My Sibling The Mythical Being! discussion

Welcome to the Fangtastic discussion! Here you can chat about the second book in the My Sister the Vampire series.

We DO allow spoilers in this discussion, so if you haven't finished this book yet, stop here! Thanks and have fun!

Remember, we are scheduled to read this book in March 2014 as a group. :)

I like the title of the book.
Fangtastic, very creative. :)

Yeah, didn't Serena Star say Fangtastic as one of her word of the day things on her morning programme? I thought that was why it's called that, it is a cool name.

yup :)

:)

:)

Started this today, couldn't resist!

I am insanely in love with the following quote (especially because of the MBTW series!):

" 'OK,' Olivia said, 'everyone calm down. Maybe we can try and convince Serena that there are werewolves in Franklin Grove instead - or something stupid like that.'
Ivy and Sophia exchanged nervous glances.
Olivia blinked. 'Don't tell me there are werewolves in Franklin Grove?'
Ivy raised her eyebrows just as the bell for first period rang.
'Saved by the bell!' Sophia blurted. She and Ivy flew out of the bathroom, leaving Olivia with her mouth hanging open."

I suppose this means that the vampires know about the werewolves, but I'm pretty sure the werewolves don't know about the vampires. Or is that just Daniel and Justin don't know, because they're kids, and most werewolves do. Or maybe it's rare for vampires to know about werewolves, and Ivy and Sophia are some of the few that know?

i like that quote too!

:)

I'm going to start this soon. I'm trying to make it last longer than the 1st one though! I read that in less than 2 hours.

Finished :)

Another re-read down, here's some thoughts I had on this book:

On page 9 we learn the Beasts' names are Garrick, Kyle, Ricky and Dylan. Since the main Beast in MBTW is called Kyle, I was just wondering whether this was an intentional easter egg from Sienna Mercer, like Kyle is the same character, secretly in both series. ...Or it could be just a coincidence!

I always find it funny in the beginning of this book where it's kind of jogging your memory on what happened in the last book, how different Olivia and Ivy's descriptions are of vampire rules. Where Ivy thinks, the First Law of the Night: vampires are never supposed to reveal their true selves to an outsider in Olivias POV it's phrased as, the Number One Biggest Rule of Vampiredom: no telling. It just makes me laugh every time.

I love Ivy and Sophia's 'Code Black' secret meeting place. It's such a cool insight into their friendship. I wonder how many times they've used it before, and what for.

On the subject of Sophia, in this book (and the last one) I definitely feel she comes across the more enthusiastic one out of her and Ivy. She's the one who finds out about most of the curious stuff going on, and seems to be the one looking for solutions first. Ivy's first reaction seems to be more get away from the crowds and cameras first, ask questions later. So that's why I find Ivy nicknaming herself 'Ivy Holmes' and really getting into the role of a detective kind of weird in the later books in the series.

A small thing I thought I'd mention is when Ivy and Sophia are talking to Serena Star, and she's suspicious of them because they're goths, on page 40. Serena thinks the Meat and Greet seems morbid, so Ivy quickly says she likes Mister Smoothie too. I'm pretty sure this is the first mention of Mister Smoothie - the first time they actually go there is in Take Two (MSTV#5) if I'm remembering right. So this probably wouldn't mean much to first-time readers, but it's cool that Sienna Mercer seems to have had that idea in her head already at this point and was using it in the story. Okaaay now I realise I'm getting crazy nerdy over this tiny detail, apologies for my fangirling, everyone! :D

I really enjoyed the scenes with Charles in, allowing us to get to know him more just as the character he is now (*wink wink*) before things change. I think it's easy to get a good picture of what he's like at this point from this book. I should also mention (though I feel like I do this in every discussion) I am, as ever, amazed by how much Sienna Mercer manages to include so many of the characters (Sophia, Camilla, Brendan, Garrick, Toby, Charlotte, etc.) in these short books in a way that feels natural and valid to the story. I love that none of them fade into the background!

One character I liked a lot was Martin the cameraman, who befriended Camilla. I feel like Mercer could have easily just had a blank background cameraman character, but she didn't; she made him his own memorable person, and that's so cool in my opinion. It's just a shame he ended up working with Serena Star - he's way too cool for her!

Ooh, also who else liked the lady at the adoption agency? I thought it was great how upbeat and cheerful she was - it's nice to see the stereotype of goths (and in this case vampires) always being gloomy being broken. Good stuff!

W

That would be so cool if Sienna Mercer imagined that Kyle moved from Franklin Grove to Pine Wood! Even if she didn't I can imagine it right? Love those easter egg coincidences!

I love how much the side characters appeared in this book, like you said it was so natural and they didn't need a plot-line all to themselves to stand out.

Maybe we should put Ivy mentioning Mister Smoothie's in the timeline of events. I'm semi-joking as it's such a tiny thing but I'm also not, it's awesome that it was mentioned that early!

Daisy wrote: "Okaaay now I realise I'm getting crazy nerdy over this tiny detail, apologies for my fangirling, everyone! :D"

This group was designed for that, don't apologise! ;)

I love learning about the vampire laws - the 1926 Bylaw of the Night is that 'a vampire will never try, or conspire to try, to bite a human'. This law seems terrifyingly recent ESPECIALLY if you remember vamps live longer than humans and that many vamps currently living were born before 1926. Does that mean they will have bitten humans or do you think it was frowned upon even before it became an official law?

Hey you know what I just realised from looking at the A to Z thread? You did W. Willowtown (where Charlotte, Camilla and Holly went to high school in Double Disaster (MSTV#13) and in this book the Devils, the school sports team, play against the Willowton Badgers. Possibly a connection? Probably nothing. lol.

