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Thirst #3
The Eternal Dawn
Alisa has spent the past five thousand years as a vampire, living alone and fighting for survival. In her loneliness, Alisa cannot resist bringing Teri—a descendant of her human family—into her life. But Alisa is surrounded by death and destruction, and just by knowing Alisa, Teri’s life is at risk.
Alisa’s guilt grows when she becomes involved in a dangerous conspiracy. A top-secret group knows Alisa’s secret and will stop at nothing to use her powers for their cause. As Alisa desperately tries to protect herself and Teri from the unknown enemy, she discovers a force more powerful and more lethal than anything she has ever seen. Alisa doesn’t know who to trust, who to challenge, or who she will become….
Alisa’s guilt grows when she becomes involved in a dangerous conspiracy. A top-secret group knows Alisa’s secret and will stop at nothing to use her powers for their cause. As Alisa desperately tries to protect herself and Teri from the unknown enemy, she discovers a force more powerful and more lethal than anything she has ever seen. Alisa doesn’t know who to trust, who to challenge, or who she will become….
478 pages, Paperback
First published October 5, 2010
251 people are currently reading
13698 people want to read
About the author
Christopher Pike
261 books5,466 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 450 reviews
January 26, 2011
i need to write an actual lj post about this, because WHAT THE FUCKING SHIT, CHRISTOPHER PIKE? but i'll try to write a real review first.
1. he doesn't explain how the fuck there can be a sequel until 100 pages in. this might not be a big deal, except the original series literally ends with vampires having never existed, so i spent the first hundred pages trying to figure out what year it was and how much of canon was being ignored.
2. my boyfriend's writing has not really improved, which i wouldn't care about if his plots were still awesome. spoilers: they are kind of crazy, but not in the fun way.
2b. how dare you tease me with a story-within-the-story that WE NEVER GET TO SEE?
3. at one point, a friendly group of dolphins tow sita through the english channel so she can catch up to a ferry that the bad guy is escaping on. i know. I KNOW.
4. if i thought pike was a better writer, we could have an interesting discussion on how the characters have changed, and how that's the difference between the narrators (the original series was narrated by seymour, this was narrated by sita), but i don't have that much faith in him. HE TURNED SEYMOUR INTO A DOUCHEBAGGY SMOKER. not on, pike.
5. worst ending ever. EVER. holy shit, i do mean that literally. i have been okay with a lot of things in these books: aliens, lizard people, jesus 2.0, time travel, half-vampires, alchemy, people coming back from the dead, magic flutes, lasers, psychics, the shit about the olympics in this one, those friendly dolphins, that time the moonlight gave sita ~*magic powers*~... but i am drawing the line at her coming back in someone else's body. i mean, FOR REAL, MR. PIKE, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR.
1. he doesn't explain how the fuck there can be a sequel until 100 pages in. this might not be a big deal, except the original series literally ends with vampires having never existed, so i spent the first hundred pages trying to figure out what year it was and how much of canon was being ignored.
2. my boyfriend's writing has not really improved, which i wouldn't care about if his plots were still awesome. spoilers: they are kind of crazy, but not in the fun way.
2b. how dare you tease me with a story-within-the-story that WE NEVER GET TO SEE?
3. at one point, a friendly group of dolphins tow sita through the english channel so she can catch up to a ferry that the bad guy is escaping on. i know. I KNOW.
4. if i thought pike was a better writer, we could have an interesting discussion on how the characters have changed, and how that's the difference between the narrators (the original series was narrated by seymour, this was narrated by sita), but i don't have that much faith in him. HE TURNED SEYMOUR INTO A DOUCHEBAGGY SMOKER. not on, pike.
5. worst ending ever. EVER. holy shit, i do mean that literally. i have been okay with a lot of things in these books: aliens, lizard people, jesus 2.0, time travel, half-vampires, alchemy, people coming back from the dead, magic flutes, lasers, psychics, the shit about the olympics in this one, those friendly dolphins, that time the moonlight gave sita ~*magic powers*~... but i am drawing the line at her coming back in someone else's body. i mean, FOR REAL, MR. PIKE, YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR.
October 9, 2010
Christopher Pike's The Last Vampire series was one of my favorite things to read as a youngster. I purchased each book as it hit the shelves and devoured them gleefully. I was so terribly unhappy that the series ended in The Last Vampire: Creatures of Forever. That said, however, the ending of that book, the end of the series, was perfect. All the loose ends were tied up into a nice little bow. All questions answered. It was over.
Imagine my surprise (and from what I've seen by poking around the internet, the surprise of many) when I saw that there was going to be a 7th book. What? But Sita's story was over! Done! Finished! We, her devoted fans, knew precisely what happened, we knew her story, we knew the truth, we'd read THE END. Boy were we fooled.
Like many others I wondered how, after such a solid ending to the series, Christopher Pike could bring Sita back into the limelight. I imagined it would be stunningly brilliant, written eloquently and beautifully...the story would flow from the pages into my brain and I would sigh in utter bliss.
Yeah, no.
By the end of Chapter 2, I was so thoroughly and completely disgusted with the blatantly SILLY way that he brought her story back into play that I had to place my bookmark on the page, close the book, and walk away. It was that, or fly to Christopher Pike's house and ask him very plainly, "What were you THINKING?". And where was his EDITOR? Seriously?
Of course, it's -Sita-, man. You have to find out what happens to her, you have to see. After a day or two, when my level of rage over the absolutely insanely boring way he explained things, I picked up the book again.
Boy am I glad I did. I know that not everything Christopher Pike writes is a masterpiece. He's not the most brilliant author, at times his writing is choppy and he is repetitive in a way that makes me grit my teeth, but the story - ah the story! By the end of Chapter 3 I was hooked. I forgot, since it's been nearly a decade since I've read a Christopher Pike novel, that sometimes he starts slow. But then the flow happens and you're drawn into the tightly woven story that keeps you snugged tightly in its arms until it darn well chooses to release you. For me, that was at the very last page, the whispered words that sealed that particular portion of the novel also assured that I will be anxiously awaiting, and pre-ordering, Thirst No. 4. Yes, people, there's another coming. Summer of 2011, it says. Read stories 1 - 6 (or Thirst No 1 and Thirst No 2), Read Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn. Sita dazzles, but not in that sparkly glittery craptastic way that Dear Eddie does...I promise you'll be enchanted.
Imagine my surprise (and from what I've seen by poking around the internet, the surprise of many) when I saw that there was going to be a 7th book. What? But Sita's story was over! Done! Finished! We, her devoted fans, knew precisely what happened, we knew her story, we knew the truth, we'd read THE END. Boy were we fooled.
Like many others I wondered how, after such a solid ending to the series, Christopher Pike could bring Sita back into the limelight. I imagined it would be stunningly brilliant, written eloquently and beautifully...the story would flow from the pages into my brain and I would sigh in utter bliss.
Yeah, no.
By the end of Chapter 2, I was so thoroughly and completely disgusted with the blatantly SILLY way that he brought her story back into play that I had to place my bookmark on the page, close the book, and walk away. It was that, or fly to Christopher Pike's house and ask him very plainly, "What were you THINKING?". And where was his EDITOR? Seriously?
Of course, it's -Sita-, man. You have to find out what happens to her, you have to see. After a day or two, when my level of rage over the absolutely insanely boring way he explained things, I picked up the book again.
Boy am I glad I did. I know that not everything Christopher Pike writes is a masterpiece. He's not the most brilliant author, at times his writing is choppy and he is repetitive in a way that makes me grit my teeth, but the story - ah the story! By the end of Chapter 3 I was hooked. I forgot, since it's been nearly a decade since I've read a Christopher Pike novel, that sometimes he starts slow. But then the flow happens and you're drawn into the tightly woven story that keeps you snugged tightly in its arms until it darn well chooses to release you. For me, that was at the very last page, the whispered words that sealed that particular portion of the novel also assured that I will be anxiously awaiting, and pre-ordering, Thirst No. 4. Yes, people, there's another coming. Summer of 2011, it says. Read stories 1 - 6 (or Thirst No 1 and Thirst No 2), Read Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn. Sita dazzles, but not in that sparkly glittery craptastic way that Dear Eddie does...I promise you'll be enchanted.
