Companions of the Night

by Vivian Vande Velde

Paperback, 2002

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Magic Carpet Books (2002), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 212 pages

Description

When sixteen-year-old Kerry Nowicki helps a young man escape from a group of men who claim he is a vampire, she finds herself faced with some bizarre and dangerous choices.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Mumugrrl

I recently re-read this book because long after I read it, the story stayed with me, which is saying a lot. The story is definitely written for teens, but I found myself engaged by the 16-year-old girl who unwittingly became involved with a centuries old vampire who used her for his own agenda,

only coming to grudgingly respect her in the end.

I liked that the vamp was written in shades of grey rather than black and white, and that because of his strong self-preservation instinct, you couldn't trust anything that he said. Kerry, the young girl, was savvy enough to not buy into his vampire bull, and was able to hold her own, and make her own decisions, even when she found herself attracted to him.

The only thing I wasn't sure about was why she made the decision she did at the end. I didn't feel that the author let me into her head enough to know exactly what her reasoning was behind her decision, so that left me a little bit unsatisfied, but overall, I would say this is an intelligent and interesting addition to the plethora of vampire lit out there. Really good.

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LibraryThing member Kellie12

Vivian Vande Velde, produced an excellent Vampire story without the usual clichés found in many YA books. Kerry is a likeable character who is willing to go through great lengths to save her family, with the help of Ethan. Ethan isn't the nice friendly vampire (found in certain YA Vampire series),

he's cunning, ruthless and untrustworthy, but shades of humanity peek out when you least expect it.
Perhaps what I like most about Companions of the Night is the fact that Ethan doesn't reveal all, which means that all questions aren't answered, though at times annoying, that's also the way that life works. Not all questions are answered. Therefore, he remains a mystery throughout the book. It would have been great if Velde would have made Companion of the Night into a series, so that readers could further explore the world of Brockport, New York, however that’s not the case.
I recommend this book to all fans of the Vampire genre. Companions of the Night is a journey worth taking, if only for one night.

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LibraryThing member melissathelibrarian

Kerry expected to find her brother’s stuffed animal where he’d left it, at the Laundromat earlier that day… she did not expect to have her life threatened by psycho vampire hunters. She escapes with their prisoner (they claim he’s a vampire) triggering a string of malicious events as they

hunt her down. With her family in jeopardy, Kerry must do the unthinkable to save them… she must trust the vampire she helped to free.

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LibraryThing member ohioyalibrarian

I didn't love this one. It seemed the standard girl meets vampire and falls in love, even though this particular vampire has just slaughtered several human vampire hunters. But if you have teens who are hooked on the vampire craze started by the Twilight series, you could certainly recommend it to

them.

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LibraryThing member mmphelps

This was one of the first vampire books I read when I was back in middle school. I just reread it after almost ten years, and it is still great. Unlike some other teen vampire novels this books is willing the be ambiguous and creepy and not wrap up the ending perfectly...which is a good thing!

Overall, I love this book and if you like vampires, read it.

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LibraryThing member craphael

Sixteen year old Kerry's saves a young man whom she thinks is about to get killed by a crazed gang. Her life is turned inside out when she finds out that he is a vampire and that her family can be in danger because she saved his life.

LibraryThing member CarolsNotebook

The vampire, while still being sexy, at least to the 16 year-old main character, is still a vampire. He drinks human blood, kills when needed, lies to her left and right, but she still falls in love with him. Of course, she is a teenager and he does know how to manipulate her. I felt the vampire

did care for her, but he never lost his "vampireness" if that makes sense.

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LibraryThing member mana_tominaga

When Kerry returns to her frequented laundromat in the middle of the night to retrieve a lost stuffed animal for her baby brother, she gets deeply involved in a vampire hunt gone awry. She thinks she saves Ethan, the intended victim who ends up being a handsome charming vampire, but then ends up

casting suspicions upon herself as being a vampire herself, leading her family to peril. Action-packed and a fast read.

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LibraryThing member ThoughtWentIntoThis

This book was creepy! Which is good if you like horror but it freeked me out a bit. Still, it was an entertaining book that had me on the edge of me seat and glued to the page. I needed to know what happened for my peace of mind. It really drew me in. I'd give it 3 1/2 but I haven't figured out how

to do the half star thing yet :)

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LibraryThing member kkla1

This was a very different book. It wasn't your average vampire story. It starts out weird. It doesnt grab you until a few chapters later. It may be a long book, but it is worth reading. I give it a 9.4 out of 10.

LibraryThing member joyleppin

Great read! Felt more realistic than Twilight.

LibraryThing member thatpalechick

Companions of the Night is an excellent vampire novel, and that in itself is the highest compliment I can pay this wonderful book. Companions of the Night stays firmly away from the classic vampire cheese readers have come to expect, and is surprisingly fresh and entertaining. Completely devoid of

swooping capes, brooding anti-heroes, and swooning damsels who always fall for the bad guy, Companions tells the story of a young girl who finds herself caught in the vampire underworld when she encounters a group of vampire hunters trying to kill an "innocent" man and helps him escape. Unfortunately, the innocent isn't what he appears to be, and the vampire hunters have kidnapped Kerry's family in hopes of luring her and her vampire companion into their trap. Kerry finds herself forced to team up with the enigmatic Ethan to save them, and as their enemies close in, Kerry and Ethan must each chose a path, and their decisions will determine whether or not either of them will live to see another night.

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LibraryThing member Jenson_AKA_DL

Although I liked this book, it is not my favorite vampire novel. The characters never really came to life for me and the relationship seemed a bit forced. I preferred her book A Well-Timed Enchantment.

