Black Heart

October 30, 2006
Set in the 26th century on Australia's Crescent Moon Bay, Somper's portmanteau of two fiction favorites—pirates and vampires—is a gleefully quick read. When lighthouse keeper Dexter Tempest passes away, heavily laden with debt, his 14-year-old twin children, Connor and Grace, find themselves suddenly homeless. The teens cannot bear the offer of sanctuary from the town's wealthy bank manager ("I'd rather die," says Connor), so they steal their father's boat and cast out to sea. A storm quickly dashes their vessel, and Connor is rescued by a passing pirate ship. Grace has been rescued, too, but by the Vampirate ship, "a dark ship that has been sailing through all eternity," the topic of a beloved shanty the twins' father always sang to them. The narrative alternates between the two ships, painting a vivid picture of life on a pirate ship while simultaneously stretching and teasing out the mystery of the vampirates for much of the book. Grace eventually meets the captain of her ship, an elusive figure who lets slip that he may have known their father—and later learns that she is to be the ship's new "donor." Somper deftly draws parallels to the real world—its hungers, its sicknesses, its gluttony—with his fascinating vampire captain, who imposes a strict regimen of "take only the blood you need" on his crew, ensuring that the donors remain healthy, too. An enigmatic conclusion leaves the galley door wide open for sequels. Ages 8-12.

September 1, 2009
Gr 5-8-In this addition to the series, twins Grace and Connor learn their true origins and get into some romantic entanglements. Readers need to be familiar with the previous volumes, as this one picks up immediately following the events in "Blood Captain" (Little, Brown, 2008), with some new characters introduced into the fray. While Grace accompanies her mother to Crescent Moon Bay to see her father's grave, Connor is made an officer on Cheng Li's vessel. A new threat terrorizes the coast in the form of a ship crewed by female vampires. The "Vagabond", captained by Lady Lola Lockwood, follows vampire Sidorio's ship and feasts upon his top crewmen, Jez and Johnny. Cheng Li is then tasked with destroying all Vampirates. Connor is conflicted since Grace is onboard the peaceful "Nocturne", and he tries unsuccessfully to convince Cheng Li that not all Vampirates are evil. When Sidorio goes so far as to marry Lady Lockwood, Jez and Johnny tip off Cheng Li and Connor is charged with stabbing the Lady, known as Black Heart. Cheng Li's secret knowledge about Connor helps them to escape from Sidorio for the time being. This is a fast-paced adventure story with a few surprises along the way."Corinda J. Humphrey, Los Angeles Public Library"

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