November 15, 2010
So did the last book just not happen and she's a vampire again? Or what? I don't understand how there can be a volume 3
July 12, 2011
WOAH!! Christopher Pike has PLAYED WITH YOUR MIND!!!! In Thirst 3 you find that the fun has NOT stopped!! Sita is still around!! So is Seymour, and sooooo much else!! You learn more about her maker, Yaksha, her descendent Teri, and just so much else!! I LOVED this book!! I want more!! It was too good for words!! It had you on the edge of your seat from the very beginning and left you CRAVING more just like he did in his other thirst novels!! I cannot WAIT to read the next one, it is like a physical NEED after the CLIFFHANGER from DOOM he left you with last time!!!!
June 14, 2015
I wasn't originally planning on reviewing this book, but I have a lot to say about it. Seeing as it's 2a.m. and I just spent the last 2-3 hours finishing this book, I'm going to go seethe about some things for a bit and write tomorrow when I have simmered down.
**UPDATE**
If you are reading this, I sincerely hope it is because you have already read Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice, Thirst No. 2: Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever, and Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn. There is really no way for me to say what I want to say without giving some serious spoilers, so if I were you, I would turn back and return once you have read ALL of the Thirst books published so far. Yes, yes, I know--the purpose of reviews is to determine whether or not you want to read a book or not based on someone's opinion who has already read it. Well, tough. I'm taking a different approach this time. 99% of my reviews are spoiler-free, but there is no way I can do that with this one since I need to refer back to previous books and since I really need to talk about this book, too.
So it has been, what? 16 years since Creatures of Forever was published and Sita altered the course of her life. We know that if she had the opportunity to do her life over, she would kill Yaksha when she had the chance so that she would never turn into a vampire and could live out her life peacefully with Rama and Lalita, the love of her life and her daughter. It was a bittersweet ending, because on one hand I LOVED Sita and wanted to read more about her, but because I loved her so much, this was the perfect ending. She saw a moment where she could slip back into her old life and she took it. No Yaksha. No living 5,000 years. Just living the life that was stolen from her.
Then Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn happens. And it is confusing. Sita is back, and she is a 5,000 year old vampire. But she's supposed to have died thousands of years ago! How can this be? It is eventually explained, but it takes slightly over 200 pages before the explanation is given. And I'm sorry, but I was not at all happy with it. Everything I have ever thought about Sita is basically a lie. I know that Sita did not narrate the first 6 books in this series; Seymour wrote them from Sita's point of view. This is clearly explained at the end of Creatures of Forever. But where I start to get upset is when Sita tells us that she NEVER EVEN MET SEYMOUR. What, you say? Yes. She never met Seymour. She had a psychic link with Seymour, and told him her story, which he wrote down and never published. So every time that she has a conversation with Seymour, that's all falsified. Seymour inserted himself into the Sita stories. So Seymour never became a vampire. It's safe to say he probably never knew Ray. And he never received Sita's blood, which cured him of AIDs.
16 years later, Seymour is still alive thanks to a cocktail of 26 different pills that he has to take every day. Really? We've advanced that far with AIDs medicine? He is still pale and skinny, but otherwise seems fairly healthy. Sita goes and finds him, and he is just not the Seymour that we all know and love from the first 6 books. Seymour smokes (umm, really, should he be smoking when he's sick?) and really doesn't seem like that nice, warm, gooey sweet guy that we were introduced to and thought we knew. So now Seymour knows that Sita is a real person.
Now back to Sita. I loved her "voice" in the first 6 books. In this book, she did not even feel like the same character. I know that 6 books about a 5,000 year old character isn't that much page space for someone of that age, but I feel like if Pike was going to write more Sita stories, then everything that happened in Thirst no. 3 should have to be set up in the previous books. Shouldn't it have been mentioned that Sita kept track of her human descendants? This book makes such a big deal about Sita checking in on her living relatives from time to time, even meeting them when she was feeling lonely. Then there's phrases that she says in here, word choices that I just don't feel that she would have said, based on the character we met in the first books. I should have written some of them down, but I just really wanted to get through this.
There always seems to be some boyfriend stealing going on in Pike novels. Sita stole Ray from Pat. And now it looked like Sita was going to steal Matt from Teri, whom she calls her daughter. What a nice mother you are, Sita! Conveniently, now Sita can have him since apparently Teri is dead and Sita is living in her body? Except I'm confused. When John took her hands, did he make her a human, or just stick Sita in Teri's body? And WHY? I don't get it.
Pike also seems to borrow from other books he's written, too. There was some body switching in The Lost Mind and Seymour is kind of like Pike himself (a reclusive, mysterious, bizarre author) and also Marvin from Master of Murder. No Ann references in this book that I caught, though. Did anyone else?
I have been waiting for 16 years for this book that I wish never happened. I loved how Creatures of Forever ended, even if poor Seymour looked like he was going to die. It feels like Pike wrote Thirst no. 3 recently, and didn't re-read his earlier stories so he could really think about what Sita might say and do in a situation. And how could she not figure out there was something up with Matt? I had a feeling he knew more about her than he was letting on. OH!!!! And speaking of Matt...Yaksha's SON????? Another thing that I feel should have been hinted at in earlier books if Pike intended to one day publish more about Sita. Sita is SO emotional in this book. The way that she verbally fights with Matt? I don't think she ever would have had that kind of conversation before.
And Yaksha...Sita says in this book that she was once his lover. I never at all got that impression in the earlier books. I thought she had feelings for Yaksha, but never that she reciprocated his love exactly. Their relationship was complicated. I think she felt connected to him because he was her creator, but never that she loved him or wanted his child. In one section of the book she says she is jealous that she never got to have Yaksha's child. Um, what? NO! Yuck, yuck, yuck. This book almost makes Yaksha a likable character, and I never never never liked him in the first 6 books.
Agree or disagree with me, I really don't care. I have re-read the first books over the past 16 years several times, and feel I know these characters inside out. But not anymore, because the rules were all rewritten. Doesn't that piss anyone else off? I am truly amazed by how many 4 and 5 star reviews this book has. I guess I can understand that if you guys didn't read the books when they were first published, and only discovered them in their shiny new omnibus editions. But if you were a fan of these books 16 years ago, I'd really hope you're upset. Otherwise, I'm slightly gonna question whether you understood what you read all those years ago.
**UPDATE**
If you are reading this, I sincerely hope it is because you have already read Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice, Thirst No. 2: Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever, and Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn. There is really no way for me to say what I want to say without giving some serious spoilers, so if I were you, I would turn back and return once you have read ALL of the Thirst books published so far. Yes, yes, I know--the purpose of reviews is to determine whether or not you want to read a book or not based on someone's opinion who has already read it. Well, tough. I'm taking a different approach this time. 99% of my reviews are spoiler-free, but there is no way I can do that with this one since I need to refer back to previous books and since I really need to talk about this book, too.
So it has been, what? 16 years since Creatures of Forever was published and Sita altered the course of her life. We know that if she had the opportunity to do her life over, she would kill Yaksha when she had the chance so that she would never turn into a vampire and could live out her life peacefully with Rama and Lalita, the love of her life and her daughter. It was a bittersweet ending, because on one hand I LOVED Sita and wanted to read more about her, but because I loved her so much, this was the perfect ending. She saw a moment where she could slip back into her old life and she took it. No Yaksha. No living 5,000 years. Just living the life that was stolen from her.
Then Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn happens. And it is confusing. Sita is back, and she is a 5,000 year old vampire. But she's supposed to have died thousands of years ago! How can this be? It is eventually explained, but it takes slightly over 200 pages before the explanation is given. And I'm sorry, but I was not at all happy with it. Everything I have ever thought about Sita is basically a lie. I know that Sita did not narrate the first 6 books in this series; Seymour wrote them from Sita's point of view. This is clearly explained at the end of Creatures of Forever. But where I start to get upset is when Sita tells us that she NEVER EVEN MET SEYMOUR. What, you say? Yes. She never met Seymour. She had a psychic link with Seymour, and told him her story, which he wrote down and never published. So every time that she has a conversation with Seymour, that's all falsified. Seymour inserted himself into the Sita stories. So Seymour never became a vampire. It's safe to say he probably never knew Ray. And he never received Sita's blood, which cured him of AIDs.
16 years later, Seymour is still alive thanks to a cocktail of 26 different pills that he has to take every day. Really? We've advanced that far with AIDs medicine? He is still pale and skinny, but otherwise seems fairly healthy. Sita goes and finds him, and he is just not the Seymour that we all know and love from the first 6 books. Seymour smokes (umm, really, should he be smoking when he's sick?) and really doesn't seem like that nice, warm, gooey sweet guy that we were introduced to and thought we knew. So now Seymour knows that Sita is a real person.
