Blog Post #16: The Slayer Chronicles First Kill by Heather Brewer- Cross book Inquiry

In this book, The First Kill, the plot is a 13 year old boy named Joss, who is training in Rhinecliff, NY in the summer with his uncle, to become a slayer. This story has many similar aspects like for example the personality of the characters, the themes, the setting, etc. as the book, The Power of Six, by Pittacus Lore.

In The First Kill, the setting is in Rhinecliff, and in The Power of Six there are many settings, but to me the main setting is in the old abandon house the characters stay in throughout most of the book. Both these settings are similar, but also very unique. The setting in the first kill is a place in New York not really known by many people, and it is unique because it is a place that is mysterious and the perfect place to use as a setting in a book like this one where the main character is trying to become a vampire slayer. It is in upstate New York where they use trains to get in and out of that area, which gives the book even more of that old fashion vampire stereotype movies setting. In The Power of Six, the setting is also similar because it is in the middle of nowhere, and it is someplace that no one would ever try to look for ailens in. Both these settings are sort of a hide out thing, where it is the last place someone would look for vampire slayers or ailens/FBI's most wanted.

Another thing that is similar between these 2 books is the main characters and supporting characters. The main character of The First Kill is Joss, and he has 2 supporting characters that are kind of his closest friends, as well as in the book The Power of Six where John is the main character also with 2 close friends. In The First Kill, Joss's mentor is Sirus. Sirus is much like Number Six in The Power of Six, they both teach some knowledge to the main character. Sirus sort of shows Joss the way throughout his training, he teaches him how to defend for himself against Abraham, and he looked out for him. Number Six taught John all the knowledge she had about Lorien and things like their chests and the animals on their planet. Number Six faught for him sometimes, she trained him to fight like how Sirus trained Joss, just not for physical fights. Sam in The Power of Six is kind of like Kat in The First Kill. In the beginning these to characters are sort of clueless (for now Kat still is) and they are just that friend that is your one and only. But I predict sooner or later Kat will learn about the Slayer Society and act like a sidekick like Sam does.

Lastly, the themes in this 2 books are very similar. The plot is for the main character to learn about killing their enemy. Joss is learning how to become a slayer to kill their enemy which are vampires. And John is learning how to fight against their enemies, which are the Mogadorians. In the beginning these main characters are still the newbies, but sooner or later they get the hang of how everything is done in the position they are in.

These 2 books are very similiar. They connect in a very special way, and are 2 very good books to read. But writing a cross book inquiry kind of makes you wonder if one book was inspired by the other because of the ways they are similar.