Red Dice and Phantom

The Last Vampire #3-4

by Christopher Pike

Surviving through countless centuries, Alisa is beautiful, strong and deadly. The US government is in pursuit of Alisa and her partner, intent on obtaining their vampire DNA. Alisa has no choice but to go on the run. She cannot allow her blood to seep into the public domain. It is way too deadly and dangerous. Alisa then makes a discovery that both delights and terrifies her. If all plays out as she hopes she will finally know happiness, if not she faces untold tragedy and danger. And all the time a powerful force is watching over Alisa. Someone who knows all that ever was, and all that will be ...

Genres: Young Adult, Vampires, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Horror, Teen

384 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Christopher 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.

Reviews

[Carina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Red Dice

This entry earns two stars - it is on par with the previous book but has more of an interesting plot - it would get three on its own but the fact that Sita escapes at the end of the book thanks to a brand new power she gains just for this story (special snowflake/Mary Sue style) always made me roll my eyes so it gets knocked down a star.

This entry has one of my favourite scenes - the cell scene where Sita acts like a giant spider. For years that kind of imagery, of vampires as these creatures of the night that are the scariest things out there, remained with me... it's a shame that so few vampire novels use that aspect of their nature any more.

Phantom

This is about as good as the first book, but I note on the re-reads that there is a lot more to these books than I picked up on when I first read them. The books were never subtle ( the last book involves time travel thanks to, if I recall, aliens.... Sita has numerous conversations with Krishna in some other realm where there is a spaceship??? Oh, and I'm pretty sure that Paula's child is either a re-incarnation of Krishna or Jesus or something along those lines) but it looks like I still missed some things... I never really thought that Pikes books would be the type that you could get different things out of on re-reading (Master of Murder I certainly didn't) but it seems like I was wrong...

Kalika is an interesting character and I am glad that she gets a two book run as opposed to the other 'big bads' (Yaksha, Eddie and Arturo/General Havor)... I do wish we didn't say Ray again though...

[Goh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even though the part where Alisa had self-doubts in the first part of book 3 (Red Dice) was a little hard to get through for me, the combat scenes and the ending in the rest of the book made up for it!

[Amber "Epp" · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS SERIES !!!! Sita was one of my childhood heroes !!

[Angelika Belko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've got mixed feelings about this series yet again! I like the pacing and the action. But, the plot and characters' choices aren't making much sense. At least this is how I feel about it...

[Charlotte Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think I would actually enjoy these books but i am doing. Looking forward to book 5 and 6 now.

[Dana Atallah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked this book very very much i thought it was a little complicated at first since i havnt read the first 2 books but i got it anyways .

this book is about a vampire girl named alisa she is strong and beutiful . she survived through many centuries .the us goverment was after her to get her DNA . but she couldnt allow them to see her blood since it is vampire blood and it was very dangerous and deadly so the book is about how she escapes with the DNA and all .

i recommend this book if you like vampires and action .

[Alisha Brook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Red Dice / Phantom
Series: The Last Vampire (#3-4)
Author: Christopher Pike
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5 stars

This book was better than the first, most likely because of the storyline. It was more interesting.

Also we got to see Alisa grow a little more as a character which was good. She was still cold, but it wasn't quite as overpowering, I guess. It was bearable. She had to be cold in some situations.

There are still voice issues though, which is really disconcerting to read. It's off-putting.

[Rachel (The Rest Is Still Unwritten) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an alright sequel, about as good as the first. I'm still not the biggest fan of this series. The characters are too uncaring for my taste and the story's too dark and i guess, not emotional enough. This one i found slightly more interesting than the first book and i'll read the last one. Simply to find out how things end.....

[MakeErinOver · Rating 1 out of 5]

the title "LAST VAMPIRE" isnt even right. I mean 50% of the book she herself isnt even a vampire... urgh!

its Pradictable to say the least, and she has totally lost her fire, in the 1st part she was cool wicked and lethal, now she is imagining ex's?! I mean wtf?!?!

Going to read the last one just to see if it makes amends for this one... but I really really doubt it.

[Froukje · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the first volume more, but maybe because this book was so much different than what I expected it to be.. Nevertheless this is a book with a weird ending so that I find the need to go and read volume 3

[Mellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know that frustration that you feel when a main character keeps doing stupid things? That's how I perpetually feel about this series. I see traps long before Alisa does, it also takes her much longer to discover major plot points – and I don't have super powers!

[Julie scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This 3rd & 4th novel in the series was even better than the 1st 2 novels action packed n very fast paced no time 2 get bored with the power packed 5000 yr old vampire Sita also known as Alisa n Lara!!!

[Roberta R. (Offbeat YA) · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my reviews for Thirst No.1 and Thirst No.2.

[#1honfan]

It Was Good

[Caroline Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book took my a bit to get in to but once in you are Hooked!!

Another series I have thoroughly enjoyed.

[Kushnuma · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some interesting stuff in here but at times it was s little predictable, what might happen next… although there were times when it caught me off guard…

[Duke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Better than the first 2!!!

[Yianna Yiannacou · Rating 5 out of 5]

See Thirst Book 1 & 2 Review

[Bailie Hahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it (sing song voice)

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!!!!!! that's all i can say!!! ^_^

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I both loved and hated this book.
The first part "red dice" we see our favourite vampire, have to take on a horde of police officers to try and outrun the mess she created by finishing Eddie (the vilian) off. Then we next move onto the Government who capture Joel who to use him as bait for Sita and we meet Andy (the scientist) who has a very interesting past that is connected to Sita but I won't spoil it for others. At this point we see a very dark side to Sita, in that she is a deadly being who will take no prisoners and will not take kindly to being captured and locked up. Go bad ass Vampire

The next book "Phantom" I bloody couldn't stand. I loved the First book and I couldn't understand why the author turned Sita back into a human. She was amazing as a vampire she had class, was kick ass and super fearless. He even gave her the ability to have a child again which turned out to be the worst possible thing as the child is psychotic and a reincarnation of the most feared Indian​ god there was. Scary stuff. I only read a few chapters and I wanted​ to put the book down because I actually got scared. Don't ask me why I couldn't tell, but I persevered because I wanted to find out how it would end. And then it is left on a cliffhanger I was not happy, I need the next book to figure it out.

Will be moving into the next to find out though very soon. All in all I did enjoy the read.