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Saltwater Vampires Paperback – September 1, 2010

by Kirsty Eagar (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 9 ratings
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A fast-paced thriller about surfing, the supernatural, and one of history's bloodiest maritime incidents. Shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award for Young Adult fiction.

Holidays in the coastal village of Rocky Head should mean surfing, dodging tourists, and partying at the local music festival. But when Jamie Mackie is savagely bitten in the surf by a friend, he realises things are going to be different this summer. The Mutineers are in town, a coven of brutal vampires created in the shipwreck of the Batavia, four hundred years ago. If their plans succeed, nobody in Rocky Head will survive to see out the new year.

A salty and suspenseful vampire tale from Kirsty Eagar, award-winning author of Raw Blue.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    359 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    September 1, 2010
  4. Reading age
    13 - 18 years
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0645151408
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0645151404
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

5/5 stars ... Saltwater Vampires is a little bit The Lost Boys and a little bit Thirty Days of Night, set in a small Australian coastal town. I absolutely loved it. The Book Nerd.


This is not your run of the mill teen vampire book. Kirsty Eagar has mixed Australian history, vampires and surfing and rolled out a fast-paced thriller that I could not put down. I finished it last night, even though I only received it in the mail yesterday morning. We Love YA.


Eagar's writing style reminded me of our two heavy-weight authors (in their respective readerships) Tim Winton and John Marsden ... Saltwater Vampires takes place in and around the sea (Australia is an island, after all) ... The eeriness of a black ocean at night, and the loneliness of crashing waves; Eagar captures this picturesque Australian scenery and turns it into an astonishingly spine-tingling gothic setting ... Danielle Binks, Alpha Reader.


Jamie and his mates are not your usual heroes or vampire slayers ... They are mates who watch each other's backs as well as let each other down and these contradictions are so well drawn that the characters breathe on their own and worked their way into my heart ... Inkcrush.


As well as all the bloodlust and biting, there is a genuinely well written narrative. It is taut and tense ... It's a thriller and so much more. Look out for it. This is the Best Book Ever.


About the Author

Kirsty Eagar's Young Adult novels have won and been shortlisted for numerous literary awards including the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the Queensland Literary Awards, the Western Australia Premier's Awards and the Gold Inky. She is currently writing the screenplay for the feature film adaptation of her novel Raw Blue.

Kirsty was raised by her mother and grandmother on a farm in Central Queensland. After studying economics, she worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of England, before changing course. She then worked and surfed her way around Australia and started writing. Kirsty is married with two daughters and now lives in Sydney. She surfs most days, competes in the infamous North Narrabeen boardriders' club and is a contributor at White Horses surf magazine.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little Wins Press (September 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 359 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0645151408
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0645151404
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 13 - 18 years
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.01 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 9 ratings

About the author

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Kirsty Eagar

Kirsty Eagar

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Kirsty Eagar is an Australian author and surfer. Her Young Adult novels have won and been shortlisted for numerous literary awards, and she is currently writing the screenplay for the feature film adaptation of her novel, Raw Blue. Kirsty was raised by her mother and grandmother on a farm under the big skies of Central Queensland. She now lives on Sydney's northern beaches with her husband, two daughters, and a very salty dog. She surfs most days, and competes in her local boardriders’ club. She loves northerlies, the emerald glass of Autumn swells, purple sea snails, and her beach community. She is fascinated by learning through creativity, and is the founder of Story Smart for students and schools.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
9 global ratings
Teen Aussie surfers vs vampires!
4 Stars
Teen Aussie surfers vs vampires!
Saltwater Vampires by Kirsty Eagar is a dark and gritty teen novel about a group of Australian surfing teens that are the only thing that stands between a normal holiday break and a complete vampire takeover.I grabbed this because I’ve really enjoyed the last two books by Kirsty I read AND because it was giving me total The Lost Boys vibes. It’s definitely not the dreamy romantic teen vampire book of yesterday since the villainous vampires are the result of a mutiny and massacre in the 1600’s.I think Kirsty Eagar did an excellent job building the world and creating her vampire lore. I also liked all the teens and found them to be well-rounded and flawed and I rooted for them as they tried to do the right thing and kick old vampire butt.I recommend this one for reader’s off all ages that like their vampires as villains and aren’t looking for a big love story. Rated 3.75 and rounded up to 4 for Amazon/Goodreads.
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Top reviews from the United States

That’s my Patty!
4.0 out of 5 stars Surfing Vampires!
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2012
Verified Purchase
Saltwater Vampires
By
Kirsty Eager

My " in a nutshell" summary...

Ooh...yum...watery vamps...Australian surfers...and a dangerous outcome for a small Australian town.

My thoughts after reading this book...

Jamie...young surfer...suddenly undergoing weirdly odd feelings as though he is turning into a vampire...which he is...has awakened to find that his neck has been bitten, he has a sensitivity to sunlight, and he has an unquenchable thirst.

Jamie and the vamp who has bitten him...have to save the world...or at least their town.

There are some really very bad vampires, an equally bad sort of federation...and two teenagers who have to try to prevent themselves from totally turning...oh my goodness!

Whew!

What I loved about this book...

