- and since I wanted to finish the series, I decided to read all 6 books back to back.
The book/series has quite an original premise, with interesting and somewhat quirky characters, and a well-crafted storyline. This has a fast, action-packed plot- which makes it quite a quick and easy read. There is some mystery, a little suspense, drama, and plenty of intrigue.
So, if you love paranormal, fantasy, vampires, young adult stories, with action and adventure, then this is definitely the story/series for you!
Thank you, Christopher Pike!
Phantom is the fourth book in The Last Vampire series by Christopher Pike. In this book Alisa/Sita finds herself human again after 5000+ years. The experiment worked- but has left her confused, vulnerable, and PREGNANT. The baby is developing at a phenomenal rate- so this is no ordinary pregnancy. What will the baby be? Who is the ‘stranger’ from the past who seems to know everything? What will become of Alisa, and the baby?
These books have been in my bookcase ever since my daughter was a teenager, and I came across them again while rearranging my bookcases recently. I had read the first few books many years ago now, and couldn’t really remember them- and since I wanted to finish the series, I decided to read all 6 books back to back.
The book/series has quite an original premise, with interesting and somewhat quirky characters, and a well-crafted storyline. This has a fast, action-packed plot- which makes it quite a quick and easy read. There is some mystery, a little suspense, drama, and plenty of intrigue.
So, if you love paranormal, fantasy, vampires, young adult stories, with action and adventure, then this is definitely the story/series for you!
Thank you, Christopher Pike!
April 5, 2021
Man this was probably the darkest book in the series so far 😲😲 The whole story with Kalika was just crazy!!!
Amd omg I was so right about what was up with Ray!!! I knew it! So many things make sense now.
Omg that ending was......😲😭 then 😃😃😃😃
Amd omg I was so right about what was up with Ray!!! I knew it! So many things make sense now.
Omg that ending was......😲😭 then 😃😃😃😃
November 14, 2013
These books are becoming more and more ridiculous. Part of me hates them for that. The other part of me thinks that there's also an inherent brilliance in being able to maintain a story with such ludicrous plot points. But not a very big part.
May 31, 2016
This book is an actual big "meh".
You feel like nothing really happens, but there are a lot of things going on in less than 200 pages and none of them has a conclusion.
So... Sita's human again, which is amazing because, after three books in which she complained about not being able to bear children again, I was really happy for her: she could have the life she had always wanted!
But then I realized the big mistake that was going on: Sita's character is - almost - completely based on the fact that she's strong, immortal, she drinks blood and can heal from a deep cut into her skin within minutes. All what remains are memories of a life lived centuries before Christ. She is nothing, as a human.
She hasn't been human for hundreds of years, how is she supposed to act like a human again? And who does she have?
Rama is dead, Lalita is dead. Sita had always wanted to return human for them, but they're both dead. She has no one, beside Seymour.
There comes into scene Ray, who didn't die almost two books ago and who is human again, as Sita is. The explanation Ray gives to Sita is stupid and I couldn't believe that she, of all people, fell for it!
I mean, c'mon! It was clear as water that that person wasn't Ray!
However, Ray is there and Sita leaves Seymour - who travelled all the way from Oregon to California to stay with her and help her out - alone without an explanation but a stupid note.
Next chapter, Sita tells us that she lives in a quiet place, has a car, lives a normal, human life. Nice, yeah, but how did she adapt to it? The first day of Sita's life as a human was pretty new to her, it would have been interesting to read about how she moved throught this new world.
But no.
We don't see a single moment, of Sita's normal life because she soon gets pregnant and meets Paula Ramirez, a pregnant woman who thinks that the father of her baby is some spiritual creature.
And from this point on, everything goes downhill.
Since things can't go right a single time, Sita's baby is some demoniac creature that grows at a very fast rate and comes to the world almost killing the ex-vampire. But it's her and Ray's daughter, so Sita calls her "Kalika" and keeps her instead of seeing the evilness that occupies the baby's body and mind.
The baby, half vampire, half human with a little bit of demon, wants human blood and Sita kidnaps a kid in order to feed her daughter.
And times passes again.
When we get to know detailed things again, Kalika has the body and the mind of an adult - even thought the is only a few months old.
