By Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warning: blood/gore, violence, murder, homophobia, racism, lesbophobia, death of a parent
In a world where feeding from humans can be deadly, vampires have had to come together in order to survive. For Kat, a young vampire on the outskirts of Vampirdom, there is nothing she wants more in her immortal life than to attend Harcote, a prestigious, all-vampire boarding school. The connections she could cultivate with the vampire elite would be life changing. Taylor, on the other hand, is fed up with Harcote and everything it represents. As Harcote’s only out lesbian student, Taylor is constantly ostracized by her ultra-conservative teachers and classmates. But the two girls quickly realize that more than just their high school experiences are at stake; the entire future of Vampirdom hangs in the balance of what happens at Harcote.
I have very mixed feelings about this book, and it was incredibly difficult to review. While reading, I felt like Youngblood was a breath of fresh air, harkening back to the supernatural vampire trend of the early 2010s, but modernized. Kat and Taylor are definitely the stars of this story, each of them distinct, unique, and fleshed out. Even when I didn’t agree with the things they were doing, their actions made sense, and the romance between them felt really organic. I found the world of Vampirdom created in this novel to be interesting, and while the ultra-conservative vampires of Harcote made me uncomfortable, I felt like that was the intention. Laurens definitely succeeded at creating a toxic and conservative culture for Vampirdom and Harcote, and while I definitely didn’t enjoy the vampire culture, I feel like it was developed well.
That being said, there were some things about this book that didn’t work for me, and upon further reflection I started to notice things that didn’t sit well. The pacing was off, and the mystery component didn’t get enough page time. The book spent much more time on the high school drama side of things, and while I enjoyed that, a lot of larger scale issues were brought up but never fully addressed or explored in the level of detail I feel those topics deserved.
On that note, my biggest criticism of this book is the ways in which racism and homophobia were used and handled. While I understand what Laurens was going for—that the new generation can unlearn negative and harmful behaviours and make room for a healthier, more progressive society—I feel like this message fell flat on execution.
I appreciate the attempts to bring these discussions to light, but there were instances in this book where Laurens, a white author, used racist and homophobic opinions and observations only to show the reader how progressive Kat is in comparison to the rest of vampire society. Likewise, real world issues of colonization, slavery, and assault were brought up and used within the story casually and were explained away in ways that felt harmful and unnecessary. While I cannot speak to all the ways in which this book used harmful stereotypes and tropes, I do encourage you to read reviews written by people within the communities affected by them to see the ways in which this story failed to achieve its aims when it comes to addressing the dangers of a conservative culture.
While I had fun on my initial read of this book, there were things that made me uncomfortable while reading, and upon further reflection I find there are too many things in this book that could be harmful. I understand what Laurens was attempting, and I can only speak to my experience as a reader, but overall, I don’t think the story managed the nuance and sensitivity it needed to tackle all the topics it tried to address.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.