Now back to Sita. I loved her "voice" in the first 6 books. In this book, she did not even feel like the same character. I know that 6 books about a 5,000 year old character isn't that much page space for someone of that age, but I feel like if Pike was going to write more Sita stories, then everything that happened in Thirst no. 3 should have to be set up in the previous books. Shouldn't it have been mentioned that Sita kept track of her human descendants? This book makes such a big deal about Sita checking in on her living relatives from time to time, even meeting them when she was feeling lonely. Then there's phrases that she says in here, word choices that I just don't feel that she would have said, based on the character we met in the first books. I should have written some of them down, but I just really wanted to get through this.
There always seems to be some boyfriend stealing going on in Pike novels. Sita stole Ray from Pat. And now it looked like Sita was going to steal Matt from Teri, whom she calls her daughter. What a nice mother you are, Sita! Conveniently, now Sita can have him since apparently Teri is dead and Sita is living in her body? Except I'm confused. When John took her hands, did he make her a human, or just stick Sita in Teri's body? And WHY? I don't get it.
Pike also seems to borrow from other books he's written, too. There was some body switching in The Lost Mind and Seymour is kind of like Pike himself (a reclusive, mysterious, bizarre author) and also Marvin from Master of Murder. No Ann references in this book that I caught, though. Did anyone else?
I have been waiting for 16 years for this book that I wish never happened. I loved how Creatures of Forever ended, even if poor Seymour looked like he was going to die. It feels like Pike wrote Thirst no. 3 recently, and didn't re-read his earlier stories so he could really think about what Sita might say and do in a situation. And how could she not figure out there was something up with Matt? I had a feeling he knew more about her than he was letting on. OH!!!! And speaking of Matt...Yaksha's SON????? Another thing that I feel should have been hinted at in earlier books if Pike intended to one day publish more about Sita. Sita is SO emotional in this book. The way that she verbally fights with Matt? I don't think she ever would have had that kind of conversation before.
And Yaksha...Sita says in this book that she was once his lover. I never at all got that impression in the earlier books. I thought she had feelings for Yaksha, but never that she reciprocated his love exactly. Their relationship was complicated. I think she felt connected to him because he was her creator, but never that she loved him or wanted his child. In one section of the book she says she is jealous that she never got to have Yaksha's child. Um, what? NO! Yuck, yuck, yuck. This book almost makes Yaksha a likable character, and I never never never liked him in the first 6 books.
Agree or disagree with me, I really don't care. I have re-read the first books over the past 16 years several times, and feel I know these characters inside out. But not anymore, because the rules were all rewritten. Doesn't that piss anyone else off? I am truly amazed by how many 4 and 5 star reviews this book has. I guess I can understand that if you guys didn't read the books when they were first published, and only discovered them in their shiny new omnibus editions. But if you were a fan of these books 16 years ago, I'd really hope you're upset. Otherwise, I'm slightly gonna question whether you understood what you read all those years ago.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2021
I admire how adroitly Pike shook off the neat bow he previously wrapped this series in. Pike wove a highly believable and creative ruse to get out of this. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised - this should be peanuts to anyone who can imbue his heroine with the necessary cunning to survive the considerable scrapes he put her through.
The events here occur fifteen years after the conclusion of the previous book. If you haven't read the prequels then do yourself a favor and gobble those up before digging into this. While they are not exactly necessary to make a coherent story out of this one, the context they provide will guarantee that you'll enjoy it more. They're also better reads than this book, though that's like saying rich truffle torte is better than dark chocolate. All three are mucho satisfying.
Here, we get to be acquainted with new characters who are likable enough, but are just not as fun as the old gang. The latter are still here of course, but I miss the parts when Sita was more or less a lone wolf figure, relying only on Seymour for tactical advice and Krishna for spiritual guidance. Right now, she is facing two monolithic institutions who can't decide whether to strong-arm her into joining their side or simply dispatching her, so I guess she will need all of the support she can get.
The distractions from the main story are quite puzzling though. I mean, delaying Sita's looming confrontation with the Telars by segueing into Teri's Olympic venture seems quite unnecessary, though it does move the action forward.
It also seems strange that in this series, male vampires can beget children but female ones are always barren. I think the first point was introduced only in this book while the second has been established since the very first. Maybe the author just wants to be consistent?
One thing that I found very interesting are the plots of the stories that Alisa authored (!). That he made them win the Hugo and Nebula awards were pure chutzpah on Pike's part. They are somehow reminiscent of the pieces in his Tales of Terror anthologies.
I take back some of my religious criticisms in the previous book. Here, even if Sita sometimes surmises that Krishna and Jesus may be reincarnations of the same person, she's not 100% certain of it even though that idea was confirmed by the Suzama texts. She also states time and again that she isn't even sure if Krishna is God, so I guess those with Christian leanings won't fault it with blasphemy now. For what it's worth, Pike has a very positive view of the Catholic faith and especially of Jesus.
But really: that ending was just whack. Ugh. It's a good thing that the blurb of the next book was able to block any spoilers, though I still plain dislike it. I guess we should just see how Pike would run with it.
I was initially wary of this series revival because I thought that the original Last Vampire sextet already did a bang-up job in closing Sita's story. This is a step in the right direction though, and I can't wait to read the rest. I feel like we have barely scratched the surface here.
7/10; 3 stars.
The events here occur fifteen years after the conclusion of the previous book. If you haven't read the prequels then do yourself a favor and gobble those up before digging into this. While they are not exactly necessary to make a coherent story out of this one, the context they provide will guarantee that you'll enjoy it more. They're also better reads than this book, though that's like saying rich truffle torte is better than dark chocolate. All three are mucho satisfying.
Here, we get to be acquainted with new characters who are likable enough, but are just not as fun as the old gang. The latter are still here of course, but I miss the parts when Sita was more or less a lone wolf figure, relying only on Seymour for tactical advice and Krishna for spiritual guidance. Right now, she is facing two monolithic institutions who can't decide whether to strong-arm her into joining their side or simply dispatching her, so I guess she will need all of the support she can get.
The distractions from the main story are quite puzzling though. I mean, delaying Sita's looming confrontation with the Telars by segueing into Teri's Olympic venture seems quite unnecessary, though it does move the action forward.
It also seems strange that in this series, male vampires can beget children but female ones are always barren. I think the first point was introduced only in this book while the second has been established since the very first. Maybe the author just wants to be consistent?
One thing that I found very interesting are the plots of the stories that Alisa authored (!). That he made them win the Hugo and Nebula awards were pure chutzpah on Pike's part. They are somehow reminiscent of the pieces in his Tales of Terror anthologies.
I take back some of my religious criticisms in the previous book. Here, even if Sita sometimes surmises that Krishna and Jesus may be reincarnations of the same person, she's not 100% certain of it even though that idea was confirmed by the Suzama texts. She also states time and again that she isn't even sure if Krishna is God, so I guess those with Christian leanings won't fault it with blasphemy now. For what it's worth, Pike has a very positive view of the Catholic faith and especially of Jesus.
But really: that ending was just whack. Ugh. It's a good thing that the blurb of the next book was able to block any spoilers, though I still plain dislike it. I guess we should just see how Pike would run with it.
I was initially wary of this series revival because I thought that the original Last Vampire sextet already did a bang-up job in closing Sita's story. This is a step in the right direction though, and I can't wait to read the rest. I feel like we have barely scratched the surface here.
7/10; 3 stars.
October 31, 2010
"The Last Vampire 7: The Eternal Dawn"
Even after a decade, I love that Pike was still able to capture the spirit of the series.
When I found out that "The Last Vampire" series was being re-released as "Thirst" I just had to reread the series from the start. My big concern was getting through "The Last Vampire 6: Creatures of Forever" again. It had always felt forced to me--like Pike was told he had to conclude the series and move on--or that someone else had written it, except for the epilogue. But then one has to admit that the last book in the series supposedly closed off any continuation of the story in a very final way (even for a vampire story).