Also I just remember Kyle is a werewolf in MBTW and a vampire in MSTV. Kind of ruins my dream of it being the same guy, I guess Sienna Mercer just likes the name. :D

WOW I didn't think about how recently that Law of the Night was passed, but you're right that's freaky that ones from before it are probably still around. Actually, come to think of it, didn't Charles live in the 1800s? Or maybe Ivy's just said that jokingly at some point.

I assume it was frowned upon before otherwise the law never would've been created in the first place. I like to think that all the vampires that lived before 1926 weren't murderers... but who knows.

Oh, that's so cool that Willowton is mentioned so early and then so late. It's totally connected! That's awesome that Sienna Mercer remembered it.

Ohhhhh yeah I completely forgot Kyle was two different creatures in the two series. Man, I really wanted that to be a cool Easter Egg. Although, we don't really know how the vamp and werewolf rules work in relation to one another, so maybe it's possible to change from one to the other. You never know!

Oooh, or maybe he was a werewolf the whole time in MSTV but hid it, and that's why he's the leader in MBTW because he's so much more confident. I just want this to be possible somehow!!

I found a couple of quotes about older vampires while flicking through. From page 207 of Switched (MSTV #1):

'So,' Olivia asked, 'what's the deal with the ageing thing? Do you live forever or not?'
Sophie looked at Ivy. 'You answer. You're younger.'
'Only by four months,' Ivy protested. She turned to Olivia. 'Remember how those scratches on my arm healed last week? That's the key. We call it RSH, Rapid Self-Healing.'
Olivia nodded.
Ivy went on. 'We grow at the same rate as humans until we reach adulthood-'
'College,' winked Sophia.
'-and then we start ageing very slowly.'
'My dad's two hundred and twelve years old,' Sophia said, swinging jauntily around a lamppost.

And page 54 of Revamped (MSTV #3):

'That's OK,' Olivia said, swinging her book bag on to her other shoulder and putting her arm through Ivy's. 'We'll cross paths one of these days.'
'He's already two hundred years old,' Ivy said with a roll of her eyes. "'One of these days" could be two decades from now!'

I know there are other mentions of age and specific years throughout the series but those were the two I noticed. On two separate occasions the generation above Ivy and Olivia's is referenced as being around 200 years old meaning Mr Vega would have been born around 1810 meaning he was already over 100 years old when the law about biting humans was passed! That's a scary thought. It also makes me wonder if vamps have kids way later than humans. I guess so judging from Charles.

Daisy wrote: "I like to think that all the vampires that lived before 1926 weren't murderers... but who knows."

Haha I hope so. I don't remember what is said about vampires biting humans. Does the human die? I remember that there's a rare chance you can become a vampire but is there not a third option where they don't drink much and nothing happens?

I want to believe it's possible too! Maybe the next series Sienna Mercer writes could be about Kyle, the vamp-wolf hybrid.

I don't know, this whole thing about Charles's age is pretty confusing. I feel like it's implied in Revamped (MSTV#3) that he stayed with his parents, living under their strict guidelines, until he ran off with Susannah to have Olivia and Ivy. So does that mean he was living with his parents for like 180 years?! This does also mean that we've got a case of the creepy 'really old person who looks young dating young person' troupe on our hands. ...I don't really like thinking about this element of the story...

This does clear something up though - what you said about vamps waiting so long to have kids. I can see the older vamp generations keeping themselves to themselves a lot, rarely mixing with humans, and probably with other vampires too (from hints in the books I don't imagine there's that many of them anyway, especially not back then). So Charles stayed at his parents' manor for most of his life, and there wasn't much opportunity to meet potential partners. Hopefully we'll get a bit more info on this when we read Love Bites (MSTV#6) closely.

In Switched (MSTV#1) it says if a human is bitten, they'd probably die, but if not, they'd become a vampire (pg 209). That's not much to go on but I'm guessing before the law was passed it was still a rarity, and they mainly did what they do now - eat blood infused products like from the BloodMart. These might come from animal blood or already dead people, I don't know but ew this is a weird conversation I'm gonna stop now.

On a nicer note YES that Kyle story is such a good idea! Only thing is he's not the most likeable person in either of the series in my opinion. Maybe he could have some kind of arc of finding himself, after years of being confused by his double identity, and becoming a protagonist you grow to root for. However Sienna Mercer chooses to do it, I need this in my life!

Okaaaaay this is getting strange, haha. The vampire age element has always been the weirdest part of this series that I try not to think about.

So from that it sounds like there is no third option, it's just die or become a vampire if you're bitten. That does make me think they wouldn't have bitten humans that often, if not for the humans for themselves. It would be hard to keep vampires a secret if thousands of humans kept dying/disappearing. On another gross topic, on my most recent re-read of this series I've been amazed at how much meat Ivy eats. I had never really noticed that bloody/rawish food choices are definitely what vampires lean towards. Lovely!

Daisy wrote: "Maybe he could have some kind of arc of finding himself, after years of being confused by his double identity, and becoming a protagonist you grow to root for."

Gosh that sounds amazing. Agreed, Sienna Mercer we've got your next series covered. We need this!!

I'm just going to leave this here in case it comes up later... In Vampalicious (MSTV #4) on page 43 we get Kyle's surname.

Ivy spun around and saw Garrick Stephens and two of his greaseball goons, Dylan Soyle and Kyle Glass, winding their way towards the table.

I'm pretty sure in MBTW he's called Kyle Hunter. Really original, right? :D Maybe he's going by a double identity or something...?