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DEPARTMENT 19: THE RISING Review – Sparkly Vampires Need Not Apply

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By Ryan Blaney

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on a book that I felt needed a lot more publicity; Department 19 by Will Hill. The response was great and I think I encouraged people to go out and give it a read, which is fantastic. Since then, the sequel Department 19: The Rising has been released. Unfortunately, it looks like Will bowed to the pressure of the competition and toned down the violence, made the characters lovelier, the villains more misunderstood, and made a predictable, unimpressive teen book.

Yeah, right!!!

(Spoilers ahead kids. Read the first book/Review and come back, I’ll still be here.)

The Rising opens three months after the climax of the first book. The original’s protagonist Jamie Carpenter is now a Lieutenant at Blacklight, in charge of his own squad of Operators, filled out by new vampire girlfriend Larissa and last-minute heroine Kate. He may have slain one of the deadliest vampires in the world, but given that the actual Count Dracula has resurfaced, there’s little reason to celebrate. The vampires of this world are getting bolder, even getting a bit Banksy on it, leaving the message “HE RISES” at the scenes of their kills. Blacklight is readying itself for the threat of the vampire godfather moving against them, and the first few chapters really nail the “Defcon One” sense of panic and urgency reminiscent of Britain following the 7/7 bombings.

One of the book’s biggest strengths is that, now that the origin story is done and that an audience has been won over, Hill can explore his other characters more freely. Many of the supporting characters finally get a chance to shine. These chapters range from a couple of scared policemen, to Larissa & Kate (who just dodge the sidekick tag) to Dracula himself. It succeeds in expanding the story, in terms of perspective and scope.

 

Franken-Plot Success

While Department 19 was, at its heart, all about a teenage boy’s quest to rescue his mother, The Rising comes with a great subplot all about Frankenstein. Following his Bridge of Khazad-dum moment at the end of the last book, we follow him as he makes his way across Europe, weighed down with amnesia and a sense of foreboding. He also has another problem, but you need to read the book to find out lest I spoil anything. If Hill’s pushing to make him the second lead in this story he’s doing a hell of a job. I’m becoming a Frankenstein fanboy. Frankenfan?

Meanwhile, the antagonist, Dracula, is kept out of the main action, for the time being, at least. The idea of the Count exploding onto the world at the head of a vampire army is a very tempting one, but Hill wisely refrains, portraying him as a shadow of his former self, who although still deliciously evil, (upon learning of the advances humanity made in the past hundred twenty years, he asks one question; “Do they still bleed?”) needs 90 days to recuperate before he regains his power. Less Voldemort, more Sauron.

 

Young Adult Fiction With Brains

The Rising is still very much a story for young adults and the relationships between all the young characters is the heart of this story. One of the focal points is Jamie, Larissa and Kate and I cannot tell you how pleased I am that the author didn’t take the easy route and turn them into a love triangle. Instead, a lot of the drama comes from whether or not their friendship can survive with Jamie as their superior officer. Another factor is that they are all younger than the average Operator, and they’re teenagers living in a strict, militaristic world where they need to grow up faster than any of them hoped. Hogwarts this aint.

Where The Rising suffers is ironically, one of the features I loved so much about Department 19; an over-encumbrance of flashbacks. In the first book, they provided some backstory and exposition, at the same time giving the narrative a break before pushing it forward. In this book, the first dozen chapters are littered with them, and they irritate more than anything. A lot of what transpired between the books gets explained, but really these chapters do little more than distract from the main story. Some of them do stand out- the best chapter of the entire book shows us how Dracula was changed and how vampires came to be, and its excellent-but there need to be less of them in Book three.

There are also a couple of cheeky digs at other vampire novels peppered in there for fun. It’s hard not to smile when one character, upon researching vampires online, complains about the sheer number of “excruciatingly lustful prose about pale mysterious boys who could make them live forever with a single kiss from their wine red lips.” TAKE THAT MEYER!

 

The Verdict

The third act of the book introduces another story arc that, at first, seems a bit strange and ill-fitting, as it explores the “magical” side of things and seems in contrast to the grounded, scientific approach to the paranormal that Hill seems to favour. But it does lead to arguably the biggest surprise in the whole story, one that keeps you wondering even after you finish reading.

All in all, The Rising is a great successor to a book that, as I said, gave vamp literature its balls back. The world Will Hill created is growing, but the characters remain utterly, fantastically human. The book itself feels very much like “Part 2” rather than a rehash of the first book, like The Two Towers was to The Fellowship of the Ring.

In that respect, I certainly can’t wait for Department 19: Return of the Count. (probably not actual title)


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