After over a decade long absence of Sita's story, I'm relieved that she is still the same character many of us have grown to love over the years. The story picks up 15 years after the conclusion of the last book and this time we are treated to a completely new and engrossing tale following Sita and her friends. To those of you baffled on how there could possibly be a new story, when the last one tied all the loose ends up and ended so well, you will be pleasantly surprised how well Pike is able to continue the series. The characters feel very consistent with the previous books (this is something a lot of authors seem to have problems with when revisiting old characters).
To bring some interest to the story, Pike has to invent even more lethal enemies than the ones in the previous books--and in most authors' hands the power level would have been ludicrous. However I feel Pike pulls this off without any problems whatsoever, and just like in the previous books Alisa/Sita is both hunter and the hunted.
Pike has fleshed out this character more than I ever thought was possible. I love Sita for her toughness. I love her for her ability to love. I love how she can boast so easily about herself, yet it does not come off as bragging, it is just fact. She may just be the most interesting and amazing character out there. She is not perfect, she makes tons of mistakes and we love that about her.
"Thirst: Volume 3 (The Eternal Dawn)" is not without its flaws but they are far and few in between. Pike is known for his amazing plot twists and surprises and this time around he does not disappoint. It ends with a shocking twist and a cliffhanger that's left me haunted.
Whether you are a fan of this author or not, the majority of the audience will have a very hard time waiting in anticipation for the follow up, "Thirst No. 4."
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title Thirst: Volume 3 (The Eternal Dawn)
Author Christopher Pike
Reviewed By Purplycookie
Even after a decade, I love that Pike was still able to capture the spirit of the series.
When I found out that "The Last Vampire" series was being re-released as "Thirst" I just had to reread the series from the start. My big concern was getting through "The Last Vampire 6: Creatures of Forever" again. It had always felt forced to me--like Pike was told he had to conclude the series and move on--or that someone else had written it, except for the epilogue. But then one has to admit that the last book in the series supposedly closed off any continuation of the story in a very final way (even for a vampire story).
After over a decade long absence of Sita's story, I'm relieved that she is still the same character many of us have grown to love over the years. The story picks up 15 years after the conclusion of the last book and this time we are treated to a completely new and engrossing tale following Sita and her friends. To those of you baffled on how there could possibly be a new story, when the last one tied all the loose ends up and ended so well, you will be pleasantly surprised how well Pike is able to continue the series. The characters feel very consistent with the previous books (this is something a lot of authors seem to have problems with when revisiting old characters).
To bring some interest to the story, Pike has to invent even more lethal enemies than the ones in the previous books--and in most authors' hands the power level would have been ludicrous. However I feel Pike pulls this off without any problems whatsoever, and just like in the previous books Alisa/Sita is both hunter and the hunted.
Pike has fleshed out this character more than I ever thought was possible. I love Sita for her toughness. I love her for her ability to love. I love how she can boast so easily about herself, yet it does not come off as bragging, it is just fact. She may just be the most interesting and amazing character out there. She is not perfect, she makes tons of mistakes and we love that about her.
"Thirst: Volume 3 (The Eternal Dawn)" is not without its flaws but they are far and few in between. Pike is known for his amazing plot twists and surprises and this time around he does not disappoint. It ends with a shocking twist and a cliffhanger that's left me haunted.
Whether you are a fan of this author or not, the majority of the audience will have a very hard time waiting in anticipation for the follow up, "Thirst No. 4."
More of Purplycookie’s Reviews @: http://www.goodreads.com/purplycookie
Book Details:
Title Thirst: Volume 3 (The Eternal Dawn)
Author Christopher Pike
Reviewed By Purplycookie
February 1, 2019
Another lovely buddy read with Roberta from Offbeat YA. I don’t remember how I felt when I learned that Pike had decided to continue Sita’s story nearly fifteen years after the end of the series. He’s written that it never felt like her story was over, and fans of the series will have to agree. As proven by some of the more ridiculous things I love, I will continue to read a series (or watch a TV show) long after it has devolved into silliness for love of the characters. (Fortunately, that’s not the case here.) There are spoilers ahead for The Last Vampire 1-6 (or Thirst 1-2, as they’ve been repackaged). Trigger warnings: death, violence, blood, torture, gore, body horror.
Fifteen years after the events of Creatures of Forever, Sita is still alive and well. She’s on the verge of introducing herself to a descendant of her five-thousand-year lineage, a college student named Teri with Olympic aspirations. But Sita’s life has always been dangerous, and bringing Teri and Teri’s boyfriend, Matt, into her life will put them at risk. Almost at the same time, two terrifying new threats enter into her life. One has a long, secretive, and bloody history, and the other is one of the most quietly wealthy companies in the world with a horrifying power at their disposal. Both want Sita’s unique talents for their own–or they want her dead, along with everyone she loves.
The struggle is real to write a description of this book, much less gather my thoughts into something coherent on it. Given that it’s more than twice the size of The Last Vampire novels, it has a lot more going on. The plot is more sophisticated and less straightforward than any TLV novel yet, and it doesn’t come anywhere close to resolving in this book. There are many, many questions left unanswered at the end, even without the major cliffhanger. As Roberta pointed out, it’s more like Thirst 3 and 4 are one long, consecutive novel, and I’m having difficulty not critiquing it from what I know happens later. But here we go.
People who have read Creatures of Forever are probably wondering how he managed to go back on that ending. Sita erases vampires from history and lives out her human life, and Pike has a lot of work to do to unravel that conclusion. We know from the epilogue that it was Seymour narrating those stories, not Sita herself, so in the context of the Thirst-verse (I’m calling it that), the TLV-verse was the novels he wrote and not what actually happened. To Roberta’s dismay and mine, this erases Seymour from the first six books, as he’s never met Sita until now. It’s far from elegant, and any inconsistencies between Thirst 3 and the TLV-verse are frustratingly explained away as Seymour’s artistic license. You could make yourself crazy trying to fill in all those gaps (we know because we tried), so it’s probably best to blue-pencil that from awareness as you’re reading. It’s not a strategy I care for, but I’m willing to overlook it in the interest of continuing her story.
Sita is still a strong, flawed, and lovable heroine. Her arrogance and impatience continue to get her into trouble, both with her adversaries and her friends, but it’s nice to see that she’s mostly consistent from the previous books. Seymour is older, a reclusive published novelist in his twenties, which only reinforces the feeling that Seymour is a mix of Sita’s fans and Pike himself. Their meeting scene is both funny and heart-warming. I love this version of Seymour even more because he never fails to call Sita on her bullshit. We’re also granted some insight into Yaksha’s past, and that’s a character I’ve been eager to return to since the first book. Shanti is sweet and loving; she’s probably my favorite of the new characters. Teri and Sita don’t share enough page time to really develop their relationship, and I’m far from Matt’s biggest fan. He’s brooding, overbearing, and sometimes childish, and I’d be just as happy if he weren’t in the novel at all for a number of reasons.
The plot is complex, since Pike is introducing two new threats. They’re both major organizations, albeit on different levels, and they’re more formidable than anything Sita has faced in the past. I typically don’t go in for conspiracy-type plots, but as usual, it feels totally plausible in Pike’s capable hands. The stakes are so high that the plot relies on several dei ex machina to get Sita out of various fixes, which isn’t entirely inconsistent with the rest of the series. It’s always had a strong note of Eastern mythology, and Krishna has played a vital role from the beginning; however, it’s a little more direct interference than we’re used to.
More difficult to accept is the fact that Sita needs legitimate saving at one point in the novel for the first time ever. This would be fine–she’s always had help in the past, even if she had to do most of the actual saving herself–except that her savior is a mysterious male character who proceeds to overshadow her for the rest of the book. Sita’s always been one of the strongest heroines I’ve ever read, yet she’s here deferring authority to this random dude (okay, maybe not entirely random) in her own book. Pike is usually great about writing awesome female characters, but combining this with some of Seymour’s comments in the epilogue (however joking they may be), there’s a thread of underlying sexism. Thirst 3 is enjoyable, action-packed, and bloody, and it has probably the most ambitious plot so far in the series. It’s also messy and flawed, and I can’t entirely reconcile my feelings about it. It doesn’t quite live up to the original books, but fingers crossed that things come together better in the next installment.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
Fifteen years after the events of Creatures of Forever, Sita is still alive and well. She’s on the verge of introducing herself to a descendant of her five-thousand-year lineage, a college student named Teri with Olympic aspirations. But Sita’s life has always been dangerous, and bringing Teri and Teri’s boyfriend, Matt, into her life will put them at risk. Almost at the same time, two terrifying new threats enter into her life. One has a long, secretive, and bloody history, and the other is one of the most quietly wealthy companies in the world with a horrifying power at their disposal. Both want Sita’s unique talents for their own–or they want her dead, along with everyone she loves.