This is the problem of the book: problem? SKIP! Dramatic situation! SKIP!
We are told that Sita can react with shock to dramatic and violent situations, but we never see it. Beside a brief moment at the begin of the book - when she kills the two guys who tried to rape her, we never get to see her human side. Her feeling are the same ones she felt when she was a vampire; we are told that she hasn't the same abilities, but we never get to see them. She says that she can't ipnotize people anymore and that her acting skills aren't the same as before, but everybody just fall at her feet.
This is what I would have enjoyed, while reading this book: a person who had been a vampire for centuries and now has to deal with a human life again.
Instead, I got a Sita who gets pregnant of a demon baby, kidnaps a guy without feeling anything - nor shame or regret. Nothing - and gets almost killed by a crazy man.
Everything is just like in the other books, the only difference is the fact that she reminds us that now she's human.
So, Ray doesn't go out of the house, Kalika is obsessed with Paula and Paula is about to give birth.
Since her daughter wants so much Paula's baby, Sita decides to take her to another hospital to give birth. Paula's baby is a boy, who, for this book, doesn't have a name.
While Sita is at the hospital with her friend and her son, she phones Kalika. Her daughter had took Erik - the boy Sita kidnapped weeks before - out of his room and kills him while he's on the phone with Sita, just because she doesn't want to tell Kalika where she, Paula and the baby are. Then, Kalika passes the phone to Seymour, who just happens to be there.
Threatened, Sita decides to lie to her daughter by telling her that she'll bring Paula's son to Saint Monica at midnight the next day.
And things goes even more downhill from here.
Sita steals a vial of the baby's blood, gives a lot of money to Paula and tells her to go away, to escape and hide because there's a really bad person after her, and goes back to Los Angeles. There she finds Eddie's truck, the one where Yaksha was kept, and she takes the iced blood, melts it, returns to Arturo's house and magic! She's a vampire again!
She eventually meets Ray again, before returning a vampire. She discovers that Ray, this Ray, was just a phantom, an illusion of her mind and she unterstands that Kalika's father is Arturo, not Ray.
Blah blah blah, she goes to Saint Monica without Paula's baby and combats Kalika after she throws Seymour into the water and tries to kill him by impaling him with a piece of wood.
Seymour dies, but Sita brings him into the woods, uses the baby's blood on his wounds and Seymour lives again.
This is the end of the book.
Really, this book had lots of potential and it could have been different from all the other books C. Pike wrote about Sita. In this one, there wasn't as much action and baths of blood as in the others, but there wasn't even a normal life.
It's just a complete mess about Jesus Christ, Indian demons, ghosts and a human who still feels and acts as a vampire.
Usually there are lots of character, in the Last Vampire Series, but in this one there were only three: Sita - who tells us stuff and doesn't show it, Ray - who is an awful ghost - and Kalika - who is a demoniac girl who has the abilities of a vampire but is really, probably, a demon.
I hated the fact that Sita told us to be in love with Ray again when, just in the book before - whose last page takes place some hours before the first page of this one, she told us to be in love with Arturo and Josh.
I got that she had many lovers, during her long life, but she can't love them all at the same time, especially if she doensn't mourn them after their death. Sita just acts, acts, acts.
As a vampire, she acts as a monster - she kills people, uses humans as shields and she doesn't really care.
As a human, she still acts as a monster - she kept killing people and she kidnaps a kid.
There's no difference between Vampire-Sita and Human-Sita beside the fact that Vampire-Sita is way cooler because she doesn't remind to us that she's fragile every page of the book.
You feel like nothing really happens, but there are a lot of things going on in less than 200 pages and none of them has a conclusion.
So... Sita's human again, which is amazing because, after three books in which she complained about not being able to bear children again, I was really happy for her: she could have the life she had always wanted!
But then I realized the big mistake that was going on: Sita's character is - almost - completely based on the fact that she's strong, immortal, she drinks blood and can heal from a deep cut into her skin within minutes. All what remains are memories of a life lived centuries before Christ. She is nothing, as a human.
She hasn't been human for hundreds of years, how is she supposed to act like a human again? And who does she have?
Rama is dead, Lalita is dead. Sita had always wanted to return human for them, but they're both dead. She has no one, beside Seymour.
