Vampires at Sea follows the story of Rebekah, a vampire who feeds off sexual energy, as she goes on a cruise with her husband. Dubbed ‘a smutty horror-comedy featuring unbridled narcissism’, I had high hopes going in. While on the cruise, the couple meet an intriguing entity called Heaven and their relationship is redefined over the course of the journey.
I’ll be honest, this book wasn’t my cup of tea. The narrative voice of Rebekah is very detached and while I appreciate that may be deliberate to accentuate the narcissism, it also makes it difficult to empathise with her. The actions she takes also seem nonsensical at times and don’t line up with the self-absorbed vibe.
The story itself is as promised in substance; it is gritty and seedy. However, in substance, the characters all seem two-dimensional. It’s not just the lack of development of minor characters, which can be forgiven in a short story, the husband and antagonist don’t seem to develop either. Even Rebekah, who is supposed to develop through out the book, just sort of wakes up and decides to be a different person rather than having a natural development. It feels as though the ending was tacked on the end after the author was bored and wanted to move on.
The smut isn’t particularly original or as shocking as the author tries to imply. It’s an attempt at shock value and gratuitous sex but is fairly tame in its descriptions. Likewise, the horror element is practically non-existent. I will admit, the LGBTQ+ elements are represented well enough. The book is chock full of it and if I’d enjoyed any of the other elements, I would have tried to recommend it. Sadly, I cannot. I nearly didn’t finish.
To its credit, the descriptions and imagery are well done. I liked the scenes where they stopped off from the cruise, the atmosphere changed and I appreciated the different pace. There’s a shameless smut scene in a coffee shop that I did enjoy. It didn’t have the same ‘edge lord’ vibe as the others, it felt natural.
Merbaum claims this is a feminist novella. While I can’t deny that Rebekah is a very independent woman, I’m not so sure it meets the definition of feminism. Her devotion to her husband is fine, that’s not the issue. It’s more that she doesn’t do anything ground-breaking. She’s a woman who decides she can live without a man. That’s it. She’s not fighting for equality or facing any challenges because of her gender. Is that really feminism?
All in all, I didn’t enjoy this but it wasn’t dire. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, it has all the elements of a story but that’s as highly as I can recommend it.
| Criteria | Scores | Our Score |
|---|---|---|
| Artistic Achievement | 1-5 | 2 |
| Pacing | 1-5 | 4 |
| Characters | 1-5 | 2 |
| Writing Style | 1-5 | 3 |
| Originality | 1-5 | 3 |
Final Grade
D
Written By: ivetafox
Favourite Game – Long Live the Queen || Favourite Film – Sweeney Todd || Favourite Book – Wuthering Heights
About: Ivy is a disabled, autistic writer from the UK, passionate about inclusive gaming. When not reviewing, she can be found writing short stories and micro fiction or reading the latest gothic novel.
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