I have had this book sitting on my kindle for over a year. I hate having books sit on my Netgalley shelf or kindle shelf for a very long time, so I made a vow to read this book as soon as I could. And, finally, I did!

Thank you to Imprint and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for a review. This is a spoiler free, honest review and all thoughts and feelings are my own!

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Vampires Never Get Old edited by Zoraida Cordova & Natalie C. Parker
Published: September 22, 2020
Publisher: Imprint
Genre: YA Fantasy Short Stories
Pages: 320
Rating:
Goodreads

Eleven fresh vampire stories from young adult fiction’s leading voices!

In this delicious new collection, you’ll find stories about lurking vampires of social media, rebellious vampires hungry for more than just blood, eager vampires coming out―and going out for their first kill―and other bold, breathtaking, dangerous, dreamy, eerie, iconic, powerful creatures of the night.

Welcome to the evolution of the vampire―and a revolution on the page.

Vampires Never Get Old includes stories by authors both bestselling and acclaimed, including Samira Ahmed, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova and Natalie C. Parker, Tessa Gratton, Heidi Heilig, Julie Murphy, Mark Oshiro, Rebecca Roanhorse, Laura Ruby, Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, and Kayla Whaley.

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The only other anthology I’ve read and reviewed has been A Universe of Wishes. If you want to check out that spoiler free review, you can check it out here! I like anthologies, because you can get several stories in one, but they’re all nice and short. So if you’re only in the mood to read a little bit, you can read one story and save the rest for later!

This anthology, as you can guess, is vampires focused and there are so many different takes on the vampire story! With any short story collection, there are going to be stories I like more than others, but for the most part, I liked all of them! I can only think of one that I didn’t necessarily like, so one out of eleven is not bad. 

In between the short stories were little messages/prompts from the editors talking about what idea or question the story was answering. For example, one story focused on the vampire origin, another focused on their transformation, what they can eat, and who’s the real villain in the story. While some of the explanations were a bit cheesy, I appreciated the background and thought that went into each one of them. It helped me appreciate each story more.

Another thing I really liked was the variety of formatting. One story was set up in a blog format, where there were blog post entries instead of sections. And included in each blog post entry were any comments and the amount of views. Another story had newspaper article clippings included. One was a pamphlet for newly turned vampires. And another story had two POVs each split into three equal sections. I can appreciate including variations of formatting and style; it helps breaks up the monotony of the same long story. 

And, with different formatting, were different kinds of vampires. Some that could walk in the sun and others that couldn’t. Some that had to be called and others that preyed upon people in the shadows. Some required the sharing of blood while others just needed one bite to sire a new vampire. I loved seeing all the variations in each story and thinking about how we have all of these different vampires myths and lore. 

Overall, if you like vampire stories (like I do) I would definitely check out this anthology! There are eleven diverse stories so there’s a vampire tale for every interest and person! Although, there are some stories in here that I really, really want to be extended and have a longer story or a full book about! They were just too good to end on a cliff hanger and I need more! To satiate my desire for more, I would love to have another vampire anthology; so if they were thinking of writing a sequel, I would definitely love to read one! Or even participate in one, if I had the chance. Hint, hint. Wink, wink! 

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If you like fantasy anthologies, or just want to give them a try, be sure to check out these some of these recently published anthologies!

A Universe of Wishes by Dhonielle Clayton, etc
Because You Love to Hate Me by Amerie, etc
Toil & Trouble by Tess Sharpe, etc