Book Review for Staked: A Vampire’s Tale by Kim Catanzarite
I received this book for free. This does not impact my review in any shape or form.
Staked: A Vampire’s Tale, by Kim Catanzarite, is a historical horror about a man who uncovers the tragedy behind his disappearance, and attempts to reconcile with the being he’s become. Gregorie and Michaelangela have fallen in love with one another, and vowed that, when they both turn 18, they would marry and leave the tiny village they grew up in. Taking pride in his duties as an angel of death, Gregorie learns how to care for the people in his village from his mother, a healer. Despite his hopes for the future, things take a turn for the worse when Michaelangla disappears. Hundreds of years later, a man washes up on the beach with little sense of what’s happened. The nameless man meets three (two) kindhearted strangers whom he’s decided to protect, as he tries to remember how he got on that beach, where he came from, and ultimately, who he is.
Gregorie is a sweetheart. I like how innocent he is, and how, despite him discovering and reconciling with the uncomfortable secrets that, ordinarily, would’ve forced anyone into insanity. He stayed true to himself in spite of everything that’s happened and all the temptations he’s been presented with. This is a stark contrast to Michaelangela, who had fallen so far. And I’m not going to lie; whenever I picture Gregorie I imagine him crawling back into his coffin and sleeping like an awkward, introverted turtle who needs to recharge. He’s like a goodhearted natured child who wants everyone to be happy, even though it might not be very realistic. In this way he’s also Paul’s foil; while Paul is human, he has a very real understanding of how the world works (if I was Paul I’d be mad at Gentile too). Normally it’s the vampire who give humans a wakeup call, but in this case it’s rather refreshing to see a human having to save an immortal from their own naiveté.
Interestingly enough, this book reads like a YA novel. It’s as though Gregorie was trying to find his own identify, and reclaim what he was robbed of so many years ago. I don’t necessarily think he understands the gravity of his suggestions to Gentile or Liam, nor dos he understand the impact that homelessness has on Paul. He has a lot of dreams he wants to fulfill, and even though he had to let go of them, there’s hope that he’d be able to find a place for himself somewhere in the world, that he won’t be like Reynaud or Michaelangela. It’s a rather morose ending, but a fitting one nonetheless.
As such, I would give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars.
