Book Review: Red Moon Rising by Peter Moore

Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: February 2011 (Paperback August 2012)
Publisher: Hyperion
Pages: 336
Series: no
Acquisition: ARC from BEA 2010

Summary:

Being only half-vamp in a high school like Carpathia Night makes you a whole loser. But Danny Gray manages to escape the worst of the specists at his school. Thanks to genetic treatments he had as an infant, most people assume Danny's other half is human. Which is a good thing.

Ever since the development of synthetic blood – SynHeme – vamps have become society’s elite, while wulves like his father work menial jobs and live in bad neighborhoods. Wulves are less than second class citizens; once a month they become inmates, forced to undergo their Change in dangerous government compounds.

For Danny, living with his vamp mother and going to a school with a nearly all-vamp student body, it’s best to pretend his wulf half doesn’t even exist. But lately Danny's been having some weird symptoms fantastic night vision; a keener-than-usual sense of smell; and headaches, right around the full moon.

Even though it's easy to be in denial, it's hard to ignore evidence. There's only a month until the next full moon, and Danny's time is running out.

Peter Moore speaks to adolescents in a voice that will have them laughing, set in a world that will get them thinking. (from Goodreads)

My thoughts:
I had Red Moon Rising for a while before getting the chance to read it and I'm very glad I did. Peter has created a paranormal lover's dream world. It's very much like our own except for a few additions. Namely species H. vampyros and H. lupus. Thanks to a mutation, humans (H. sapiens), share the earth with vampyres and wulves. About 99% identical genetically but worlds apart culturally and socially.

I absolutely love when paranormal elements are integrated so fully into a storyline. I also love when I can connect right away to a character, as I found myself doing with Danny. Before starting high school, Danny has had a pretty easy life, even if he is half-vamp and half-wulf. His mom and step dad are well off, he has good friends and thanks to genetic treatments he doesn't have to worry about Changing ever full moon….or so he thought. When strange things start to happen to Danny, he goes to his father, a full blooded wulf for help.

Final verdict:
Danny's journey through the first half of the book was a little slow moving, or rather predictable but it didn't take away anything from the story for me. Even if I had known every fact of Red Moon Rising before picking it up, I still would have enjoyed it. I never felt like I was racing towards some type of finish, rather like I was engaged in someone's actual life. More like a documentary then a blockbuster thriller.

Fans of vampire and werewolf YA books, you're in for a treat with this one! Highly recommended for those seeking something a little different - something you haven't seen 100x already.

Overall Rating:

4 / 5 Stars

Goodreads / IndieBound

*The cover is shown is from the paperback which comes out on August 7th. I personally like it a lot more then the original hardcover (show to the left).
What do you guys think?