There comes into scene Ray, who didn't die almost two books ago and who is human again, as Sita is. The explanation Ray gives to Sita is stupid and I couldn't believe that she, of all people, fell for it!
I mean, c'mon! It was clear as water that that person wasn't Ray!
However, Ray is there and Sita leaves Seymour - who travelled all the way from Oregon to California to stay with her and help her out - alone without an explanation but a stupid note.
Next chapter, Sita tells us that she lives in a quiet place, has a car, lives a normal, human life. Nice, yeah, but how did she adapt to it? The first day of Sita's life as a human was pretty new to her, it would have been interesting to read about how she moved throught this new world.
But no.
We don't see a single moment, of Sita's normal life because she soon gets pregnant and meets Paula Ramirez, a pregnant woman who thinks that the father of her baby is some spiritual creature.
And from this point on, everything goes downhill.
Since things can't go right a single time, Sita's baby is some demoniac creature that grows at a very fast rate and comes to the world almost killing the ex-vampire. But it's her and Ray's daughter, so Sita calls her "Kalika" and keeps her instead of seeing the evilness that occupies the baby's body and mind.
The baby, half vampire, half human with a little bit of demon, wants human blood and Sita kidnaps a kid in order to feed her daughter.
And times passes again.
When we get to know detailed things again, Kalika has the body and the mind of an adult - even thought the is only a few months old.
This is the problem of the book: problem? SKIP! Dramatic situation! SKIP!
We are told that Sita can react with shock to dramatic and violent situations, but we never see it. Beside a brief moment at the begin of the book - when she kills the two guys who tried to rape her, we never get to see her human side. Her feeling are the same ones she felt when she was a vampire; we are told that she hasn't the same abilities, but we never get to see them. She says that she can't ipnotize people anymore and that her acting skills aren't the same as before, but everybody just fall at her feet.
This is what I would have enjoyed, while reading this book: a person who had been a vampire for centuries and now has to deal with a human life again.
Instead, I got a Sita who gets pregnant of a demon baby, kidnaps a guy without feeling anything - nor shame or regret. Nothing - and gets almost killed by a crazy man.
Everything is just like in the other books, the only difference is the fact that she reminds us that now she's human.
So, Ray doesn't go out of the house, Kalika is obsessed with Paula and Paula is about to give birth.
Since her daughter wants so much Paula's baby, Sita decides to take her to another hospital to give birth. Paula's baby is a boy, who, for this book, doesn't have a name.
While Sita is at the hospital with her friend and her son, she phones Kalika. Her daughter had took Erik - the boy Sita kidnapped weeks before - out of his room and kills him while he's on the phone with Sita, just because she doesn't want to tell Kalika where she, Paula and the baby are. Then, Kalika passes the phone to Seymour, who just happens to be there.
Threatened, Sita decides to lie to her daughter by telling her that she'll bring Paula's son to Saint Monica at midnight the next day.
And things goes even more downhill from here.
Sita steals a vial of the baby's blood, gives a lot of money to Paula and tells her to go away, to escape and hide because there's a really bad person after her, and goes back to Los Angeles. There she finds Eddie's truck, the one where Yaksha was kept, and she takes the iced blood, melts it, returns to Arturo's house and magic! She's a vampire again!
She eventually meets Ray again, before returning a vampire. She discovers that Ray, this Ray, was just a phantom, an illusion of her mind and she unterstands that Kalika's father is Arturo, not Ray.
Blah blah blah, she goes to Saint Monica without Paula's baby and combats Kalika after she throws Seymour into the water and tries to kill him by impaling him with a piece of wood.
Seymour dies, but Sita brings him into the woods, uses the baby's blood on his wounds and Seymour lives again.
This is the end of the book.
Really, this book had lots of potential and it could have been different from all the other books C. Pike wrote about Sita. In this one, there wasn't as much action and baths of blood as in the others, but there wasn't even a normal life.
It's just a complete mess about Jesus Christ, Indian demons, ghosts and a human who still feels and acts as a vampire.
Usually there are lots of character, in the Last Vampire Series, but in this one there were only three: Sita - who tells us stuff and doesn't show it, Ray - who is an awful ghost - and Kalika - who is a demoniac girl who has the abilities of a vampire but is really, probably, a demon.
