I'd So Rather Be Reading: Book Review: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Summary:

A year ago, Cal Thompson was a college freshman moreinterested in meeting girls and partying than in attending biology class. Now, after a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman named Morgan, biology has become, literally, Cal's life.

Cal was infected by a parasite that has a truly horrifying effect on its host. Cal himself is a carrier, unchanged by the parasite, but he's infected the girlfriends he's had since Morgan. All three have turned into the ravening ghouls Cal calls Peeps. The rest of us know them as vampires. It's Cal's job to hunt them down before they can create more of their kind. . . .

Bursting with the sharp intelligence and sly humor that are fast becoming his trademark, Scott Westerfeld's novel is an utterly original take on an archetype of horror.

Review:

This was a fast read. Scott Westerfeld's books are in the YA category but read more like children's literature to me. Even though the main character in Peeps is 19 years old, he thinks and acts like a much younger boy. As is typical with Scott Westerfeld, there is very little emotion or feeling in this book. It's almost all action the whole time. While entertaining, his books are not the kind I want to stay up and read because I just can't wait to find out how they end. They are good but not great. I like Westerfeld a lot, but his characters seem to have the emotional maturity of 12 year olds, whether they are actually 12 or 19, as the main character in Peeps.

Just One Gripe:

The chapters in this book alternate between synopsis of different parasites and the actual story. I didn't like reading about all of those parasites---there is a LOT of biology in this book!

The Best Thing About This Book:

Hmmm, I'm having to think about this one. I guess the best thing is Westerfeld's creativity of the weapons (called "anathema" in this book) that Cal uses to fight the peeps.

Appropriate for a younger audience:

Yes, although bear in mind that Cal thinks about sex quite a bit in this book. Nothing happens, but there are a LOT of thoughts about it.