My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion
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Re-Vamped!
Sister the Vampire SPOILER
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Revamped (MSTV #3)
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Just thought I'd make the discussion for this book seeing as we are reading it soon (April 2014) ;)
Happy April Fool's day! April is the month of Revamped, looking forward to re-readin this one, it's a really interesting one I think.
Gem Tang他們說，2月14號是愚人節，4月1號是情人節。多少人在2月14號用甜言蜜語騙著別人？又有多少男女在4月1號以開玩笑為藉口說出了真心話？那麼我祝大家今天，情人節快樂❤️
This is about April Fool's Day. Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!
Started reading this today, I love Olivia's parents, they're so funny!
Quote from Revamped:"Brendan has heard that somebody is selling pictures of us on eBay," Ivy said wryly.
"Bidding's already up to ten bucks," Brendan announced.
Ivy's best friend, Sophia, put her tray down next to Ivy, her camera hanging around her neck. "Ten bucks for what?" she asked.
"Somebody's selling pictures of Ivy and me on eBay," Olivia told her.
Sophia looked embarrassed.
Ivy stared at her in disbelief. "Please tell me you did not post pictures of us on eBay, Sophia."
"Sorry," Sophia gulped guiltily.
"Wow," Olivia teased. "Sold out by your own best friend!"
"I was going to split the money with you!" Sophia offered desperately.
"Oh," Ivy said, her face breaking into a grin. "That's OK then!"
That settles it, Sophia might be my favourite character, or maybe it's Ivy, or Brendan. I don't know!
Mine's either Sophia or Camilla - it's just so hard!!!
Mine is either Sophia, Olivia, or Brendan!
Let's just agree they're all awesome in their own way :D
Such an awesome cliffhanger at the end of this book - Charles is actually their biological dad!!!!! And now they've got to stop him moving Europe! *sighs* I love this book so much :D
Hey guys. On the edition I own of this book on the back it has the same blurb as Vampalicious (MSTV #4), which is obviously a printing error. In the inside of one of the later ones it has the proper blurb for Revamped. The first time I read the MSTV series this mix up actually caused me to read the fourth one before the third! I was totally confused at what was going on, lol! Has anyone else noticed this on their copy of the book?
Well..err we have the same copy sooo... ;)
That error wasn't on my copy.
Oh, right. Weird! Thanks for the reply Emy. You Sophie, not so much. . . Just kidding! :D
I recently reread this book again and I have to say the moment where Ivy and Olivia find out Charles is their dad never fails to make me tear up! Something about it just gets me, you know. :D I couldn't help thinking that Olivia's reaction was a little odd though after what suzanne said in the Vampalicious thread. Olivia was just totally overjoyed when throughout the whole book Charles has been really rude to her! Do you guys think Sienna Mercer just didn't think about this or maybe she thought getting into all that would be too complicated for a kids' book?
Olivia knew next to nothing about her biological parents. Then she finds out who her dad is and that she already knows him. I think it's quite normal for her to be overjoyed. She also knew that he wasn't a bad guy because Ivy obviously liked him. If I remember correctly, later on in the book (or the next one) Olivia does get a bit down because he's avoiding her?
You know, that's a great point, Sophie. I completely agree with you. Yes, I think I remember her starting to think he didn't want a human daughter or something.
I love these books more and more every time I read them. What I noticed about this one this time around is how much the parents are involved. I loved seeing Brendan's parents in this book, Ivy and Mrs Abbot's shopping trip and how Ivy and and her dad fell out. Also Ivy and Olivia's discussion about weird parent behaviors, Olivia is embarrassed by her parents going gothic and Ivy says 'at least your parents are trying' and that Olivia should have seen Brendan who was embarrassed by his dad the previous day.They way Ivy told her dad about Olivia made me laugh out loud.
"OK, I'd better get back to my homework and stuff," Ivy said, her heart racing. "Just wanted you to know I have an identical twin sister named Olivia who's in my science class. Bye." She bolted away.Poor Charles, having that sprung on him.