I hated the fact that Sita told us to be in love with Ray again when, just in the book before - whose last page takes place some hours before the first page of this one, she told us to be in love with Arturo and Josh.
I got that she had many lovers, during her long life, but she can't love them all at the same time, especially if she doensn't mourn them after their death. Sita just acts, acts, acts.
As a vampire, she acts as a monster - she kills people, uses humans as shields and she doesn't really care.
As a human, she still acts as a monster - she kept killing people and she kidnaps a kid.
There's no difference between Vampire-Sita and Human-Sita beside the fact that Vampire-Sita is way cooler because she doesn't remind to us that she's fragile every page of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2025
I’m attempting to read the original six Last Vampire novels by Christopher Pike in October! Book Four: Phantom. 👻
Alisa’s boyfriends keep getting blown up: the latest, an FBI agent, gets nuked in the Nevada desert when she detonates a nuclear warhead. She then uses a dead alchemist’s experiment to make herself human again and takes up with her incinerated boyfriend from the second book who has made like Humpty Dumpty and put himself back together again.
Did I mention they also have a baby that grows at an exceptional rate and ages twenty years in a week? And that the father turns out to be the dead alchemist, not her boyfriend? And that her boyfriend doesn’t actually exist and is just a figment of her imagination? And that their daughter is actually the Hindu goddess Kali come to destroy the known universe? No? I did I forget all that? Minor details, really. 🤷🏻♂️
This book didn’t sing as much as the previous instalments, mostly because Alisa spends most of it as a human. Let’s face it: humans are boring. (Don’t worry, she managed to turn herself back into a vampire by the end.)
Also, a VERY healthy helping of Seymour in this one. I was not disappointed.
My gut is telling me this series is ramping up for an epic looney tunes finale. Luckily, my loins are appropriated girded.
Onto the next!
Alisa’s boyfriends keep getting blown up: the latest, an FBI agent, gets nuked in the Nevada desert when she detonates a nuclear warhead. She then uses a dead alchemist’s experiment to make herself human again and takes up with her incinerated boyfriend from the second book who has made like Humpty Dumpty and put himself back together again.
Did I mention they also have a baby that grows at an exceptional rate and ages twenty years in a week? And that the father turns out to be the dead alchemist, not her boyfriend? And that her boyfriend doesn’t actually exist and is just a figment of her imagination? And that their daughter is actually the Hindu goddess Kali come to destroy the known universe? No? I did I forget all that? Minor details, really. 🤷🏻♂️
This book didn’t sing as much as the previous instalments, mostly because Alisa spends most of it as a human. Let’s face it: humans are boring. (Don’t worry, she managed to turn herself back into a vampire by the end.)
Also, a VERY healthy helping of Seymour in this one. I was not disappointed.
My gut is telling me this series is ramping up for an epic looney tunes finale. Luckily, my loins are appropriated girded.
Onto the next!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 19, 2023
Cette série de livre, dès le premier livre j'ai trouvé l'histoire pas mal, par contre le caractère du personnage principal je n'aime pas du tout, et l'histoire est racontée de son point de vue donc c'est vraiment pour moi le gros bémol de cette série. J'ai continué à lire la suite car comme je disais l'histoire est intéressante quand même et je veux savoir la suite, mais en plus il y a des coquilles et des fautes et ça c'est pas le top pour la lecture d'un livre, personnellement je focalise dessus. Quand l'envie me prends de lire, je n'ai pas envie d'ouvrir ce livre en particulier, je préfère en prendre un autre tellement je ne suis pas prête à revoir ce personnage, souvent je m'identifie un minimum aux personnages mais là c'est absolument impossible. Pour ce tome en particulier, le tome 4 c'était trop. Je n'aimais pas trop le caractère du personnage principal, pourtant à côté de sa fille ce n'était clairement rien. Par contre dans ce tome là il y a des retournements de situation auxquels je ne m'attendais pas du tout et ça c'est bien, ça remonte un peu dans mon estime du livre.
