Book 62: The Last Vampire 6: Creatures of Forever

The Last Vampire #6: Creatures of Forever, by Christopher Pike

In “Creatures of Forever,” Pike’s excellent The Last Vampire series goes a little wonky. More science fiction than vampire tale, Pike continues to mix New Age ideas with aliens and time travel.

Continuing with hints dropped in “Phantom (#4)” and “Evil Thirst (#5),” Pike concludes the story of Sita, the last vampire who has roamed the earth for 5,000 years. In “Creatures of Forever,” she learns that in the 9th century actions of hers forever changed the future of humanity. Advanced beings from the future ask Sita if she will travel to the past and fix her wrong, so that humanity may be saved.

Without spoiling too much of the plot, this is the first time Pike focuses a novel on Sita’s past. Instead of just flashbacks, the action takes place in the past and I wish it’s something he would have done more – shared more fascinating stories of her life interspaced with famous historical events, or even obscure ones.

If you enjoyed Sita’s story, you will be sad when this book ends. But at least Pike doesn’t leave his fans hanging and does conclude Sita’s story. I feel it is best to read the last three books in the series as one, instead of as separate novels, to get the full effect.

4/5.

Book 61: The Last Vampire 5: Evil Thirst

The Last Vampire #5: Evil Thirst, by Christopher Pike

Back to her vampire self, in “Evil Thirst” Sita faces a difficult decision. She either has to destroy her daughter, Kalika, or give up a precious child, John, who may be the savior of the human race.

Kalika’s actions in the previous novel, “Phantom,” cast her as the avatar of an evil goddess, but as Sita ponders her daughter’s behavior, she wonders if she can redeem her. Or is she wrong, and Kalika is right? It’s a difficult situation for her, a vampire who believes in love and redemption. Can a mother’s love overcome a child’s evil?

Pike experiments further with New Age ideas as he transposes Sita’s past in ancient Egypt with the oracle Suzama against her modern conundrum. The baby John, born to her friend after a mystery conception, is rumored to be the reincarnation of Krishna and Jesus, by a scripture written by Suzama. This may sound a bit out there, but Pike weaves a skillful and fast paced tale with all these varied pieces falling neatly into place.

I think it is best to read the last three books of The Last Vampire series in a row, and not look at them as separate books, to get the full effect.

4/5.

Book 60: The Last Vampire 4: Phantom

The Last Vampire #4: Phantom, by Christopher Pike

When we last saw Sita, she had used an ancient alchemical process to transform from vampire to human. And so for the first time in 5,000 years, she is human…but is being human what she really wants?

At first it appears so. Minutes after the transformation is complete, Ray, her lover previously thought dead, knocks on the door. Together the two start a life of domestic bliss, and within weeks Sita is pregnant. Finally she will have a child, to replace the one she lost 5,000 years ago.

But her child isn’t exactly human, which is quickly obvious when the child is born months before her due date. And when Kalika starts demanding blood, Sita knows she’s birthed a monster. But her love for her child prevents her from killing Kalika…

“Phantom” starts a new direction for The Last Vampire series, and at times doesn’t seem to quite fit with the previous books. I feel it is best to read this and the next two in the series at once, as if you were reading one book rather than three – it doesn’t stand well on its own. Pike introduces New Age ideas and Eastern religions, as Kalika is actually Kali Ma. With “Phantom,” Pike sends Sita on a journey of self-reflection that will carry into the next two books in the series.

3/5.

Book 15: The Last Vampire 3: Red Dice

The Last Vampire #3: Red Dice, by Christopher Pike

At the start of this book, Sita wakes up next to Joel, an F.B.I. agent she was forced to change to save his life. In doing so, she broke the vow she made to Krishna more than five thousand years ago, and she wonders if doing so has damned her.

The action starts off just a little too fast in “Red Dice.” In the previous book, “Black Blood,” Sita had been on the track of a psychotic vampire who left a bloodbath in the streets of Los Angeles. His actions attracted quite a large following of police and F.B.I. agents. Joel had been caught in the crossfire of events. The two wake up in the vampire’s house, a day after the events of “Black Blood.” They are immediately captured by the government, thus launching Sita on an incredible chase through the streets and skies of L.A. in an attempt to escape. The chase was just too unbelievable to me, and that feeling bled into the rest of the book.

