SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Chapters Read: 18-22

The Vampire Prince was straight up ridiculously philosophical. Truly just continuously deep.

I can't say I always agree with Darren, or Kurda, or other characters in the book. But I suppose on the whole I generally do. The thought provoking nature of this book is what makes it so good. I appreciate the overall bluntness of the book. It fairly openly grapples with life and plot philosophies.

It's striking how much hypocrisy Darren and many of the vampires seem to have. It's sort of off the charts. Seba says over and over how the vampaneze were aggressive and attacked, but while they invaded which is undeniably bad, they didn't exactly show aggression or attack straight up. Kurda later reveals that their presence was indeed not a friendly one whatsoever, but it wasn't to necessarily physically hurt the vampires. Also, the vampires in general treat Darren one way but then treat Kurda another. Darren claims Kurda is so wrong, but then sort of agrees with or mimics Kurda in many different ways. It's quite strange. I also found it absurd how Darren was preaching to Seba how wrong vampires were living. I mean the dude is sounding as arrogant as Kurda at this point. They may as well be clones sometimes.

But as soon as Kurda appears to be oh so wise beyond his years, his plan is revealed and I honestly can't vibe with it at all. He says he was planning to kill more vampires, including the Princes. He said he was going to force the vampires to concede defeat in that, the vampires were supposed to literally become vampaneze, and he'd use the Stone of Blood to force the vampires to obey.

Kurda said this was all to avoid the Vampaneze Lord from taking over and defeating the vampires.

Um, sorry but that's a ridiculous idea. Sure unity is good, but at the cost of literally becoming vampaneze, that's idiotic and not ok.

Mr. Tiny is obviously at work here and he created the legend of the Vampaneze Lord in the first place. But it's still so odd to me that the vampaneze and the Vampaneze Lord have this much potential to destroy the vampires. The vampaneze are significantly less in numbers, and the Vampaneze Lord is still not even blooded. Although it was pretty striking news that he was recently officially discovered in the first place.

Still, I'd like to know why this Vampaneze Lord is oh so threatening or powerful. Is it simply because he desires the vampires extinction? According to Kurda, the vampaneze are recruiting, so I suppose that's an alarming situation that makes their rise more threatening. I guess the Vampaneze Lord is a threat simply because Mr. Tiny says so. Which is a bit strange but also, Mr. Tiny is very powerful so it makes sense.

But yeah. Kurda is one of the most interesting characters ever. I suppose he exists to brew debate and brew thinking about life and conflict and whatnot.

I think the book is a bit cheesy when it consistently praises the idea of 'rules were meant to be broken' and basically promotes progressiveness constantly. I feel that blind progressiveness is very dangerous and pointless at times. I think stopping to smell the roses, and being grateful in the present is just as important, otherwise how can one ever find peace at the end of the day?

But it's still a mostly valuable lesson which I appreciate. It's often good to seek better ways of living and interacting with one another.

Darren getting named a Prince to avoid sentencing him to death was pretty great. A really fun moment after everything he's been through!

Darren is like Kurda in many ways but he's different in a few key aspects. He does seem to trust those around him a bit more and generally has more loyalty for the most part.

Book six was good, but not quite as good as I remembered. It's one of the more important books though, and certainly one of the most memorable. Still highly enjoyable. I think I enjoyed book five a bit more though.

The next six books feels like a whole new series if I remember correctly. I've said similar things like this several times before regarding this series. But I only say this because it's true. This series does such an excellent job at evolving and staying fresh.

Man what a journey this re-read has been. Let's go!!