Reviewing the Evidence - Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Vampire: Prince of Dorkness (US Link)
Author: Tim Collins
Genre: humour, paranormal, vampire, ya
Series: Wimpy Vampire (#2)

A few starting notes:

This is the sequel to the funny and entertaining 'Diary of a Wimpy Vampire' - since I enjoyed the last one, I decided to give the second book a go. As it's a sequel I'll go by my general rule of thumb for reviewing sequels - the blurb dictates the level of spoilerage for previous books. This means that the only plot details for previous books that I divulge are of the same nature as those found in the blurb for this book - it just seems fair to me.

Premise:

Nigel Mullett, the wimpy vampire, records a second year of life as the undead. Things are never plain-sailing when it comes to being stuck at the awkward age of 15; no matter how long you've been in school for, it all comes around again. And there's his barmy family, girls, and weird school-mates to deal with - nothing is ever easy.

Best bits:

This has the same tongue-in-cheek humour as the first book, focussing on the melodramas of teenage life, which don't go away simply because you're undead. The tone is great because Nigel is so grimly serious about the most ridiculous of things.

I personally really liked the addition, in this book, of the topic of vampire romances - which Nigel even tries his hand it! It's that sly, satirical humour that Brits do so very well, and made me smile.

The book is quick and readable, with funny cartoon-like illustrations and a diary format that splits the entire thing into short sections. Again, if you have one of those bizarre creatures, a tween or teenage boy, to force books into, it might be worth sticking the wimpy vampire series under their nose nonchalantly - might work, you never know.

Not so great bits:

I did find some parts - relating to new school-mate Jason in particular - quite predictable, but then I live on a constant diet of paranormal novels, so might have warped my brain to the point where nothing really surprises me anymore.

I can't help but feel like there's more potential for hilarity in Nigel's family, and his long past, than Mr Collins has unlocked. An opportunity missed perhaps.

Verdict:

This is fun and funny - a light-hearted take on the vampire craze that made me smile at more than one off-hand comment. Might even tempt the reluctant reader.