Shattered Mirror

Shattered Mirror is a vampire novel written by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, published in 2001 when the author was 17. W. B. Yeats’ poem "The Two Trees", which references broken glass, appears in the beginning of the book, and is the inspiration for the title. The main theme of the book is that the perceived heroes can sometimes be evil in their actions and the villains can sometime have good sides. It is a comment that things are not just one thing or the other, but mixed with qualities of all aspects of life. The novel was an ALA Quick Pick and called “an action-packed thriller” by Booklist, who also wrote that Atwater-Rhodes "owns a readable prose style and a vivid imagination." School Library Journal said that “readers will be swept away by the seductive world of good and evil and find themselves lusting for a few more chapters.” Synopsis The book is set in Acton, Massachusetts, the neighboring town to the author’s hometown of Concord, and follows the story of Sarah Tigress Vida, youngest daughter in a long line of vampire-hunting witches who see the world in a good-evil paradigm in which if you are not with them then you are against them. Her line of witches are the most powerful of the mortal vampire-hunting witches and are very attack oriented. In the hunt for Nikolas, a vampire that killed a Vida a century ago, Sarah finds Christopher and Nissa, sibling vampires who don’t kill when they need to feed. Instead, they feed on animals and willing humans. As Sarah’s friendship with Christopher begins to turn into something more, she is forbidden to see him by her domineering mother, Dominique. Ultimately, when Sarah discovers Christopher’s true identity and his tie to Nikolas, Sarah finds that she may have to re-think her attitude and her whole world view. After intense internal debate Sarah decides to reveal her identity to Christopher and a wall appears between them. This whole event finally garners her mother's attention and Sarah's mother binds her powers and calls a trial for Sarah's violations( which include associating with vampires and revealing her identity). She manages to escape with the help of her sister Adianna. Christopher's attitude towards her pushes her further into the Vida mind-set and she decides to hunt down Nikolas through Christopher. She gains an opportunity to kill Nikolas but hesitates when she thinks it is Christopher (as Nikolas and Christopher are twin brothers). Nikolas then over-powers Sarah and marks her.