Although Sita tries her best, she is unable to save Joel from capture. He is trucked away to a secret facility outside of Las Vegas, a base loaded with nuclear weapons. Fearing what experiments could reveal into the secrets of vampire blood, Sita knows she must rescue Joel before the scientists can get their needles into him.

As I wrote above, “Red Dice” started off feeling too unbelievable for me. Yes, I know this is fiction, and vampire fiction at that, but when the book starts off with the first 40 or 50 pages setting an unrealistic tone, it stays in my mind; and the book ends the same way. So for the rest of the book the action felt too quick, too rushed, too contrived. The timeline of this book feels very speedy as well. Even the addition of some interesting alchemy concepts doesn’t help much. This is one of the weaker books in the series in my opinion.

2/5.

Book 14: The Last Vampire 2: Black Blood

The Last Vampire #2: Black Blood, by Christopher Pike

“Black Blood” picks up six weeks after the events of “The Last Vampire.” Weakened by a stake wound to her chest, Sita has spent the time recuperating. She and Ray, whom she changed into a vampire to save his life, are together. Sita believes Ray is her husband reincarnated, her true love brought back to her after five thousand years.

But their bliss is about to be interrupted, when she suspects that there is another vampire embarking on a murderous rampage in Los Angeles. Sita and Ray imagine themselves the last vampires, after the death of Sita’s creator, Yaksha. But if they are, who are the killers in L.A.? Sita heads into the city to investigate, quickly running into the worst nightmare she could imagine in all her long years…a psychotic vampire.

In contrast to the typical stereotype, Sita is the powerhouse and Ray is her wimpy backup. He’s somewhat whiny and not very thrilled about being a vampire (he won’t drink blood for example), while Sita is as ruthless or as loving as the situation dictates. She lives very in the moment, doing what she believes is necessary to protect humanity.

I find that you can read these books on two levels. One for young adults – it’s simply a damn good vampire story. Two for adults – as I reread these books, about a decade after I first read them, the threads and themes that Pike writes about astonish me. He covers loneliness, disease, religion, and more, in an intriguing way. I greatly enjoy his merging of the vampire “story” with Krishna and Hinduism. Sita even gets some of her tactics from parables and dreams.

As with the first book in the series, the action in “Black Blood” is very fast, I think the entire novel covers a period of less than a week. It fits in a way though; Sita’s so powerful it’s hard to believe it would take her less than a week to defeat the other vampire. The writing matches the action – straightforward and quick, sometimes leaving you wanting more.

3/5.

Book 13: The Last Vampire 1

The Last Vampire #1, by Christopher Pike

With the recent popularity of young adult series such as Twilight, Vampire Academy, and The House of Night, some older vampire series are being republished. One such series is The Last Vampire, by Christopher Pike, first published in 1994.

“The Last Vampire” kicks off a six book series about Sita, who is the last vampire left on earth. Reborn more than five thousand years ago, she has mostly stayed out of the spotlight, content to observe events and live history. Always careful to conceal the truth of what she is, everything’s about to change for her when the original vampire, Yaksha, comes calling.

Pike writes an entertaining story, creating a character that is intriguing. Sita smashes most of the myths of vampires – she can tolerate sunlight, cross running water, can’t command packs of wolves, etc. She is incredibly beautiful, intelligent, strong, and wealthy. Pike has Sita tell us many of these things though, showing most character development through narration and not action. Sita is pretty much an unstoppable force, powerful in just about every way…her only faults are impatience and underestimation.

The action in “The Last Vampire” is fast-paced and constantly moving. Pike weaves chapters of Sita’s modern life with snapshots from her past, including information on how his vampires came about. Sita hails from ancient India, from 3000 B.C., and Pike has a new twist on the vampire myth.

“The Last Vampire” is a quick read, one that will keep you turning the pages until you’re finished. The length, fortunately, won’t keep you up all night. Sita is an interesting character who may seem a little too much like Superwoman, but hey, she is a vampire after all and Pike doesn’t pull punches when making her powerful. The writing is straightforward, with some witty sentences that will stick in your mind. The characterization is also spot on – Sita was changed in her twenties, and sometimes she’s very mercurial in her emotions, but she also has the wisdom of her five thousand years.

I’m happy to see this series available again, it was one of my favorites when I was younger. Pike’s Sita is one of the first vampires I can really remember reading about, and for a few years she really kept my attention; I reread the series, especially this first book, often as a teen. So it’s nice to be able to buy it and add it to my bookshelves.

4/5.