If you've recently spotted a Night World book in Waterstone's, you probably worked out all you needed to know pretty quickly. They're black 600-page paperbacks with broody models in pale make-up on the covers. The blurb will tell you it's about vampires and werewolves, as well as providing a big hint that the fantasy and horror in the book will be secondary to the romance between monsters and mortals.
In other words, it's a lot like Twilight. Indeed, it appears as though every element has been chosen specifically to emulate what made Twilight a success in the first place. But that's not true - because the Night World series was written nearly a decade earlier.
I read several of these books at the time, and really liked them. Years later, it's fun to ring the changes with Twilight, and see what light this sheds on the evolution of teen reading from the 90s to the 00s.
Most fundamentally, Night World books are miles shorter. I find that an advantage, personally. Secret Vampire shares Twilight's eccentric structure of being solely about character stuff for the first four-fifths of the book, and suddenly plunging the characters into a mad action sequence with EVIL vampires at the end. I was much happier with 200 pages of this rather than 500 ... but how did it come to this?
My guess is that Harry Potter has changed the way kids and publishers alike view books. Goblet of Fire, the fourth book in the series, is around twice as long as the longest previous Potter novel. The next three were longer still. Potter had started at around 200 pages, like plenty of 90s young adult fiction; it ended by showing millions of kids that 700 pages didn't have to be intimidating, and showed publishers that longer books could sell.
Now, the post-Potter, post-Twilight Waterstone's sells three Night World novels in one. The word “omnibus” is nowhere to be found; neither is there a promotional “3 books in 1!” logo. It's a huge advantage if young adult fiction can convince kids they're reading something incredibly sophisticated - maybe artsy photos on black covers sell more books for that reason alone.
Spoilers in the next paragraph.
In Secret Vamire, main character Poppy has a terminal illness, so her secret vampire friend James turns her into a vampire. They fall in love along the way, Poppy learns about the secret society of monsters that is the Night World, we meet a recurring baddie and some witches who'll be important in a later book ... and that's it. It's a quick read, certainly - but it's already setting up future instalments.
If you don't care about James and Poppy, no worries - you can look forward to a totally different couple next time. And another one again next time after that. I like this - there's something slightly manic about it. How quickly Poppy goes from happy to cancer to dead to grave robbed to vampire is remarkable considering how slowly Twilight's Bella goes from meeting Edward Cullen to sort-of going out with him.
It's almost the opposite of a common criticism I've heard of modern television drama - old TV took its time, setting up mood and atmosphere, while modern TV tells loads of stories quickly so its ADHD audience don't lose interest and put on X Factor.
I'm stretching the point here, though, I must admit - Secret Vampire is very light on the ongoing material. The relationship between Poppy and James is the point of the book. It makes its point quicker, but just as comprehensively.
Just like Twilight, our main character is the only one who fits comfortably into both worlds - mortal and monster. Other vampires are awkward and odd, other humans are scared and bigoted. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to see the two worlds as a metaphor for the reading experience itself - the reader can leave the real world and spend some time imagining herself as a sexy vampire with a loyal boyfriend. Want to leave your parents and siblings behind? Just become a secret vampire.
Another difference, of course, is that Twilight was so successful that it led to films, graphic novels, and, um, the rerelease of Night World. Night World, however, faded away like so many similar young adult series of the 90s.
Was it a matter of timing? Night World's a New York Times bestseller now, according to the cover. I tend to think it's a matter of exposure. Bookshops now contain dedicated vampire romance sections. Night World stands out more than it did in the general kids' fiction section.
By now, all of L. J. Smith's 90s fiction have been republished, and she's written several new books set in those old series. They're longer books, too. This may be the most interesting aspect of young adult fiction to me - every five years or so, the market is brand-new again. A thirteen-year-old picking up Night World now wasn't even born the first time a thirteen-year-old picked up the book. And despite being written in the 90s, its concept is a huge seller a decade and a half later.
Maybe that's the trick of the Night World, then - it fits comfortably into both worlds.
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