The struggle is real to write a description of this book, much less gather my thoughts into something coherent on it. Given that it’s more than twice the size of The Last Vampire novels, it has a lot more going on. The plot is more sophisticated and less straightforward than any TLV novel yet, and it doesn’t come anywhere close to resolving in this book. There are many, many questions left unanswered at the end, even without the major cliffhanger. As Roberta pointed out, it’s more like Thirst 3 and 4 are one long, consecutive novel, and I’m having difficulty not critiquing it from what I know happens later. But here we go.
People who have read Creatures of Forever are probably wondering how he managed to go back on that ending. Sita erases vampires from history and lives out her human life, and Pike has a lot of work to do to unravel that conclusion. We know from the epilogue that it was Seymour narrating those stories, not Sita herself, so in the context of the Thirst-verse (I’m calling it that), the TLV-verse was the novels he wrote and not what actually happened. To Roberta’s dismay and mine, this erases Seymour from the first six books, as he’s never met Sita until now. It’s far from elegant, and any inconsistencies between Thirst 3 and the TLV-verse are frustratingly explained away as Seymour’s artistic license. You could make yourself crazy trying to fill in all those gaps (we know because we tried), so it’s probably best to blue-pencil that from awareness as you’re reading. It’s not a strategy I care for, but I’m willing to overlook it in the interest of continuing her story.
Sita is still a strong, flawed, and lovable heroine. Her arrogance and impatience continue to get her into trouble, both with her adversaries and her friends, but it’s nice to see that she’s mostly consistent from the previous books. Seymour is older, a reclusive published novelist in his twenties, which only reinforces the feeling that Seymour is a mix of Sita’s fans and Pike himself. Their meeting scene is both funny and heart-warming. I love this version of Seymour even more because he never fails to call Sita on her bullshit. We’re also granted some insight into Yaksha’s past, and that’s a character I’ve been eager to return to since the first book. Shanti is sweet and loving; she’s probably my favorite of the new characters. Teri and Sita don’t share enough page time to really develop their relationship, and I’m far from Matt’s biggest fan. He’s brooding, overbearing, and sometimes childish, and I’d be just as happy if he weren’t in the novel at all for a number of reasons.
The plot is complex, since Pike is introducing two new threats. They’re both major organizations, albeit on different levels, and they’re more formidable than anything Sita has faced in the past. I typically don’t go in for conspiracy-type plots, but as usual, it feels totally plausible in Pike’s capable hands. The stakes are so high that the plot relies on several dei ex machina to get Sita out of various fixes, which isn’t entirely inconsistent with the rest of the series. It’s always had a strong note of Eastern mythology, and Krishna has played a vital role from the beginning; however, it’s a little more direct interference than we’re used to.
More difficult to accept is the fact that Sita needs legitimate saving at one point in the novel for the first time ever. This would be fine–she’s always had help in the past, even if she had to do most of the actual saving herself–except that her savior is a mysterious male character who proceeds to overshadow her for the rest of the book. Sita’s always been one of the strongest heroines I’ve ever read, yet she’s here deferring authority to this random dude (okay, maybe not entirely random) in her own book. Pike is usually great about writing awesome female characters, but combining this with some of Seymour’s comments in the epilogue (however joking they may be), there’s a thread of underlying sexism. Thirst 3 is enjoyable, action-packed, and bloody, and it has probably the most ambitious plot so far in the series. It’s also messy and flawed, and I can’t entirely reconcile my feelings about it. It doesn’t quite live up to the original books, but fingers crossed that things come together better in the next installment.
I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.
July 15, 2025
This is Pike’s attempt to modernize the story after a long hiatus, and the dissonance is palpable. The tone tries to be more grounded, but ends up veering into awkward territory. Sita is now dealing with high schoolers, tech billionaires, and AI conspiracies. While the themes of eternal loneliness and identity remain strong, the plotting feels rushed, and the emotional beats don't hit as hard. There are flashes of brilliance—especially when Sita reflects on loss and faith—but it often feels like the soul of the story is buried beneath forced relevance.
July 29, 2019
3 ½ Stars
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!
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!
July 11, 2015
Am I the only one who forgets that they have a Goodreads, lol?
January 10, 2011
What. The. Heck? Seriously folks. That last book in the omnibus might as well have not even happened. And in this new book, it didn’t. It happened in Seymour’s writing. Apparently, from what I understood, Alisa has been telepathically linked to Seymour and giving him the idea for his books about her. Is this a cop-out? Yes! Gah, this drove me nuts the entire time I was reading it. And Seymour is a famous writer now, but sort of a recluse because he writes under different names, and has never revealed who he is. When this was brought up, I couldn’t help but think if Mr. Pike was poking fun at himself.
But anyway…Notice how her eye color is different in the covers. Here, her eyes are blue. Which I guess has some significance considering all the stuff that probably did not happen in the other books, but still did, in some weird way. And the plot! The plot! I couldn’t wrap my head around it because I just didn’t get it. It wasn’t as interesting as the other books, and it all leads to one thing… Alisa living, but in Teri’s body! So that is where Thirst #4 will pick up, which comes out this summer. Plus, this took me awhile to read, longer than I would have liked. At one point, I considered just stopping, which rarely happens.
There was also a really long and drawn-out scene where Alisa comes back to her place and has to save herself from someone who is trying to kill her. It felt like something that belonged in a Tom Clancy book. I just kept skimming it.
Oh and the big bad that Alisa was fighting? There were two of them. One which was some sort of government operation, and the other was a bunch of Immortals. Yep. Immortals. One of whom Alisa has a thing for….The question was: which big bad was the lesser of two evils? Well that remains to be seen.
I think I will still find myself reading the new book this summer, no matter what, despite all this negativity I feel towards this new book. I mean, I never read Pike when I was younger so I’m curious to know how die-hard Pike fans feel about this revitalization of the series and how they feel about these new books. Anyone? Because even I’m not too happy with it.
But despite all this, the one thing that really gets me interested in these books is Sita’s spirituality. The conversation never stops and it is rather enlightening. Yeah, we have vampires like Angel who try to do good because of all the bad they did, but Sita is a vampire who just takes it to another level. And I admire that in these books. So that is why I will most likely read Thirst #4.
But anyway…Notice how her eye color is different in the covers. Here, her eyes are blue. Which I guess has some significance considering all the stuff that probably did not happen in the other books, but still did, in some weird way. And the plot! The plot! I couldn’t wrap my head around it because I just didn’t get it. It wasn’t as interesting as the other books, and it all leads to one thing… Alisa living, but in Teri’s body! So that is where Thirst #4 will pick up, which comes out this summer. Plus, this took me awhile to read, longer than I would have liked. At one point, I considered just stopping, which rarely happens.
There was also a really long and drawn-out scene where Alisa comes back to her place and has to save herself from someone who is trying to kill her. It felt like something that belonged in a Tom Clancy book. I just kept skimming it.
Oh and the big bad that Alisa was fighting? There were two of them. One which was some sort of government operation, and the other was a bunch of Immortals. Yep. Immortals. One of whom Alisa has a thing for….The question was: which big bad was the lesser of two evils? Well that remains to be seen.
I think I will still find myself reading the new book this summer, no matter what, despite all this negativity I feel towards this new book. I mean, I never read Pike when I was younger so I’m curious to know how die-hard Pike fans feel about this revitalization of the series and how they feel about these new books. Anyone? Because even I’m not too happy with it.