January 10, 2023
3.5 stars.. The undead come back to life and love endures, or does it? Odd book
Interesting
Interesting
September 5, 2021
The prose seems to change with Sita's transformation. When Sita is human she's depressed and in denial so the writing comes off us kind of dull and things don't feel clearly explained. This is however due to the Ray twist requiring Sita to be in denial which doesn't land until near the end. So for much of this novel I was thinking it was very bland but it really picks up when it explains itself. Hard to score because of these issues but it's a necessary part of the series so I can still give it 4 stars.
June 7, 2017
Possible first reading = approximately 1996. Second reading = one 24 hour period on Jan 4/5, 2013. I don't remember the storyline of this one... but I'm reading the same paperback I've owned for 20+ years. I have a feeling I never finished this series...I really liked this one, the "having a child" aspect of it. On to the next one...
August 7, 2020
The more I read this series the more I grow bored with it. There's too much unnecessary filler and representative. Plus how obvious was it that her daughter was the Goddess Kali. So dumb that she didn't get that earlier on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
December 10, 2021So a super fast growing half vampire, half human fetus almost kills its mother being born…. must’ve served as a springboard for certain other author’s ideas a few decades later. I know this is denied but it is far from the only similarity with the Twilight universe.
June 18, 2022
We're in the home stretch of the first part of this series. Sita has made a choice with big consequences and has met a new friend along the way. What happens when it all goes left? Not the strongest entry in the series, but a good, quick read nonetheless.
September 10, 2017
The story continues in some disturbing ways
May 3, 2018
I loved this series when I was in junior high.
March 22, 2019
Another quick read. Alisa's desire to become human has succeeded. You know that this will not end up well, right?
October 19, 2019
Not gonna lie this one dragged for me, the first ones were awesome and action packed with a strong female lead this one she is depressing and pathetic 💔 hopefully next one she turns kick ass again or I'mma DNF this series.
November 6, 2022
He still got me on the re-read!
December 18, 2023
Seymour 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
That was so close
That was so close
December 2, 2025
As with each book of this series, once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. Sita’s story is fascinating and very entertaining reading.
January 11, 2023
It's hard to wonder where a story can go but leave it to Christopher Pike.
Of course, spoilers with or without noting.
Alisa also known as Sita went to many lengths to try and keep the government from using vampire blood to dose their soldiers and free fellow vampire FBI Special Agent Joel Drake from being the test subject. She got close to scientist Andrew Kane and discovered he was her beloved Arturo from the time of the Spanish Inquisition. A priest and an alchemist who discovered how to use Sita's powerful blood to heal ailments but also turn some people into monsters.
She gave him up to be burned at the stake but he was able to sway his fate to a mere hanging and survived death using Sita's blood. It slowed time and turned the young Arturo into the middle-aged Andrew trying to continue his ill-sighted obsession.
With the blood of her creator, Yaksha, Alisa was able to get away but had to leave those she loved behind to the mercy of a bomb to keep anymore vampire blood from spreading. It left her as the last vampire but there was one discovery of Arturo's left to change that.
The alchemy has now left her...human.
Still a strong woman despite her non-supernatural abilities, Alisa turns to the only person she has left. Seymour Dorsten can't believe she has given up her gift to be ordinary but he will be with her as she tries to make sure no one in the government finds her.
Five thousand years and Alisa can still hold her own against would be rapists with help of a gun but it seems that perhaps she has not truly been abandoned by Krishna.
Ray has miraculously survived death and returns to her as human. Her Rama, her love, is with her and soon Alisa finds she is pregnant. She prays to have a daughter, her own Lalita, returned to her as well. She meets another young woman named Paula Ramirez, who is also pregnant, and the former vampire relishes what we as mortals take for granted.
Soon the dream becomes a nightmare when her pregnancy progresses far too quickly and she soon gives birth to her desired daughter but Kalika is not ordinary. She soon does not take to Alisa's breast to drink her milk but suck at her blood and a mother is put at odds.
Let her child starve or give the girl as much blood as her body can handle to lose?
Kalika continues to grow and so does her hunger for blood and Alisa is faced with finding victims to nourish her daughter. When her maturity and intelligence is at its peak, Kalika will not need her mother to do the hunting anymore...
There are a lot of things going on in this book that keep it from being boring but there is still much that needs to be answered. Some moments left me shocked and speechless but I was not left as devastated as with Black Blood and Red Dice.
