Until the Sun by Chandler Morrison REVIEW

Summary:

On a hot August night, a troubled fifteen-year-old boy with a tragic past wakes to find his tyrannical foster parents murdered by a trio of nocturnal, blood-drinking heathens. The killers give him the opportunity for a new life, one where he can be relieved of traditional hardships, vanquish his enemies, and attain a sense of true belonging . . . at the cost of what little remains of his humanity. The life he is offered is one of eternal darkness, but the promise of undying acceptance, freedom, and power gives it an appeal that his current dreaded existence is lacking.

Fraught with resentment over his catastrophic adolescence and confronted by ambiguous notions of good and evil, he is forced to explore a dark world on the fringe between bliss and oblivion. As he edges ever closer to a climactic encounter with the demons that plague his soul, he discovers just how dangerous it is to be young and alienated in modern society.

My Thoughts:

 This book follows a teenage boy who wakes up to the sound of his foster family being murdered. Those who committed the crime seem to also be teenagers, but they dress oddly and drink his family's blood. Instead of killing him, they whisk him away to where they live - an old mansion. They tell him that he needs to pass some tests before he can become immortal vampires like they are. The novel goes back and forth between present and past, which at first is jarring but then I got used to it. Our main character's real parents were murdered by an infamous serial killer a year prior, and was living with his aunt, uncle, and cousin before being put into foster care. His aunt and uncle were barely home due to their work, and he had a major infatuation with his cousin, who had bad habits with a dangerous drug. Eventually, she gets into a bad batch, turning her insane and murderous. Our main character had to stab her in order to save himself and everyone else.

In many ways, this is a standard Chandler Morrison novel. People are soulless, selfish, and at times murder-happy. That being said, it does stand out from his other novels and novellas that I have read so far in that the main character a younger teenager. His other works revolve around adults and soon-to-be adults. I did really enjoy the book, and the twist at the end is not one I saw coming and was heart-breaking. I would recommend this, but be sure to check any triggers you may have before picking it up.

My Rating: 4 stars