Scholastic, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-338-56913-1
Horror, 2020
Rebecca Barrow’s Interview With the Vixen is the final book in the clearly prematurely aborted Archie Horror series. No doubt that line died because the target audience were too busy getting their share of horror from the awfulness and pointlessness that is the now-dead Riverdale show.
This one has vampire-thralls, or vampire zombies, or, you know, things, which would have made it right at home in that horrible show.
A strigoi is in town, making vampires that become their thralls. Veronica Lodge is one of them, but because she is too stupid special and hence can’t be mind controlled, she teams up with the local nerd to stop the infestation.
Along the way, her parents become vampires that are happy to side with the big bad, Reggie becomes a vampire jock leader, and Archie gets kidnapped.
This one is a bumpy journey from start to finish. The author is trying way too hard here, and there are many scenes here that emit radioactive cringe at dangerous levels. Veronica as a first person narrator will do dumb things like critiquing a monster’s fashion sense or complaining about how she’s not dressed right for vampire slaying, and it’s just… sigh.
It makes me feel exhausted just trying to contain my second-hand embarrassment—it’s like watching a comedian on stage trying so hard to be funny, but the jokes are stale and have been done many times before, in much better ways too, and I start to feel bad for that fellow because it’s just not working.
Maybe that’s just me, though. I’m the person that gives more money to terrible buskers than good ones, because I always assume they will get little to no money and I can’t help pitying them.
Anyway, this one isn’t purely a cringe-filled mess, though. There is some pretty effective character development of Veronica from airhead to determined girlboss—the good kind, not the embarrassing snot bucket kind that plague movies and streaming shows these days.
I also like how Archie is just a prop for Betty and Veronica to have some frenemy thing going in order to add some spice to their relationship. That guy isn’t really that important, although neither wants him to become vampire chow, of course.
The villain is also an interesting one, although sadly, their entire character arc is reduced to an exposition in the very tail end of the story.
In the end, there is a good girl power message here that I approve. Indeed, the second half or so of this one, when the author starts to go with the flow and just tell the story without trying too hard to sound like an adult pretending to speak like a teen, is a much smoother read, and I really warm up to vampire Veronica.
It is in this second half that the author gets the balance right between Veronica’s self-absorption and character growth, and the whole thing is a more enjoyable read as a result.
All in all, this one can be a tough one to swallow at first, but who knows, have some patience and keep trudging and perhaps, like me, you may end up having a pretty good time!