Some moments left me utterly confused I freely admit.
I read Phantom a very long time ago and now reading it as an older woman and a mother myself, it was hard to get through some parts. I joke that my child is a terror but could you imagine if your child literally was a goddess of destruction?
Alisa/Sita has grown on me considerably since The Last Vampire. She may be a strong female protagonist with strong antagonistic quirks but man, she just can't catch a break.
Two more to go...
Of course, spoilers with or without noting.
Alisa also known as Sita went to many lengths to try and keep the government from using vampire blood to dose their soldiers and free fellow vampire FBI Special Agent Joel Drake from being the test subject. She got close to scientist Andrew Kane and discovered he was her beloved Arturo from the time of the Spanish Inquisition. A priest and an alchemist who discovered how to use Sita's powerful blood to heal ailments but also turn some people into monsters.
She gave him up to be burned at the stake but he was able to sway his fate to a mere hanging and survived death using Sita's blood. It slowed time and turned the young Arturo into the middle-aged Andrew trying to continue his ill-sighted obsession.
With the blood of her creator, Yaksha, Alisa was able to get away but had to leave those she loved behind to the mercy of a bomb to keep anymore vampire blood from spreading. It left her as the last vampire but there was one discovery of Arturo's left to change that.
The alchemy has now left her...human.
Still a strong woman despite her non-supernatural abilities, Alisa turns to the only person she has left. Seymour Dorsten can't believe she has given up her gift to be ordinary but he will be with her as she tries to make sure no one in the government finds her.
Five thousand years and Alisa can still hold her own against would be rapists with help of a gun but it seems that perhaps she has not truly been abandoned by Krishna.
Ray has miraculously survived death and returns to her as human. Her Rama, her love, is with her and soon Alisa finds she is pregnant. She prays to have a daughter, her own Lalita, returned to her as well. She meets another young woman named Paula Ramirez, who is also pregnant, and the former vampire relishes what we as mortals take for granted.
Soon the dream becomes a nightmare when her pregnancy progresses far too quickly and she soon gives birth to her desired daughter but Kalika is not ordinary. She soon does not take to Alisa's breast to drink her milk but suck at her blood and a mother is put at odds.
Let her child starve or give the girl as much blood as her body can handle to lose?
Kalika continues to grow and so does her hunger for blood and Alisa is faced with finding victims to nourish her daughter. When her maturity and intelligence is at its peak, Kalika will not need her mother to do the hunting anymore...
There are a lot of things going on in this book that keep it from being boring but there is still much that needs to be answered. Some moments left me shocked and speechless but I was not left as devastated as with Black Blood and Red Dice.
Some moments left me utterly confused I freely admit.
I read Phantom a very long time ago and now reading it as an older woman and a mother myself, it was hard to get through some parts. I joke that my child is a terror but could you imagine if your child literally was a goddess of destruction?
Alisa/Sita has grown on me considerably since The Last Vampire. She may be a strong female protagonist with strong antagonistic quirks but man, she just can't catch a break.
Two more to go...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 16, 2019
Note: This is my review for the second three books in the trilogy (Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever) repackaged as one in the Thirst omnibus.
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: Original take on vampires. Plenty of kickass action and entertaining (if often bloody) moments. Blends urban fantasy with thriller, history, and more than anything, Eastern spirituality.
Cons: Requires more suspension of disbelief than Book 1. The blend of UF and sci-fi may not work for everyone.
WARNING! Abundance of blood, gore and violence.
Will appeal to: Those looking for a fresh approach to vampires, in what was probably the very first YA/NA series about them.
This series is not perfect. And I won't shun its faults in my review. But for some reason, I can't bear myself to rate it less than 5 stars. It's not author bias - there are a bunch of Pike books I rated 3 stars and even less. But if TLV/Thirst stills works its magic on me almost 20 years after I first read Book 1, and if I'm still peeling its layers after all this time, that should count for something...
