Book Review- Vampire Knight vol 12 by Matsuri Hino

Title: Vampire Knight vol 12

 Author: Matsuri Hino

Series:  Vampire Knight #12

Published:  7 June 2011 by Viz media

Length: 182 pages

Warnings: gore, vampires, slight sexual ideas not too much in this volume

Source: Library

Other info: The series is currently 13 volumes long and can only get longer. I reviewed volume 1 here

Summary : Yuki and Zero lock eyes, but they turn away from each other. Yori wanders around the ballroom, and Sara Shirabuki finds and talks to her. She tries to lure Yori away, but is stopped by Zero, who grabs her wrist. Yuki squeezes through the throng to get to the fracas, and she convinces Zero to let go of Sara. Zero takes Yori away, while Sara asks Yuki if she wants to be her friend. Kaname arranges for Yuki to meet privately with Yori and Zero, but Zero declines. At the party, Sara Shirabuki's Pureblood fiance, Ouri, goes missing, as well as a vampire hunter. A scent of blood suddenly fills the air, and Yuki goes to investigate while Kain finds the remains of the dead Pureblood hidden underneath a tablecloth. Yuki finds Zero and Kaien investigating the body of the dead hunter, who committed suicide after becoming a vampire

Review: The book starts a year after volume 11, at a soiree held by vampires which the hunters are attending. Zero and Yuki probably would be catching up, but they still have to protect her human best friend Yori, youngl blood  the middle of many many vampires. Add to the fact that pureblood Sara Shirabuki is also there and her fiancé, Ouri, is missing, and maybe that vampire party may not go quite as planned....

So the  one year time skip hasn't made Yuki develop. her personality seems very similar to that in volume 11. Zero and Kaname are their usual mope-y selves (bowing to the Twilight rule of miserable vampires? Please no...) and so on. I actually prefer the supporting characters to the main ones. The appearance of Shiki, Rima and Kain and Kaien all made me really happy. Kaito, a hunter originally a character from the light novel, seems to have suddenly appeared without explanation(I can't remember him turning up before. Forgive me if I'm wrong) and I'd like to get to know him more.

Matsuri Hino's drawing is completely different to the style she opened the series *has volume 1 and volume 12 side by side*. It's more detailed and delicate, with different shading and so on. it's actually been like this since volume 4, but I’ve not reviewed that yet. I prefer this new flowy style as it looks a little more romantic to work with Vampire Knight.

Sadly, i don't think this series will get much better unless Hino pulls out all the stops. The series seemed to get a high point at volume 4/5, where Shizuka was killed. The relationship between Kaname and Yuki is getting extremely complicated and can only get worse. and Zero and Yuki's relationship is going nowhere. And it's not just the romance that's dragging it down. Generally, the high point was Shizuka's death, with Ichiru's death being a slight peak. I didn't seem that interested in sorting out the Kuran family issues.

Despite this, I'd like to read on to the very end of the series, just to see what will happen to Yuki and her doomed love triangle.

Overall:  Strength 3 tea to just another book in a long drawn out series.

Links:  Goodreads |