But despite all this, the one thing that really gets me interested in these books is Sita’s spirituality. The conversation never stops and it is rather enlightening. Yeah, we have vampires like Angel who try to do good because of all the bad they did, but Sita is a vampire who just takes it to another level. And I admire that in these books. So that is why I will most likely read Thirst #4.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2012
Thirst The Eternal Dawn is without a doubt one of the best books I have had the pleasure of reading. The book is captivating from the first page and the only reason I put it down was because I was told it was time for class to start. I stayed up til 2:30 in the morning anticipating each new page. The story continues from the first two books, following an extraordinary character: Sita, the last vampire in modern day America plus a few visits to Europe. These books aren't all about the romance like other new vampire series, it has murderer, mystery, a different kind of love, and it is full of action from start to finish. The amazing author we can thank for the serie is Christopher Pike. Pike was born in New York, a highschool dropout many might have thought he would spend his life without a real profession but he followed his dream to become an author. Christopher Pike has written countless teen and adult books but by far his most popular are his teen thriller's (probably why I LOVE Thirst so much!). One reason I love this book and series so much is the historical view Pike adds. There are so many unexpected twists and surprises in this book! This book is one of the reasons today's culture is so fascinated with vampires even though Thirst isn't very popular. I suggest this book to any teen or adult who is looking for a good book. I adore this book and I promise if you pick it up you may not be able to put it back down. Thirst The Eternal Dawn made me gasp, smile, cry, and made me fall in love with all the dynamic characters. Read this book, I promise you wont regret the decision because right away you'll see why I love the novel so much.
August 25, 2013
Couldn't finish it.
I was so incredibly excited when i first heard that there were more books in this series. I stuck with it at first because I was sure that once the first scene was over there would be an explanation for why Alisa was back. However, this was not forthcoming. There was no explanation until about halfway through the book and even then it was half hearted and feeble at best.
To Christopher Pike you mean to tell me that you put me through emotional heartbreak, poignancy and pain for six books only to wash it away with the idea that it was the semi-true ramblings of a teenager with AIDS through a psychic link? It smacked of ghost writing truthfully. There was none of the deep musing on the ideas of faith and grace, or the revolutionary idea of the facets of god and how they are represented through figures of history. In fact Alisa is nothing but a shallow shadow of what she was in previous books. After the trials and turmoil she has gone through to protect her blood (including a nuclear explosion I might add) only to give it to a young girl so that she will win the olympics? Previously when Alisa gave up her blood it was out of love and compassion which is how she retained her grace with Krishna.
Overall, poor effort
1/5
I was so incredibly excited when i first heard that there were more books in this series. I stuck with it at first because I was sure that once the first scene was over there would be an explanation for why Alisa was back. However, this was not forthcoming. There was no explanation until about halfway through the book and even then it was half hearted and feeble at best.
To Christopher Pike you mean to tell me that you put me through emotional heartbreak, poignancy and pain for six books only to wash it away with the idea that it was the semi-true ramblings of a teenager with AIDS through a psychic link? It smacked of ghost writing truthfully. There was none of the deep musing on the ideas of faith and grace, or the revolutionary idea of the facets of god and how they are represented through figures of history. In fact Alisa is nothing but a shallow shadow of what she was in previous books. After the trials and turmoil she has gone through to protect her blood (including a nuclear explosion I might add) only to give it to a young girl so that she will win the olympics? Previously when Alisa gave up her blood it was out of love and compassion which is how she retained her grace with Krishna.
Overall, poor effort
1/5
April 8, 2012
Im incredibly fascinated by this series. I love the amount of wisdom and self-reflection the author puts in these books. At first I was very confused because she was supposed to prevent her becoming a vampire then I realized Seymour had "wrote" the first two volumes. At times, Sita irritated me because she is selfish but I believe she truly is good. When she went back on her own wisdom and gave Teri her blood, I was very irritated. I feel bad for her and I understand her at the same time. Sita has lived a very long time and she sees things differently than we do. I agree with a lot of the stuff she says and I know she is very wise. The whole book was full of suprises which I found exciting. When she goes to see Paula and John, I'm put off because they are some of the only people that dont like her. I've come to love Sita in this series and I didn't like it that they didn't.
I'm very angry at the end because of the ajor cliffhanger. I would have been fine with Teri dying (I didn't like her very much) but when you find out that Sita died I was angry and devastated. And then they say Sita was still alive and I was thoroughly confused. I'm very excited to read the next book!
I'm very angry at the end because of the ajor cliffhanger. I would have been fine with Teri dying (I didn't like her very much) but when you find out that Sita died I was angry and devastated. And then they say Sita was still alive and I was thoroughly confused. I'm very excited to read the next book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 19, 2011
I discovered this book yesterday morning and was amazed and pleased that the author had resurrected the series. The book follows the same character I fell in love with in the six first installments of the Last Vampire series in middle school with minor changes. The book takes its time building up to its end, a welcome change from the seemingly faster pace of the original books, no doubt a benefit afforded Pike by his publisher, who seems to have given him much more space for the newer installments.
The story itself is good, perhaps not the best plotline in the series, but certainly notable and by no means implausible. I also like how her enemies in this book are analogous to contemporary threats to human survival. My one disappointment is that Sita seems less powerful than I remember her being earlier in the series, but perhaps it speaks to the power of her foes that she is forced to use her cunning to deal with them.
Still, it was an immense pleasure to read and I can hardly wait for the sequel to come out this summer.
The story itself is good, perhaps not the best plotline in the series, but certainly notable and by no means implausible. I also like how her enemies in this book are analogous to contemporary threats to human survival. My one disappointment is that Sita seems less powerful than I remember her being earlier in the series, but perhaps it speaks to the power of her foes that she is forced to use her cunning to deal with them.
Still, it was an immense pleasure to read and I can hardly wait for the sequel to come out this summer.
April 23, 2025
This is my second time reading this one and I think I liked it better the first time I read it. On reread it was just ok for me. I still love these characters but for some reason the plot in this one was just meh for me. I would still read it again in the future if rereading the series but it's definitely not the strongest in the series.
October 15, 2020
Onvan : Thirst No. 3: The Eternal Dawn (Thirst, #3) - Nevisande : Christopher Pike - ISBN : 1442413174 - ISBN13 : 9781442413177 - Dar 478 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2010
October 18, 2011
2 1/2
So...
I first read 'The Last Vampire' series when I actually was a young adult and I remember liking it a lot, though I didn't remember much about it. Recently I found myself browsing for copies to replace my lost set - and discovered not only that the original 6 were being re-released as the Thirst series (the first two omnibuses), but that Pike had written more in the series! I was excited, and yet nervous. Would the books hold up or would I be disappointed?
Well, anyone who read my first two reviews can see that I'm not exactly as in love with the series as I once was. It's not terrible, though some books are definitely better than others, and the writing is kind of choppy, and the plot's sort of all over the place, but I wasn't bored to tears and I didn't hate them.
But there was that little problem with them being rather repetitive and Sita making the same mistakes over and over and over... but, really, it was with Book 6, where Pike just threw in one too many New Age sci-fi-y thing too many, where I felt like I couldn't really suspend my disbelief anymore... but I got past that, and the ending was, while not perfect, at least satisfying.
But the ending was very, well, final. And I found myself wondering "how in the hell do we continue the series?"
And I have my answer. And while I will say that I'm happy he didn't just ret-con it completely and ignore the fact, I will say that I'm a bit less than thrilled with the whole
But the thing is, while there's a rationale for the various little inconsistencies of character and power and whatnot, it still kept bugging me.
Sita seemed really underpowered compared to what she was before, and some of the characterizations are different in not a great way.
But, really, that's not why it's only getting 2-stars. Well, not the only reason anyway.
Another reason is that while 14 years, give or take, have passed between book 6 being published and book 7 being released, Pike's writing skills don't seem to have improved any. He still tends to be a bit repetitive and slipshod.
Also, this book is a fair bit longer than any of the others. At first I saw this as a good thing - towards the beginning I felt that the slow development was giving him time to flesh out the characters and the plot more than the earlier books. However, that sentiment didn't last and there were parts that were just draggy and sloppy.
Sita still doesn't learn from her mistakes (which I guess you could say could be a positive in the sense that at least some characterization remained consistent), she still leaps before she looks and ends up in positions that are kind of ludicrous, the various twists kind of kept getting more and more ridiculous and just, in general, I was disappointed.
Perhaps the worst, though, was that I wasn't really invested in the characters. In many ways, in this recent reread, I never really was - even though it's told in first-person narration, it's written in that way that always keeps the reader a bit distant - like you're watching something instead of really being inside the character's head. This book suffered from that even more.
Ya know - maybe if I hadn't had such high hopes I'd end up rating it a 3 or 3 1/2 but, as things stand, I just couldn't feel it was more than rather disappointing and nothing more than "ok".
I'm really, really hoping that the next book wows me and sort of makes up for it. After all, this books is, in many ways, a big set up for the pending showdown in the next book. So, who knows, maybe it could totally blow me away.
But I'm skeptical.
So...