LibraryThing member avhacker

this is waaaaaaay better than twilight but i wish the book was little deeper. the ending was bad she was just randomly like "I love you!" when she ahted him the entire time but if you like that kind of stuff i guess you'll like this.

LibraryThing member JRlibrary

Loved the beginning of the book... it grabbed me and kept me interested for much longer than usual. Liked also that this was not a typical vampire romance.

LibraryThing member Allizabeth

Not the typical new-age vampire teen paranormal romance. Grabbed my attention from the beginning and held it until the last word. Wish there had been another book in the series, but I also liked the ending.

LibraryThing member BrynDahlquis

Oh how I love Vivian Vande Velde. This book is just...wonderful. Kerry, the main character, is brilliant. Ethan, the other main character/antagonist, is also brilliant. A fantastic anti-hero (or hey, you could probably go all out and call him a villain). The plot is good, with some twists you don't

see coming. The only thing I could critique about Companions Of The Night is that it's awfully wordy at times, which sometimes makes it hard to follow. One of the. best. urban fantasy YA books. Ever.

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LibraryThing member Capnrandm

I re-read this book regularly all through high school, and just recently hunted down a copy to keep at my finger tips. This book was a seminal introduction to vampires and urban fantasy for me.

LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing

One of the few really excellent vampire novels out there. The entire plot has so much common-sense and believability working for it, and the characters are so likeable, that I wish it was hundreds of pages longer.

LibraryThing member krau0098

This is the second book I have read by Velde (I also read Cloaked in Red which was okay). Like Cloaked in Red this book was okay but not great. It was a quick read, but it was also one of those stories where I am not really sure what the point was.

In this story our heroine, Kerry, gets accidentally

involved in a conflict between some vampires and a religious zealot who is set on wiping vamps out. As things progress she ends up helping out the male vampire (Ethan) that she found in trouble in the first place. The whole thing leads to Kerry doing things that are more and more dangerous and illegal. Kerry is constantly questioning who to trust; the religious zealot or Ethan (the hundreds of years old vampire).

There really isn’t much love or romance in this story. Kerry and Ethan don’t ever really trust each other enough to develop more than a friendship of convenience. At times there are hints of something more developing between them but it seems to be pretty one-sided and is never acted on. Vampires are definitely not romanticized in this book.

The book is decently written and the writing was easy to read. This is one of those books that describes a brief blip or fantastic event in someone’s (Kerry’s) life and then just kind of ends. As such, it left me feeling kind of unsatisfied.

Overall this is an okay read but it felt somewhat pointless and unsatisfying. Definitely not one of the best paranormal books I have read. It was okay but not great.

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LibraryThing member silenceiseverything

What is it with supernatural YA novels about vampires that make me want to bash my head against the wall repeatedly? Is it just me? Because I have not found one YA vampire novel that was just plain okay. It doesn't even have to be great, just bearable. Unfortunately for me, Companions of the Night

wasn't even that. I think I may have to say that it was more unbearable than Twilight...

The novel starts out great. I'm sitting in my favorite comfty sofa chair with a Coke bottle on the left side and Twizzlers on the right. Clearly, I am in my element. I'm hunkering down and while I'm reading, I'm excited to get to the plot. I keep reading thinking "Okay, surely, the plot's coming soon. It's just taking a while". More pages... "I'm sure it'll be here any minute." "It's still not here?!!! Well, I can't give up now, I only have about 120 pages to go. Might as well just finish it." "Plot! There you are! Oh, how I missed you!" "The end??? That was the plot...okay..." Yep, that was basically my thought process throughout the whole novel, in regards to the plot. It just took to damn long to get going and when it finally did get going it was just "okay". For something that took so long to actually happen, it should've been "BAM! Amazing!"

Now, the main character, Kerry...just plain annoying and aggravating. I think she may have been more annoying than Bella of Twilight (I THINK, I'm not so sure since Bella was all types of annoying and just full of suckage). It's just that she kept doing extremely stupid things and having even more extremely stupid thoughts. I actually rolled my eyes thinking "Oh my God! Can she really just stop thinking at least for a little while?" Okay, correct me if I'm wrong, but if a guy (I don't care how hot he is) tries to (EXTREMELY MILD SPOILER HERE) kill you, then wouldn't any sane person just not like him, let alone wuv him? Unless, of course, they have Stockholm syndrome, but I really don't think that's where the author wanted to go with this. Apparently, a sane protagonist is too much to ask for in a vampire YA novel...

Twilight had something going for it...it was a page-turner. The feminist in me hated that book to bits and pieces, but my God, I could just not put it down. It was like a trainwreck in that you really couldn't look away. Plus, it had Jacob and Alice and those were the only two characters I like (not enough to enjoy the first two books or even attempt to start the last two books, but they didn't make me want to claw my eyes out the way everyone else in that novel did). Companions of the Night was BORING. I only kept flipping the pages because I thought it would get better and by the time I realized it wouldn't, I had read most of it. And there was not one redeeming character in this book to make me reading it seem worth it. Nope, not a one.

I have to say, I rarely hand out one star ratings because I feel guilty and if I can't find anything redeeming in a book, I just drop it cause life's too short. But this one was a really short read, so, I finished it. The good thing about this was that it was library read so I didn't waste any money on it. But still, I could've spent my time reading something sooo much better...

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LibraryThing member mutantpudding

I have a couple issues with this book (again with the age gaps VVV?) but overall a good book and a good vampire story. I really like the protagonist.

A note from 2020 reread; still a good vampire book. One of the few vampire books involving a teenage girl that doesn't romanticize the situation too

much which I appreciate.

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