With the rage over the TWILIGHT series by Stephenie Meyer, many people started liking Vampire stories. Of course this year has a vampire book on the Texas Lone Star Reading List called ALEX VAN HELSING: VAMPIRE RISING by Jason Henderson.

With the last name, VAN HELSING, how can Alex NOT KNOW that he has something to do with vampires? He definitely has a gift. This story may remind the reader of the THE LIGHTNING THIEF, as it does have a teen hero and a teacher mentor that tends to “know” something.  The fight scenes are intense, and may tend to be too long and drawn out for those of us that are not fond of fight scenes. The story is still a good one, as it refers to some explanations of Mary Shelly’s FRANKENSTEIN.