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tacanderson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
It dawned on me while reading this book, these are basically the Japanese vampire equivalent of American noir detective pulp. But these are very inventive and enjoyable even if all the characters are pretty two dimensional.
briandbremer's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
This is an above average Vampire novel. Trading place on the far future, that's sci fi mixed in with the horror elements. There is a slight change of characterization of the original vampire from the first book that is odd (makes him more of a typical vampire).
a_writer_guy's review against another edition
4.0
Another installment of badassery from Vampire Hunter D. I think what I've loved about these books so far is that they aren't terribly long or overly complicated, but they're gripping and keep you turning the pages. This book was a little bit of a different look at D. It showed a bit more of a personal side of him. Not by much, but he is freaking D after all, so you can't expect too much. When he told a vampire he wouldn't kill it because he doesn't work without compensation, I laughed pretty hard. Another great installment. Can't wait for the next.
oddroad's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
paperrhino's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aoc's review against another edition
3.0
I experienced some disappointment returning to the world of Vampire Hunter D with the second novel, Raiser of Gales. Why? Well, I'll get into it, but in TL;DR form it essentially doubles down on all the things I did not like in the first one while retaining only some of favorable elements.
Going by the two stories I've read so far it very much seems Vampire Hunter D stories are standalone affairs which makes for a great jumping in point since you can start with any of them. It also presents a major problem for me personally - the world is treated as already established so Raiser of Gales gives you a more truncated take on the setting. This "post-apocalypse meets magic meets SF" melting pot with an oddly anachronistic mannerism was the big draw in the first place. Nevertheless, there are some interesting bits here when D goes into ancient ruins belonging to Nobility and waxes poetic about genetics of all things as a topic that comes perfectly natural to a wandering Dhampir. This is either one of those things that makes Vampire Hunter D interesting to the reader or eye rolling mumbo-jumbo to gloss over.
As befitting a Hunter scouring the Frontier, D once again finds himself hired by a village mayor to sort out their problems. Village in question is called Tepes. Yeah. Inventive naming aside, villagers have always existed in the shadow of a nearby hill and looming ruins of now gone vampiric Nobility. So much so they never figured out what happened to four missing children of which only three eventually returned. It's been ten years since then and killing seems to have started again with the most unlikely scenario on everyone's lips - day-walking vampires. That's enough to even get the Vigilance Committee from the Capital to check things out...
Once again I'm not sure how much of this is due to translation or original Japanese, but Raiser of Gales is such a jumbled mess of a narrative. In some half-realized effort to keep the suspense going there's more than few instances of not clearly conveying PoV shifting, preferring obtuse obfuscation over honest mystery [let's not talk about it], and just plain old awkward dialog. That last part could be due to a 17 year old girl playing a major role with all the teen quirks you'd expect, though. D is about as close to a non-character who trounces everything standing in his way, but since we're bashing characters let me pull a 180 here and say I actually liked how almost everyone is a bastard or has an agenda. This is not some some idyllic utopia as places like that would never survive on the Frontier where might makes right. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, fawning over D's beauty is still an obsession of the author to a point it becomes detrimental in mood establishing. Just to show this isn't bias on my end there's much WORSE imagined and done to Lina resulting in some graphical scenes. You have been warned.
I enjoyed the story after all the cards were on the table during the last few chapters. Journey to that point was at times excruciating, though. In my opinion story also has far too many characters who end up as distractions or Red Herrings. Ending itself was genuinely heartwarming demonstrating minute, but lasting impact of the events.
Going by the two stories I've read so far it very much seems Vampire Hunter D stories are standalone affairs which makes for a great jumping in point since you can start with any of them. It also presents a major problem for me personally - the world is treated as already established so Raiser of Gales gives you a more truncated take on the setting. This "post-apocalypse meets magic meets SF" melting pot with an oddly anachronistic mannerism was the big draw in the first place. Nevertheless, there are some interesting bits here when D goes into ancient ruins belonging to Nobility and waxes poetic about genetics of all things as a topic that comes perfectly natural to a wandering Dhampir. This is either one of those things that makes Vampire Hunter D interesting to the reader or eye rolling mumbo-jumbo to gloss over.
As befitting a Hunter scouring the Frontier, D once again finds himself hired by a village mayor to sort out their problems. Village in question is called Tepes. Yeah. Inventive naming aside, villagers have always existed in the shadow of a nearby hill and looming ruins of now gone vampiric Nobility. So much so they never figured out what happened to four missing children of which only three eventually returned. It's been ten years since then and killing seems to have started again with the most unlikely scenario on everyone's lips - day-walking vampires. That's enough to even get the Vigilance Committee from the Capital to check things out...
Once again I'm not sure how much of this is due to translation or original Japanese, but Raiser of Gales is such a jumbled mess of a narrative. In some half-realized effort to keep the suspense going there's more than few instances of not clearly conveying PoV shifting, preferring obtuse obfuscation over honest mystery [let's not talk about it], and just plain old awkward dialog. That last part could be due to a 17 year old girl playing a major role with all the teen quirks you'd expect, though. D is about as close to a non-character who trounces everything standing in his way, but since we're bashing characters let me pull a 180 here and say I actually liked how almost everyone is a bastard or has an agenda. This is not some some idyllic utopia as places like that would never survive on the Frontier where might makes right. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, fawning over D's beauty is still an obsession of the author to a point it becomes detrimental in mood establishing. Just to show this isn't bias on my end there's much WORSE imagined and done to Lina resulting in some graphical scenes. You have been warned.
I enjoyed the story after all the cards were on the table during the last few chapters. Journey to that point was at times excruciating, though. In my opinion story also has far too many characters who end up as distractions or Red Herrings. Ending itself was genuinely heartwarming demonstrating minute, but lasting impact of the events.