I WANT TO BELIEVE
There's a fil rouge to all the Thirst series, and the French metaphor comes in especially handy, since the common denominator is all kinds of enemies (human or not) going after Sita's blood. And there's a corollary to this - Sita having to defend humanity from the havoc her blood could wreak on them. But the 4th and 5th original installments break this pattern (that will resurface in Book 6), focusing on two special births and the need to defend one of the infants from malevolent forces. Plus, for a while, Sita is human again, and for the very first time we see her bonding with another woman (like her apparent insta-love with Ray in Book 1, this could have a huge insta-friendship vibe, if there wasn't a century-old backstory to it). Since from the original separate book blurbs I knew she would go back to being a vampire, I enjoyed my ride with human Sita. In a way, it was even more interesting for me to have that version of her to explore and compare to the one we had known so far. Some things change, some are oh so much alike. It's SO hard to review this part of the story without spoilers, but what I can say is, your enjoyment of Phantom may depend on to what extent you're capable to suspend disbelief, unless the illusion that the title openly references has, indeed, a life of sorts (which I suspect is the case, given the multiple references to "the abyss" as if it were a place that could generate something more solid than a simple hallucination). It still poses a few practical problems, but like Sita with her predicament, we probably aren't to examine the story that closely, or it will blow in our face 😉. Still, even before I formulated my crazy (ingenious?) theory about what goes on in Phantom, I was invested in the story, and a certain part before the very end broke my heart. [...]
Whole review here.
Excerpt from my review - originally published at Offbeat YA.
Pros: Original take on vampires. Plenty of kickass action and entertaining (if often bloody) moments. Blends urban fantasy with thriller, history, and more than anything, Eastern spirituality.
Cons: Requires more suspension of disbelief than Book 1. The blend of UF and sci-fi may not work for everyone.
WARNING! Abundance of blood, gore and violence.
Will appeal to: Those looking for a fresh approach to vampires, in what was probably the very first YA/NA series about them.
This series is not perfect. And I won't shun its faults in my review. But for some reason, I can't bear myself to rate it less than 5 stars. It's not author bias - there are a bunch of Pike books I rated 3 stars and even less. But if TLV/Thirst stills works its magic on me almost 20 years after I first read Book 1, and if I'm still peeling its layers after all this time, that should count for something...
I WANT TO BELIEVE
There's a fil rouge to all the Thirst series, and the French metaphor comes in especially handy, since the common denominator is all kinds of enemies (human or not) going after Sita's blood. And there's a corollary to this - Sita having to defend humanity from the havoc her blood could wreak on them. But the 4th and 5th original installments break this pattern (that will resurface in Book 6), focusing on two special births and the need to defend one of the infants from malevolent forces. Plus, for a while, Sita is human again, and for the very first time we see her bonding with another woman (like her apparent insta-love with Ray in Book 1, this could have a huge insta-friendship vibe, if there wasn't a century-old backstory to it). Since from the original separate book blurbs I knew she would go back to being a vampire, I enjoyed my ride with human Sita. In a way, it was even more interesting for me to have that version of her to explore and compare to the one we had known so far. Some things change, some are oh so much alike. It's SO hard to review this part of the story without spoilers, but what I can say is, your enjoyment of Phantom may depend on to what extent you're capable to suspend disbelief, unless the illusion that the title openly references has, indeed, a life of sorts (which I suspect is the case, given the multiple references to "the abyss" as if it were a place that could generate something more solid than a simple hallucination). It still poses a few practical problems, but like Sita with her predicament, we probably aren't to examine the story that closely, or it will blow in our face 😉. Still, even before I formulated my crazy (ingenious?) theory about what goes on in Phantom, I was invested in the story, and a certain part before the very end broke my heart. [...]
Whole review here.
November 5, 2014
The Last Vampire 4: Phantom by is a dark and twisted book. The Book starts out in one place and by the time I was done reading it I landing in a completely different place. This book was made to keep you guessing and looking around the corner, but all it did for me was make me confused and bored. It was filled with chaos and questions. I had started to like the book but after a while I couldn't follow it and at the end I was left disappointed.
My book The Last Vampire 4: Phantom is about a woman named Sita that was a vampire and has now been changed into a human. She need to now reteach herself to be human again. One night she is at a cafe and a man sits down at her booth. To her surprise it is a man Ray that she thought was died. He was a lover from her past. They fell back in love like they had never been apart. One day Sita found out she was pregnant and was overjoyed. This didn't last forever though, the baby was growing at hyperspeed rate. They didn't think this to be possible because neither of them were vampires anymore. The baby was born a “vampire demon”. It had a thirst for blood. Everything after that went down hill. Her life had spun out of control.
