What is the nature of good and evil? Is something that is evil always evil; is something good always good? Can anything evil be redeemed if they will to be good? This is question Zachary asks in the book Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Zachary is a guardian angel for Miranda, an ordinary teenage girl. When Miranda is taken and turned by Radford, the Dracula of the vampire world, Zachary gets his powers yanked and must prove himself again to the Archangel, Michael. With the help of Joshua, Zachary’s best friend and an angel as well, Zachary learns he must go into the vampire castle and kill a significant vampire. With the help of a few good souls and a priest who realizes what Zachary is, he gets into the castle. But what he encounters may make Zachary change his alliances.
Upon awakening, Mirada finds out that she has been made into the Dracula’s daughter, and therefore, a princess. She gets everything she wants, if she can learn to control her vampire side. She isn’t too bummed about it, actually she seems pretty thrilled. She went from invisible geek-girl to dark princess overnight; quite a transformation, eh? She has maids and servants, gets all the food she wants, and gets to wear beautiful dresses and party all the time. The only thing she feels uncomfortable with is hurting humans and killing her own kind, no matter what they’ve done. Even when her ‘father’, Radford, the modern Dracula, starts to go crazy; she still tries to make him proud of her by doing whatever he wants.
When Radford goes out of town for a long time, he charges Miranda with planning a big party. She is also given a personal assistant who will assist her needs; all of her needs. During the auditions, she meets a vampire-slayer, a creepy bug eater and, Zachary. Immediately he is torn, but manages to keep his cool. He impresses her when he catches her from falling, with his easygoing charm, and of course, with his good looks. She quickly hires him and they start to work together.
Zachary is almost ready to switch sides when he found out Miranda was a vampire. He thought she had died; he didn’t know she was turned. But in order to kill the Dracula, he has to keep his focus for when he gets back. Upon saving Miranda more than once, catching her from falling again, and attempts to humanize her again, Zach falls for her all over; and she slightly falls for him. But setbacks occur, getting in the way of their awkward romance. First, a servant gets turned by a were-wolf and kills the prison-keeper. Then the maids run away and the Gardener goes missing. Miranda wonders if she can do this, and Zachary is only trying to encourage her, while his heart is breaking inside for the loss of is girl.
This is an interesting book, there are some plays on words and some references to other books, beliefs and Shakespeare plays. Some of the things about angels and vampires can be thought as totally false or surprisingly true, depending on the readers’ beliefs. I thought it was pretty smart, although I disagree with some of the things in the book, it’s still a good read. I enjoy reading about this doomed Romeo-meets-Juliet love story and the happenings in the dark underworld as they continue to get darker. I hope to finish the book soon, as I am looking forward to the end.
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