Danica Davidson
September 6, 2011 
In the city of New Babylon, only ninety percent of the population consists of humans. The other ten percent is, by the book’s own definition, “officially God-only-knows.”
Actually, they’re vampires, werewolves and ghouls—but mostly vampires. Isaac juggles being a college student and a vampire hunter, and for him, work is personal. When he was twelve, a vampire killed his parents and sister, so it’s shocking to him when he finds himself falling for the vampire Tristan.
Tristan is silver-haired, beautiful, magnetic. Things get hot and heavy fast. Isaac insists he’s not into men… but come on. Tristan’s one of the most powerful vampires out there, yet he wants nothing to do with them, and offers to help Isaac kill the vampire who turned him into a bloodsucker. The generosity of this offer is overwhelming. It will save countless human lives, but it will also kill Tristan, since the spawn of vampires die with the one who made them.
There are a number of things about I Want To Bite that could make it stale or trite, especially with the overwhelming glut of bad vampire books we have going today. That’s what makes I Want To Bite so pleasantly surprising. The characters grow on you, the plot is strong, and it has more than one twist (but they’re too spoilerific for me to say). In fact, the twists are especially good, which makes it hard not to say, but it’d be better if they surprise you as much as they surprised me. The progression is good and it builds up well.
The vampires here are also dangerous. Remember back when vampires were dangerous? Yes, this is definitely a plus for me. Tristan is the closest thing we have to a good vampire, with his humanity leftover, but even he isn’t spotless.
I Want To Bite is a novel, not a manga. It does, however, have some illustrations in it, provided by Chigusa Kawai, the mangaka behind La Esperança. Digital Manga’s website calls it 16+, so some of the scenes were more explicit than I expected with that rating. Because of the nature of the story, it’s bound to be a niche read, but I can say that it will make yaoi fans very happy. Altogether, the book is entertaining, fast-moving and sexy.
Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing
Story: Isaya Takamori
Art: Chigusa Kawai
