Worth
Their Weight in Blood by Carole Jahme
Posted
on 19/05/2012 by ward………………….
I’ll level with you. Like most of
the world over 30 I’m a bit bored with vampires and their stupid goth pallor
and teenage girl appeal. Thanks Twilight. Consequently I wasn’t 100% eager to
read Worth Their Weight in Blood by Carole Jahme. But read it I did and I was
suddenly reminded that vampire novels and films can be pretty cool and can be
found outside the Young Adult section and don’t always contain awkward teen
romance.
In my youth I loved the
movies/books Near Dark, Fright Night, The Lost Boys, Blade, Salem’s Lot and
Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Then there are books like I am Legend by Richard
Mattheson – a vampire tale told from a different angle that is both awesome and
kind of sad. And who can forget Buffy who was both a teenager and fell in love
but was pretty cool to watch.
The vampire genre is actually
pretty versatile and I was pleased that Carole Jahme has tried something a bit
different. She has a master’s degree in evolutionary psychology and generally
knows about all that evolution stuff. Her angle on the genre is to treat
vampires as just another humanoid offshoot along with Neanderthals, the
Indonesian pygmy and us homo sapiens.
The story revolves around a lady
called Scarlett Fox, who is a single mum that lives in a village in Oxfordshire.
She’s unemployed and understandably bored with life. Then a mysterious blood
research facility called the Zomnifers Institute opens up nearby. Around this
time a family of four are found burnt to death near some ancient stones.
Scarlett gets a job at the institute looking after a chimpanzee they have but
she starts to notice that things are a bit strange with her fellow astoundingly
attractive workmates. I won’t give any more away but there are vampires
involved.
I really enjoyed Worth Their
Weight in Blood and liked the angle and direction that Jahme takes the story.
There are some fascinating sections on evolution and evolutionary psychology
weaved into the tale. There was only one section about the ability to self
reflect that I felt went on a bit but that could have been because I had
recently watched a documentary on that subject a week before at work. Otherwise
the science stuff is well integrated and very readable.
The story is well paced and got me
in. I found the very beginning a tiny bit slow but when things start to happen
the scene is well set and the claustrophobia is in place so maybe I just have a
short attention span. Looking back, I realise it was handled pretty well and it
makes the events that follow that much more absorbing. Scarlett in particular
is well fleshed out by the time weirdness starts to occur.
The vampires themselves are pretty
cool. Jahme explains the evolution that led to them losing their empathy, so
when things start get bloody it’s pretty understandable. Another nice touch is
how Scarlett evolves throughout the story and how her development and thought
processes are juxtaposed with the ape she is studying and the vampires she
finds surrounding her.
In fact the only thing that bugged
me about Worth Their Weight in Blood was the names. The vampires you can
understand, as vampires tend to have odd names. They are the celebrity children
of the undead. It was just that alongside the weirdly named vampires, you have
Scarlett Fox’s family – her mum Red, and her daughter Ruby. It’s possible this
is a coincidentally blood-coloured family tradition or destiny/vampire related
and will be discussed in a later book but it felt weird. It’s a very mionr
niggle though.
Worth Their Weight in Blood is
definitely worth a read. Especially if you fancy a new twist on the genre.
Carole Jahme is a Guardian journalist and science author and there is no doubt
that she can write. If you like vampires and feel like a new take, check it
out. Enjoy.
Calyptra - only the male drinks blood
COME AND SEE ME AT THE LONDON BOOK FAIR 16TH TO 18TH APRIL