This is a really small thing but I found it interesting. Olivia asked Ivy if there's anything vampires don't have their own secret version of and Ivy replies, 'A cruise liner, vamps don't really like water.' Inspired by S!X I have gotten really into looking up tropes. I was wondering while reading this if it's common for vampires to dislike water or if that's something Sienna Mercer made up. I guess it's related to the holy water trope and sure enough it's a thing. On the Wiki page for vampire traits in folklore and fiction, there is a bar in the weaknesses chart for running water which shows you some pop culture examples of vampires which are and some which aren't affected by water. Here are some other quotes I found:
Vampires hating water is a pretty common old myth. [...] Water is believed to be a purifier, washing away evil and sin. [...] A trial by water (similar to what they did to supposed witches back in the day), which was called the iudicium aquae, was used to see if a corpse was really a vampire. If the body floated, it was a vampire. Simple as that. It was these types of crazy ideas that birthed the belief that vampires are disabled or destroyed by running water. Source: https://www.vampires.com/oh-no-anythi...
Like garlic and salt, water is one of the common substances widely held to have special powers. [...] Symbolically, it makes sense for water to work as a barrier against certain monsters. Water is the source of life and so naturally works against the undead. On a practical level, it can also deter predatory creatures that hunt by smell, as water can misdirect or damp scent trails. There are some variations as to what form of water will work. Almost always, the water must be moving, as discussed above. Rain or the ocean may or may not qualify, but rivers always do. Holy water, of course, packs extra punch, but is less frequently found flowing around on the landscape. Source: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php...
In the previous book we see that Ivy isn't affected by holy water and she simply says in this one that vampires don't like water so it's obviously not that extreme, interesting though.
Brendan is so sweet. I love how when he found out Ivy is moving to Europe he replied with 'distance doesn't matter' and 'I've always wanted to visit Europe'. <3
Wow, I didn't think about that - the parents being involved so much - but you're absolutely right. It's great to see (more of the parents being in it I mean, not you being right...). Can you IMAGINE what must have been going through Charles's head at the second Ivy said that to him. Hearing the name of his daughter who he was forced to give up and whose memory he has kept all to himself for twelve years, is suddenly just thrown out by his other daughter! I'm surprised he acted so calmly to be honest!That's so interesting about the water. You've made me think though, why is it garlic that has this whole myth around it about vampires? There's plenty of strong smelling/tasting foods out there. Just wondering!
I knooow, Brendan is the best. There's also the moment where he pretends he's fainted so Olivia and Ivy can sneak away. Classic!
On my re-read of this book it really struck me how tragic the backstory of this series is. I mean, Charles has been through some seriously awful stuff, and he keeps it all hidden. I felt like crying when I read the ending! Sienna Mercer is so great at balancing that with the fun though, and to me this is still a fun kid's book even with the deep backdrop.
A completely irrelevant thing I noticed while reading this book was the recurring mention of the number thirty-four. I know this is such a stupid thing to notice, but 34 happens to be my lucky number, so I picked up on it. Susannah died at the age of 34, Olivia counted 34 black flying sheep/bats before she fell asleep during the Test of Darkness, and my favourite is on page 1:"What's taking so long?" Olivia prodded.
"It's a daisy," her mom muttered, squinting with concentration, "with 34 petals."
...just because it contains my name and my lucky number in the same sentence. Coincidence?? (probably)
The reason I chose thirty-four as my lucky number was because I felt like the number followed me everywhere - when I checked the time it was often 34 minutes past, and whenever I was assigned a number for something it would always contain a three or a four. So maybe this book contributed to this? Could be!
I can't imagine what must have gone through Charles' head when Ivy first told him about Olivia! I love that Brendan moment too.
OK, I looked up the vampires hating garlic trope quickly and it has many influences but the one I found most interesting is that apparently garlic repels mosquitoes. Mosquitoes suck blood, so do vampires... you see the connection?
Daisy wrote: "On my re-read of this book it really struck me how tragic the backstory of this series is. I mean, Charles has been through some seriously awful stuff, and he keeps it all hidden. I felt like crying when I read the ending! Sienna Mercer is so great at balancing that with the fun though, and to me this is still a fun kid's book even with the deep backdrop."
This is one of the many reasons Sienna Mercer is one of my favourite authors. MSTV has depth but is also tons of fun.
Remember that spoilers ARE allowed in this discussion. :)