The Darkangel (Darkangel Trilogy, #1)

by Meredith Ann Pierce

Meredith Ann Pierce wrote The Darkangel (Magic Carpet Books, 1998), her first novel, when she was just twenty-three. The Darkangel received the IRA Children's Book Award and was named an ALA Best of the Best Books 1970-1982 and a Notable Children's Book. Ms. Pierce lives in Gainesville, Florida.

• ISBN10: 0152017682
• ISBN13: 9780152017682
• Publish Date: 15 April 1998 (first published 24 March 1983)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 21 November 2009
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Harcourt Brace International
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 281
• Language: English

Reviews

[nightingalereads]

3.5 stars

This book has the feel of a classic fairytale. It reminds me of A Wrinkle in Time, both because of the style it's written in and also because it left me with that same nostalgic magical feeling found mostly in childhood stories. It was first published in the 1980's, which I think is what makes the story so refreshingly different from what I normally read.

[SilverThistle]

This is a fairytale in the truest sense of the word. However, it's main 'un'fairytale-like quality is that one of the two main characters is a vampire. The other is a girl who falls for him but don't make the mistake of thinking it's going to be an angsty teenage fantasy the likes of which Ms Meyer offers because it's not. You'll be disappointed if that's what you're after. The cover makes it look like any other ten-a-penny vampire fantasy but it couldn't be more different if it tried.

This was first published in 1982 and it feels a bit dated now. Not because of the writing style and definitely not because of the subject, but by association. Because other - more recent- novels in this genre are edgy and fashionable with urban settings and situations and they use language that you'll come across every day in life, Darkangel just seems to miss the mark if you're more used to the modern vampire romance.

It was republished in 2007, no doubt to soak up some of the popularity that vampire fiction had generated in recent years, and there's nothing wrong with that. Especially since Darkangel was actually a forerunner of all those other urban vamps. But it does tread a fine line. It's counting on the purchasers of Twilight and The Vampire Diaries and House of Night books to also show interest in this one and there's every chance they will, but I want to add a word of caution...

It's not what we've come to expect from vamp literature. It's not worse though....it's just different. Go into it expecting a fairytale and enjoy the weirdness of it all and it's a good story. From what I hear it gets better in the next two books in the trilogy, but I can't comment on that because I haven't read those. Read it for what it is, a cutting edge (at the time) dark fairytale. Like all good fairytales it has a bit of spook in it and there's a couple of bits where it gets scary and you'll hope it turns out well but it's not 'edge of your seat' type stuff and neither is it a 'will they, won't they' romance, it's just not that kind of book. I don't have a mad hunger to find out what happens next, if I'm honest, so I'm still not sure if I'll try the follow on books but if you're in the mood for a nice traditional fairytale with a nice un-traditonal vampire then this might be the book for you.