I first read 'The Last Vampire' series when I actually was a young adult and I remember liking it a lot, though I didn't remember much about it. Recently I found myself browsing for copies to replace my lost set - and discovered not only that the original 6 were being re-released as the Thirst series (the first two omnibuses), but that Pike had written more in the series! I was excited, and yet nervous. Would the books hold up or would I be disappointed?
Well, anyone who read my first two reviews can see that I'm not exactly as in love with the series as I once was. It's not terrible, though some books are definitely better than others, and the writing is kind of choppy, and the plot's sort of all over the place, but I wasn't bored to tears and I didn't hate them.
But there was that little problem with them being rather repetitive and Sita making the same mistakes over and over and over... but, really, it was with Book 6, where Pike just threw in one too many New Age sci-fi-y thing too many, where I felt like I couldn't really suspend my disbelief anymore... but I got past that, and the ending was, while not perfect, at least satisfying.
But the ending was very, well, final. And I found myself wondering "how in the hell do we continue the series?"
And I have my answer. And while I will say that I'm happy he didn't just ret-con it completely and ignore the fact, I will say that I'm a bit less than thrilled with the whole
But the thing is, while there's a rationale for the various little inconsistencies of character and power and whatnot, it still kept bugging me.
Sita seemed really underpowered compared to what she was before, and some of the characterizations are different in not a great way.
But, really, that's not why it's only getting 2-stars. Well, not the only reason anyway.
Another reason is that while 14 years, give or take, have passed between book 6 being published and book 7 being released, Pike's writing skills don't seem to have improved any. He still tends to be a bit repetitive and slipshod.
Also, this book is a fair bit longer than any of the others. At first I saw this as a good thing - towards the beginning I felt that the slow development was giving him time to flesh out the characters and the plot more than the earlier books. However, that sentiment didn't last and there were parts that were just draggy and sloppy.
Sita still doesn't learn from her mistakes (which I guess you could say could be a positive in the sense that at least some characterization remained consistent), she still leaps before she looks and ends up in positions that are kind of ludicrous, the various twists kind of kept getting more and more ridiculous and just, in general, I was disappointed.
Perhaps the worst, though, was that I wasn't really invested in the characters. In many ways, in this recent reread, I never really was - even though it's told in first-person narration, it's written in that way that always keeps the reader a bit distant - like you're watching something instead of really being inside the character's head. This book suffered from that even more.
Ya know - maybe if I hadn't had such high hopes I'd end up rating it a 3 or 3 1/2 but, as things stand, I just couldn't feel it was more than rather disappointing and nothing more than "ok".
I'm really, really hoping that the next book wows me and sort of makes up for it. After all, this books is, in many ways, a big set up for the pending showdown in the next book. So, who knows, maybe it could totally blow me away.
But I'm skeptical.
August 16, 2019
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 (though not in this specific installment), and more than anything, Eastern spirituality. More sophisticated than the previous books in the series (also because 14 years have passed), Thirst No.3 has lots of action, conspiracies and high stakes, plus an old friend returning.
Cons: A few problematic assessments about women, in jest but still bad-tastey. The deus-ex-machina device is freely used. But the worst thing is, this particular installment sees Sita sidelined in its second half, when a male hero steps in.
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 (well, 4 this time). 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...
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
I'm not sure why Pike decided to reprise this series after 14 years - it's kind of unprecedented - but I can speculate that 1) he never got over Sita, and was still haunted by all her unwritten stories, and 2) since vampires were in their heyday back in 2010, Simon & Schuster strongly encouraged him to write more. Now, don't get me wrong - I would very much like to read Sita stories until me or the author leave our earthly abode, and even beyond. But in doing that, Pike also tweaked canon a lot. In Thirst No.3, the very ending of the original series is dismissed, and a supposedly dead character is brought back. I mean...not literally - Pike came up with a clever way to do both things, and it didn't involve necromancy or resurrection 😉 - but he couldn't help creating plot holes/virtual impossibilities in the original books in the process. Even those MIGHT be explained away (and he does try to smooth a few creases, so to speak), but the most notable fact is, he rewrote the whole supposedly dead character's experience. I'm not really complaining, because I loved this particular return, but what I'm saying is, I probably wouldn't have put up with such a trick if I didn't love the concept of this series (and its characters) so much.
Speaking of friends, in this book Sita makes a few new ones too, which is an interesting new angle. She's become a social animal to an extent, and it's a pity that her interactions with Teri (her human descendant) don't get more screen time. Now, don't get fooled - she's still powerful and deadly, even more so. But it's nice to see her more human side for a change...though I'm not thrilled by her flirting with Teri's boyfriend Matt. I mean, there's a reason why the two of them feel a connection, and Sita swears she would never hurt Teri...but still, flirt she does. And Matt too 😒. [...]
Whole review here.
Pros: Original take on vampires. Plenty of kickass action and entertaining (if often bloody) moments. Blends urban fantasy with thriller, history (though not in this specific installment), and more than anything, Eastern spirituality. More sophisticated than the previous books in the series (also because 14 years have passed), Thirst No.3 has lots of action, conspiracies and high stakes, plus an old friend returning.
Cons: A few problematic assessments about women, in jest but still bad-tastey. The deus-ex-machina device is freely used. But the worst thing is, this particular installment sees Sita sidelined in its second half, when a male hero steps in.
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 (well, 4 this time). 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...
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
I'm not sure why Pike decided to reprise this series after 14 years - it's kind of unprecedented - but I can speculate that 1) he never got over Sita, and was still haunted by all her unwritten stories, and 2) since vampires were in their heyday back in 2010, Simon & Schuster strongly encouraged him to write more. Now, don't get me wrong - I would very much like to read Sita stories until me or the author leave our earthly abode, and even beyond. But in doing that, Pike also tweaked canon a lot. In Thirst No.3, the very ending of the original series is dismissed, and a supposedly dead character is brought back. I mean...not literally - Pike came up with a clever way to do both things, and it didn't involve necromancy or resurrection 😉 - but he couldn't help creating plot holes/virtual impossibilities in the original books in the process. Even those MIGHT be explained away (and he does try to smooth a few creases, so to speak), but the most notable fact is, he rewrote the whole supposedly dead character's experience. I'm not really complaining, because I loved this particular return, but what I'm saying is, I probably wouldn't have put up with such a trick if I didn't love the concept of this series (and its characters) so much.
Speaking of friends, in this book Sita makes a few new ones too, which is an interesting new angle. She's become a social animal to an extent, and it's a pity that her interactions with Teri (her human descendant) don't get more screen time. Now, don't get fooled - she's still powerful and deadly, even more so. But it's nice to see her more human side for a change...though I'm not thrilled by her flirting with Teri's boyfriend Matt. I mean, there's a reason why the two of them feel a connection, and Sita swears she would never hurt Teri...but still, flirt she does. And Matt too 😒. [...]
Whole review here.
April 17, 2020
This book BLEW my mind!!! But the ending... I don’t know. I have my doubts.
The book is just WILD; so much action, so many plot twists and quirky characters that I absolutely adore. I LOVE that Alisa isn’t alone anymore and is surrounded by her friends (she was so motherly and nurturing, I loved this side of her!). But at the same time, it feels like the storyline is just strung along. It feels repetitive too; Sita is invincible, then out of nowhere there’s a stronger enemy but eventually she beats them, then she’s invincible again. But wait; here comes another enemy... and again, and again.
Also, sometimes I didn’t really know what was happening because it got so complicated, it wasn’t always easy to follow; so many new character names and organization names (IIC, the Telar, the Source, the Array, ...). It felt like Pike got overexcited, which is great because it shows he’s passionate about his work, but the audience just ended up being bulldozed with a bunch of information, which wasn’t pleasant.
So what I’m trying to say is; there’s so many exciting things happening, such a wide variety, but at the same time I find it boring because it’s always the same patterns and it becomes quite predictable.
I’m very unmotivated to read book number 4. I need to take a break from this series for a while, maybe I’ll read the rest later. I don’t feel like reading about the IIC and the Telar again; it should’ve stopped in book 3, there’s not enough happening to keep me interested.
If the book wouldn’t have those constant repetitive parts, I would give it 5 stars for SURE! But it does, so a 3 seemed appropriate.
