I think it would be best if I just read everything that Scott Westerfeld has written. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. His Uglies series is smart and entertaining, with great characters in a fascinating dystopian society ready for disruption. I am eagerly anticipating Behemoth, the sequel to his alternative historical fiction work Leviathan, to see what happens between the Darwinists and the Clankers in this creative retelling of World War I, as well as what happens to his young, but incredibly capable protagonists. After reading those, I was eager to see what else he had written and when I discovered he had a vampire book, I figured that would be an excellent place to start. Even though it was called Peeps.
Peeps is a stupid title. It is either a horrid yellow marshmallow candy that my mother continues to buy at Easter even though none of her children eat it, or it is a ridiculous sounding term for a person's friends (or family), as in, "my peeps." If this book had been as popular as it deserved to be and peeps had taken on a new meaning (it refers to the people who have been infected with the parasite that makes them have vampire-like qualities), then I could probably get over it. But it really didn't, and thus the stupidity of the title has earned an entire paragraph in this post. That said, no matter how ridiculous the title is, you should read this book, especially if you enjoy vampire lore in all its forms. Especially if you'd prefer it to lean more zombie apocalypse than sparkling in the sunlight.
What I loved about this story was the scientific element that made it seem so possible. In this story the source of vampire legends is people infected with a parasite that gives them symptoms which, when put together, explain the issues with sun, the increased strength, and of course, the blood-sucking (or in this case, eating people). Once infected, you will begin to hate everything that you used to love. Oh, and you'll have a little rat posse, which is very creepy. Of course not everyone who has the parasite completely loses it. Some people (such as our main character, Cal) are simply carriers. They have some of the super strength, a crazy metabolism, an over active sex drive, and night vision, but they don't flip out and kill people. But they can still transfer the disease through sex or even making out. Yeah, that's right, they have an over active sex drive that they have to keep in check because acting on those very strong impulses will lead to a whole bunch of peeps. This is a parasite that wants to be spread. Cal, like other many other carriers, is part of an underground government that tracks down and treats infected people. As he is only 19 and has not been a carrier for very long, his first task is to find all the women he has infected, and then to search for whoever passed the parasite to him. The story is engaging as Cal's search for his elusive progenitor leads him on an unexpected path. The end definitely leaves room for more story with the interesting and well developed characters.
But getting back to science part. The coolest (and creepiest) part of this book is that every other chapter Westerfeld writes in a couple pages about a different type of parasite that actually exists. Okay, I haven't researched them all, but I'm guessing that if some of them are real, he probably didn't make up the others. He pulls these in as you are learning more about the fictional parasite in the book in a way that gives this book an extra something that most vampire books don't have - a realistic slant.
There's not really a parasite that turns people into vampires, but Westerfeld makes you feel like there could be. I mean, if there's a secret underground organization that is keeping it all under wraps, then you really never can know. And wouldn't it just make sense that they would choose the stupidest name possible to call themselves, just to make it seem impossible.
I mean I'm just saying...
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