3.5 Stars

Well this was surprisingly gory with heaps of bloody deaths!

I actually really liked the concept and enjoyed the story, however, Jamie isn't a particularly likeable character with his tantrum type outbursts. The situation is quite stressful with his mum kidnapped and the vampire blood baths happening in front of him so emotions are absolutely running high. I am interested to see what happens so will eventually continue on to book two but it won't be at the top of my TBR. ( )

I just finished it yesterday! It was really good. It's vampire-y but not like sissy vampires. More like cross me and I'll rip your throat out. There's a little Van Helsing, Dracula, and Frankenstein (but they're not major characters)
It was a little all over the place for a bit as far as telling the story goes but all the threads came together nicely so it was all ok haha I'd totally recommend D19 to people!


So what is this book about? It's about this guy named Jamie Carpenter. He grew up knowing that his father was a traitor to the British government along with bullies constantly reminding him. Around his 16th birthday, his mom was kidnapped and a Vampire named Alexandru attacks him! Alexandru is one of the 3 original brothers that Dracula himself turned. How will Jamie ever survive? Frankenstein, THE Frankenstein monster, comes and saves him? Why? Because Frankenstein made a promise to Jamie's dad to always be there for the Carpenter family. The Carpenter family is part of a secret British Government department called Blacklight, Department Nineteen. When Dracula was killed by Van Helsing and those 3 other guys, they formed Department Nineteen to train future Vampire Hunters! Most people who join are selected from elite military people, but when a guy descendent of the founders turns 16, he's asked if he wants to join. Seeing as his mom was kidnapped, of course he says yes.

He goes through a lot of cool vampire training (quite an interesting read just for that sake, if nothing else) and during Jamie's stories there's flashbacks to the original people who killed Dracula.

One thing I don't understand is Larissa and Jamie. I don't understand why Larissa likes him! I mean he's not a bad guy but the relationship seems out of nowhere with no sturdy footing. I liked Frankenstein and the ending regarding him. It was sad but a wakeup call for Jamie.

I also thought that Dracula and Jamie's mom tied in nicely to the book. Having Jamie's mom be turned just as he was finally getting her back was cool and showed thatVampire's don't need a cause. They do things because they CAN. ( )

Good action and mystery, lots of gory gore. Keeps you reading, and for such a hefty book it flies by. My one issue (and I suspect this is just my current mood) was the way women are treated in the story. There are a couple strong teen girl characters, but I'm so sick of books where women need saving. SO SICK OF IT. I doubt most teens will read this and have an issue there, so it's a great book to recommend. ( )

Not great but fun and a quick, engaging read. If I were to try to describe it to someone who reads a lot in this genre, I'll call it "Monster Hunter International" for the younger crowd. The story line is fairly predictable but it kept my interest and I'll most likely read the rest of the books in the series. ( )

There is a lot of promise offered that goes undelivered in this Alex Rider meets uk tv show Demons novel. Good premise and smartish story but not delivered well.
For my full review see http://sapphireddragon.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-department-19-by-will-hill.ht... ( )