Hmmm...I loved the matter of fact way that Jamie's friends accepted and helped him in his beginning throes of vampiredom. I loved the story...t was sort of scary, filled with lovely vampy history...and fascinating.

What I did not love...

Perhaps a ad too long...although I loved this book I was ready for
the ending.

Final thoughts...

I found this to be a yummy different vampire story. The vampires come out of the ocean!
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Ari
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2013
I don't usually read vampire books - as a matter of fact, I stay away from them because they do nothing for me. It's just the fact that I'm a Kirsty Eagar fangirl that made me read this book.
So maybe this book is not that special within the genre, but I absolutely loved it because it felt different. I suppose (and I always want to write I reckon after I read a Kirsty Eagar book) that if I had to step out of my comfort zone and read a vampire book, this was a good choice.

Kirsty Eagar took a real event, the sinking of the East India Company ship, Batavia and the massacre that followed and added a vampire twist to it.

You have a secret vampire organization, five very normal teenagers, a fatally ill man, and four really nasty vampires fighting - all against each other.

I loved Jamie. He's this boy who did something he regrets, and he just can't live it down. I think it was more that he couldn't forgive himself, than everyone around him blaming him for it. His thoughts felt somehow realistic, and there was a tiny bit of hopelessness in them which made me very sympathetic to him. There was also determination which made me root for him so much. As much as he wanted to give up, he never did.
Tanner was my favorite of the bunch, for reasons unknown. He was like a voice of reason to Jamie, the way he would keep him in check. I just loved him.

And I loved the little story between Kelly and Jamie and hoped beyond hope that I would get at least something for rooting for them.

The mutineers' plan was brilliant, actually. I found myself wondering if it would have worked if something like that happened for real and I realized that it totally would! The setting was great, I could feel the music festival excitement, and I can definitely see how something like Juice being distributed for free wouldn't have seemed suspicious to anyone!

Oh, I'm kind of mad for what the author did to Sophie. She isn't a major character in the story, but my mind kept going back to her, and what would happen to her if...well, if they managed to stop the vampires. Just awful.

I won't gush about Kirsty Eagar's writing, because I'm a fangirl so there's no point. I thought it was wonderful prose, and I loved that it was written from 3rd person POV. There is a bit of head-hopping which caught me off guard but I got over it. As with her other books, surfing is a big element of the story.

If you are looking to get all hot and bothered over vampires, this is not the book you want to read. If you're looking to read about vampire slayers, this is also not your book. Because these teens have nothing working in their favor. The book may be a bit slow but the last ten percent totally make up for it. The suspense of what will happen next was killing me. I say I definitely loved the book and recommend it, but it may not be everyone's cup of tea.
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Linds
4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully detailed, multi-layered story!
Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2013
If you look for your vamp lit with accessible supes, the kind who can be redeemed with luuurve and are actually misunderstood creatures, you got the wrong book here. Kirsty Eagar's vamps are made of equal parts evil ambition and diabolical craftiness.

That's not to say there isn't redemption. But it's not where you think it would be in a paranormal tale, nor is it received with everything folded up neat and even. No, this is a tale of choice and consequence, of truth and action, with an actual historical incident as its foundation and group of friends as its heart. There are three plots to the story that are woven together:

-four rouge vampires who made a pact 400 years ago are planning a new, evil event
-a vampire apprentice from a society in Holland races against time to find the four, but for what reasons?
-a once-upon-a-time group of friends, still connected but splintered and strained, comes together to save two of their own

The first two are marvelously intertwined - I had the same feeling reading it as I did The DaVinci Code with its historical emphasis blooming into modern mystery. The supernatural factor, the demand for secrecy, and the very nerve-wracking feeling that every person is most sincerely out for only personal gain added a true level of creepy suspense - when the synopsis says thriller, it means it. That's not to say that we don't see evil portrayed in other YA; it's simply that in this book there is a level of detached sophistication in certain characters which makes their actions entirely believable and extremely cold-blooded. I more than once thought that this is a book that adults, particularly ones who enjoy thrillers, would find intriguing, as well.

Which is why I was delighted to find the story of 15-year old Jamie and his friends to be not only seamlessly ingrained around the vampiric past and present, but also provided an emotional core not always present in thrillers. Usually, we find the suspense in thrillers to mimic the emotion we would otherwise miss, but here we have a former group of friends whose ties have been skewered through various means, but must make their way around their own past to be a united front in the present. And they are a wonderful, entirely believable group of friends - their affection for each other is authentic, as are the hurt feelings that keep them apart. They each are wonderfully written characters, and we get to know them, their flaws, desires, bravery and fears in great detail. The interaction between them is natural and tangible, whether it's filled with anger or affection. They have a lot to deal with, particularly as a tragedy that really tour them from each other is recent and very much present. And here is something I particularly love about Eagar's writing: she really lets her characters feel the full weight of actions rendered and choices made. There is no easy peace here, no neatly tied up resolution; what's given are the decisions one can live with, and the consequences a person has to live through. This just as easily could have been a book without the supernatural element and been about friends falling apart and coming together again. The tying in of historical fact and mythical evil does not diminish this aspect of the book, but makes Saltwater Vampires a unique, noteworthy and very welcome addition to YA paranormal.
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