Book Review: The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle {The Hallowed Ones # 1}

Title: The Hallowed Ones
Series: The Hallowed Ones # 1
Author: Laura Bickle
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date of Publication: Sept. 25, 2012
Genre: horror, YA, paranormal, Fiction
Source: bought, Kindle, 320 pages
Links to Buy: Amazon |Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |

Goodreads Synopsis:

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers can get a taste of the real world. But the real world comes to her in this dystopian tale with a philosophical bent. Rumors of massive unrest on the “Outside” abound. Something murderous is out there. Amish elders make a rule: No one goes outside, and no outsiders come in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man, she can’t leave him to die. She smuggles him into her family’s barn—at what cost to her community? The suspense of this vividly told, truly horrific thriller will keep the pages turning.

My Thoughts:

The wonderful and very amazing Jen from YA Romantics  had recommended this book to me telling me how scary good it was.  That was back around Halloween (I know it took me a long time to finally get it) but I finally picked it up and I am so glad I did.  This book puts the frightening back into vampires!
There is definitely no sparkly brooding vamps here people.  Nope!  These are the vampires that will be just as happy eating your face off as they will draining you of your entire blood supply.  But these guys are mindless killing machines either; they are smart and clever killing machines.

Laura Bickle has taken a turn for the more traditional storyline with the terrifying vampires that decide to go after everything.  And I love her for this.  Don't get me wrong:  I love the brooding sexy vampire that hates what he/she truly is as much as the next guy.  But....there is just something about the scary as hell vampires that love being what they are and love hunting down their food source like a predator.
A good comparison for these vampires are the ones from 30 Days of Night.

But there is a lot more to this story than just vampires; sorry I really dig those guys though.  Our main protagonist, Katie, is a very different heroine but definitely one I truly love indeed.  Katie is an Amish girl  impatiently waiting for the chance to go out on her Rumspringa, which is basically like Spring Break for the young Amish people.  It's where they go out into the world and experience the secular world and decide if they want to stay or come back to their people.

This is where we see how completely cut off from the world this Amish community truly is because the Outside world is in complete disarray while life continues to move along at a slow and steady pace for them. But they finally see the upset that is happening when it comes to close for comfort at their doorsteps.
I really loved Katie as an character.  She was curious; always questioning her elders and the rules they set in place as the world went further into turmoil.  Katie is also very strong and handled the apparent threats in the town much better than I think anyone else would have.  But we also see that Katie can be fragile as glass at other points in the book.  I think I really enjoyed the well roundness of her personality.  Even her faith, while some of the closed mindedness she exhibited when she learned other religious groups could try to battle the evil by saying:

"God cannot be everywhere. Not everyone is right."

did upset me, I found that Katie was much more devout than some of the elders with her faith because of her undying need to protect those who needed it.  No matter if they were Amish or not.
She didn't have that snobbery that most of the other Amish elders and families there in the community had against outsiders.

These two dynamics: the Amish and vampires, are definitely an original idea to me.  I think it was an awesome idea to take these two seemingly vast opposites and put them into a book where it seems the world may very well be coming to an end in the most evil way possible.  Then we get to see how these two play against each other as well compliment each other too.
I was completely hooked from the first minute I started reading this book.  I always had this ominous feeling about me as I read it; like someone was going to jump out at me and scream "BOO!" any moment.  I love that feeling, just like when you watch a scary movie.  It was just amazing for me that I got it from reading a book.  I hardly ever have that creepy feeling and when I find a book that takes my breath away with that kind of energy I know I have found a truly special thing!  I loved The Hallowed Ones and I cannot wait till I can't get my hands on the second book.
I give it .........................

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