The book is just WILD; so much action, so many plot twists and quirky characters that I absolutely adore. I LOVE that Alisa isn’t alone anymore and is surrounded by her friends (she was so motherly and nurturing, I loved this side of her!). But at the same time, it feels like the storyline is just strung along. It feels repetitive too; Sita is invincible, then out of nowhere there’s a stronger enemy but eventually she beats them, then she’s invincible again. But wait; here comes another enemy... and again, and again.
Also, sometimes I didn’t really know what was happening because it got so complicated, it wasn’t always easy to follow; so many new character names and organization names (IIC, the Telar, the Source, the Array, ...). It felt like Pike got overexcited, which is great because it shows he’s passionate about his work, but the audience just ended up being bulldozed with a bunch of information, which wasn’t pleasant.
So what I’m trying to say is; there’s so many exciting things happening, such a wide variety, but at the same time I find it boring because it’s always the same patterns and it becomes quite predictable.
I’m very unmotivated to read book number 4. I need to take a break from this series for a while, maybe I’ll read the rest later. I don’t feel like reading about the IIC and the Telar again; it should’ve stopped in book 3, there’s not enough happening to keep me interested.
If the book wouldn’t have those constant repetitive parts, I would give it 5 stars for SURE! But it does, so a 3 seemed appropriate.
June 23, 2016
A lot of readers gave Creatures of Forever negative reviews, because of the ending. I never got to read it back when I started the series, and in 1996 it was supposed to be the final book. Having read it now, as an adult, I personally like how Pike ended it then. It was poetic.
Fast-forward to 2010 - and I have to admire how the author "resurrected" Sita. Not just in presenting a plausible explanation that allows the series to continue; but in the way that the Last Vampire embodies the 14 years interval. This feels like a mature book; it's as good as a lot of thrillers, albeit with a healthy dose of the Supernatural.
In the early books the heroine was a wise-cracking tough loner, with a desperate need to be loved. She still is, 14 years later, but her one-liners are sharper, she's even more bad-ass than ever, and her longing for connection is no longer desperate but deep.
Seymour has metamorphosed nicely as well. No longer are geeks considered outcasts; and here he owns his nerd mantle and becomes truly worthy of Sita's love. The other characters are more thoughtfully fleshed out, as well; and the Enemy (or enemies, rather) are no longer laughable but deadly as hell.
The series has truly grown with the author, and I'm very thankful he revisited Sita and her story; and I thank Krishna for reminding me that his books exist.
Fast-forward to 2010 - and I have to admire how the author "resurrected" Sita. Not just in presenting a plausible explanation that allows the series to continue; but in the way that the Last Vampire embodies the 14 years interval. This feels like a mature book; it's as good as a lot of thrillers, albeit with a healthy dose of the Supernatural.
In the early books the heroine was a wise-cracking tough loner, with a desperate need to be loved. She still is, 14 years later, but her one-liners are sharper, she's even more bad-ass than ever, and her longing for connection is no longer desperate but deep.
Seymour has metamorphosed nicely as well. No longer are geeks considered outcasts; and here he owns his nerd mantle and becomes truly worthy of Sita's love. The other characters are more thoughtfully fleshed out, as well; and the Enemy (or enemies, rather) are no longer laughable but deadly as hell.
The series has truly grown with the author, and I'm very thankful he revisited Sita and her story; and I thank Krishna for reminding me that his books exist.
May 24, 2013
I didn't know how to feel when I heard there were more last vampire books. The last vampire series was my favorite through my teens. I read them so many times I pretty much had them memorized. I finally stumbled across the new books at barnes and noble and had to see how it got continued.
Basically it takes place fifteen years after the sixth book. The first six were written by seymour and were a psychic mind meld collaboration between him and sita. They never actually met and seymour thinks she is a figment of his imagination. The basic story lines still hold true in the new series.
I found the premise plausible and interesting but ultimately the series should have stayed just the first six books. I think the new books may have been written by a ghost writer. The writing style isn't the same. It's less poetic. however, I haven't read a recent pike book since season of passage which I think came out in the late 90's.
I will get the rest of the books when I find them so I can complete the collection because I'm a geek like that but it's not top priority.
Basically it takes place fifteen years after the sixth book. The first six were written by seymour and were a psychic mind meld collaboration between him and sita. They never actually met and seymour thinks she is a figment of his imagination. The basic story lines still hold true in the new series.
I found the premise plausible and interesting but ultimately the series should have stayed just the first six books. I think the new books may have been written by a ghost writer. The writing style isn't the same. It's less poetic. however, I haven't read a recent pike book since season of passage which I think came out in the late 90's.
I will get the rest of the books when I find them so I can complete the collection because I'm a geek like that but it's not top priority.
December 1, 2011
I very much preferred the previous series (books 1 and 2). I thought that the other books ended well, though they did leave the story of Paula and John unfinished. Christopher Pike, I love you, but this one was a little lacking. Things Sita could do in the other books, like be unaffected by alcohol, break through concrete walls, and know when anyone was near, were mysteriously missing all of a sudden. She was even physically slower in this book than she was in the previous ones. I get that she needs challenges, but you cannot change who she is and what she can do to achieve that. And why aren't male vampires sterile all of a sudden? We've never heard of a vampire child before (minus Kalika, who was something else entirely), but suddenly we have one. I seriously doubt all the other male vampires kept it in their pants for thousands of years. I was upset by all the inconsistencies. Again, these publishing companies should hire a real editor... like me.
February 10, 2017
this one was confusing at the beginning, because it never said on how she had become a vampire again, since the previous book killed her present self to live back in the past with her husband and daughter. So all that was slightly confusing. But in most of Mr. Pike's works I get confused on something somewhere. But this one, brought in a few new characters Teri and Matt... Teri is Sita's descendant, and Matt you find out further into the book is Yaksha's son. Which was kind of sentimental to me because I miss Yaksha and his love for Sita. It was slightly interesting I must say, especially with taking place 14 years after the last book. And Seymour he's different and Paula she's not as nice as she was in the previous books. Things were different, and now with this take on the Templars wanting to get rid of humankind. I am thinking of this as a fresh start the series, like it's the same series but at the same time different, it's hard to explain.
July 14, 2015
I had a great time reading this. Now let me preface that by saying I have no idea how much my opinion was skewed by nostalgia. The original Last Vampire series (compiled into Thirst No. 1 & 2) were some of my favorites as teen. This brought me right back to that time and feeling. It was a very easy quick read with some nice (if not totally unpredictable) plot twist. There was quite a bit of good action. This did have a little kitchen sink feel as tons of new elements were thrown in the book (lasers, etc.), but I enjoyed it.
Looking forward to reading No. 4.
Looking forward to reading No. 4.
July 26, 2014
Christopher Pike is my favorite author of all time.
I read his THIRST books, his REMEMBER ME books . . . God. Even his crappiest writing is amazing.
The way he writes his stories is so absorbing, so enveloping, that you have no choice but to read until you're finished. It may have taken me a long time to finish this, but that's only because I haven't had time to breathe, let alone read.
I read his THIRST books, his REMEMBER ME books . . . God. Even his crappiest writing is amazing.
The way he writes his stories is so absorbing, so enveloping, that you have no choice but to read until you're finished. It may have taken me a long time to finish this, but that's only because I haven't had time to breathe, let alone read.
August 24, 2011
Oh, Pike. You don't realize how happy this made me. To have my favourite teen series revived in my mid-20s was a total fucking treat. This novel could almost do no wrong. I dare say it was dripping with cheese, barely edited, and a total cash cow -- but I don't give a shit. Long live Sita, and I can't wait to see the movie.
January 26, 2012
I loved the old Last Vampire books (well other than Creatures of Forever), but this one I am on the fence about.
It was masterfully written as most Pike books are, but I just felt that this new Sita left something to be desired. She isn't still really the Sita I knew and loved in my childhood. She's changed so much.
Somethings are just better left alone.
It was masterfully written as most Pike books are, but I just felt that this new Sita left something to be desired. She isn't still really the Sita I knew and loved in my childhood. She's changed so much.
Somethings are just better left alone.
March 14, 2011
Sorry, Christopher Pike, the magic is gone.
In short, he's lost Sita's voice. She's been dumbed down into a "good" vampire and this book did nothing to improve upon the canon. I'm really disappointed. I can't even organize my thoughts into a decent review right now.
In short, he's lost Sita's voice. She's been dumbed down into a "good" vampire and this book did nothing to improve upon the canon. I'm really disappointed. I can't even organize my thoughts into a decent review right now.
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