My book is like the “Vampire Diaries” that play on tv now. We have always wanted to know if Vampires and demons were real. The present day has advanced and came out of this fear and questioning state because it is not relevant anymore.
The Last Vampire 4: Phantom is a boring and uneventful book. If you are looking for a book try a different shelf because this book will leave you depressed and confused. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you had nothing else to read.
My book The Last Vampire 4: Phantom is about a woman named Sita that was a vampire and has now been changed into a human. She need to now reteach herself to be human again. One night she is at a cafe and a man sits down at her booth. To her surprise it is a man Ray that she thought was died. He was a lover from her past. They fell back in love like they had never been apart. One day Sita found out she was pregnant and was overjoyed. This didn't last forever though, the baby was growing at hyperspeed rate. They didn't think this to be possible because neither of them were vampires anymore. The baby was born a “vampire demon”. It had a thirst for blood. Everything after that went down hill. Her life had spun out of control.
My book is like the “Vampire Diaries” that play on tv now. We have always wanted to know if Vampires and demons were real. The present day has advanced and came out of this fear and questioning state because it is not relevant anymore.
The Last Vampire 4: Phantom is a boring and uneventful book. If you are looking for a book try a different shelf because this book will leave you depressed and confused. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you had nothing else to read.
December 4, 2011
Yeah, I gave this 3 stars. What about it?
This time, our friend crazy demon hand is using a sharp and dirty-looking nail to pierce some wrist flesh. And underneath the title is this text, "The monster might be an angel." Haha, what? I don't know either. So dramatic, though.
Okay, so Pike left off Book 3 with a humdinger of an ending--Sita/Alisa turned herself back into a human. Ruh-roh--what sort of adventures will she have now, you wonder. The kind of adventures where she has a demon baby, of course! Sita has always missed her husband and baby girl from 5,000 years ago so as soon as she is human, she hooks up with old boyfriend Ray (not dead after all!) and goes through the fastest pregnancy ever. She also befriends a lady who is also pregnant, but while Sita's baby Kalika drinks blood and seems to have no soul, her new friend Paula just might have given birth to...a reincarnated Krishna(/Jesus). Totally not important, but it turns out that Ray is dead after all, it's just his ghost hanging around (good! I hated that guy). And oh yeah, Sita has to protect baby Krishna/Jesus from her own evil daughter by becoming a vampire again (she found some more Yaksha blood)! And also has to protect her dear friend Seymour! Who gets stabbed by Kalika and Sita doesn't even think she can fix him. Until she gives him the blood of Krishna/Jesus baby. Hurray, Seymour's alive and Ray's dead!
OMG, I'm not even worried about putting a spoiler alert in here because none of that made any sense.
This time, our friend crazy demon hand is using a sharp and dirty-looking nail to pierce some wrist flesh. And underneath the title is this text, "The monster might be an angel." Haha, what? I don't know either. So dramatic, though.
Okay, so Pike left off Book 3 with a humdinger of an ending--Sita/Alisa turned herself back into a human. Ruh-roh--what sort of adventures will she have now, you wonder. The kind of adventures where she has a demon baby, of course! Sita has always missed her husband and baby girl from 5,000 years ago so as soon as she is human, she hooks up with old boyfriend Ray (not dead after all!) and goes through the fastest pregnancy ever. She also befriends a lady who is also pregnant, but while Sita's baby Kalika drinks blood and seems to have no soul, her new friend Paula just might have given birth to...a reincarnated Krishna(/Jesus). Totally not important, but it turns out that Ray is dead after all, it's just his ghost hanging around (good! I hated that guy). And oh yeah, Sita has to protect baby Krishna/Jesus from her own evil daughter by becoming a vampire again (she found some more Yaksha blood)! And also has to protect her dear friend Seymour! Who gets stabbed by Kalika and Sita doesn't even think she can fix him. Until she gives him the blood of Krishna/Jesus baby. Hurray, Seymour's alive and Ray's dead!
OMG, I'm not even worried about putting a spoiler alert in here because none of that made any sense.
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