bwkramer's review against another edition
3.0
I'm probably a little harsh on this rating due to this genre simply being overdone and there is nothing new here in my opinion. It's ok... It's a good read, but there was no lasting impact for me. I read it, enjoyed it and it was done.
jmtaylor1981's review against another edition
4.0
So this story...
Think John Steinbeck's Of Mice & Men meets Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, meets Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter....but with a biker gang....set in the 1976 bicentennial.
Nothing about this story should work.
But it totally does.
Rovers may be the biggest surprise for me this year. Hell, the past two years.
I do wish the author would have spent a bit more time immersing his reader in the time period which the story is set. Other than occasional references to music and the bicentennial, there is very little to help you remember that the story is set in 1976 America. You sometimes forget that the story is not set in today.
That being said, Rovers is very entertaining for sure.
Think John Steinbeck's Of Mice & Men meets Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, meets Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter....but with a biker gang....set in the 1976 bicentennial.
Nothing about this story should work.
But it totally does.
Rovers may be the biggest surprise for me this year. Hell, the past two years.
I do wish the author would have spent a bit more time immersing his reader in the time period which the story is set. Other than occasional references to music and the bicentennial, there is very little to help you remember that the story is set in 1976 America. You sometimes forget that the story is not set in today.
That being said, Rovers is very entertaining for sure.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
There's a lot to like about this book. Despite being a vampire tale, it's told in a very literary voice. There are three narratives, one of which belongs to a human hunting the vamps, which is relayed in epistolary fashion, much like Stoker's. It's set in 1976. The vamps portrayed in Lang's version are human in every way except their inability to die by ordinary means, sunlight aversion and, oh yes, the need to feed on human blood. These vamps need feed only once a month, with the exception of infant blood, which will sustain them for a year. I have to admit, that's something I found silly.
These vamps also have no fangs, which adds a level of grittiness to their feeding. They must puncture, rip or tear using tools. Lang does everything to make these camps human and then pushes back some of our sympathy by adding this inconvenience. I've never been a fan of the vampire movie or book that shows us vamps ripping out throats and making a mess of their meal. I think anything as hard to secretly obtain as human blood would be very carefully harvested. The extreme mess of this kind of feeding makes their survivable seem unsustainable to me.
The characters are all very three dimensional, and with few exceptions, solicit pity from the reader. Funny enough, the one human point of view we get got the least sympathy from me, since he has spent his life (after the murder of his son) on the road searching for his killers. This guy abandons his grieving wife, has no money or prospects and no hope of anything other than the vilest of revenge. I can't get behind that.
The brothers depicted, lone vamps called Jesse and Edgar, were my favorites/ Edgar is mentally handicapped, never chose to be a vamp, and has a really hard time with the "nomad in the dark" lifestyle they live by necessity. When Jesse meets a woman he falls in...not love, but nostalgia with, my sympathy for him grew and grew. Life that feels unbearable can be lived because it won't always be this way. For vamps, it will. Always. For hundreds of years.
The final showdown takes place in Las Vegas, and setting it there in 1976, was a stroke of genius. In 1976 Sin City hadn't begun to cater to families yet. It was dark and seedy, Dirty and scary. Exactly the setting where a vampire showdown should take place! It was ironic that these vamps chose to travel throughout the parts of America with the longest days, harshest sunlight and grimiest underbelly.
Each piece, when examined on it's own, was good. It was the whole that failed to grab me. I found it almost a chore to pick up where I had left off, and I also found my mind wool gathering as I read and had to go back. This could have been me, but I still can't give this any more stars.
These vamps also have no fangs, which adds a level of grittiness to their feeding. They must puncture, rip or tear using tools. Lang does everything to make these camps human and then pushes back some of our sympathy by adding this inconvenience. I've never been a fan of the vampire movie or book that shows us vamps ripping out throats and making a mess of their meal. I think anything as hard to secretly obtain as human blood would be very carefully harvested. The extreme mess of this kind of feeding makes their survivable seem unsustainable to me.
The characters are all very three dimensional, and with few exceptions, solicit pity from the reader. Funny enough, the one human point of view we get got the least sympathy from me, since he has spent his life (after the murder of his son) on the road searching for his killers. This guy abandons his grieving wife, has no money or prospects and no hope of anything other than the vilest of revenge. I can't get behind that.
The brothers depicted, lone vamps called Jesse and Edgar, were my favorites/ Edgar is mentally handicapped, never chose to be a vamp, and has a really hard time with the "nomad in the dark" lifestyle they live by necessity. When Jesse meets a woman he falls in...not love, but nostalgia with, my sympathy for him grew and grew. Life that feels unbearable can be lived because it won't always be this way. For vamps, it will. Always. For hundreds of years.
The final showdown takes place in Las Vegas, and setting it there in 1976, was a stroke of genius. In 1976 Sin City hadn't begun to cater to families yet. It was dark and seedy, Dirty and scary. Exactly the setting where a vampire showdown should take place! It was ironic that these vamps chose to travel throughout the parts of America with the longest days, harshest sunlight and grimiest underbelly.
Each piece, when examined on it's own, was good. It was the whole that failed to grab me. I found it almost a chore to pick up where I had left off, and I also found my mind wool gathering as I read and had to go back. This could have been me, but I still can't give this any more stars.
sevencrane's review against another edition
4.0
I was surprised by how sentimental the relationship between Jesse and Edgar was. More than anything, it reminded me of the two brothers in Good Time. It was actually very similar to that movie in mood now that I think about it...moving at night, seedy locations...but set in the southwest and not NYC obviously.
Spoiler
Also, the fact that Jesse the Dracula actually died and went to heaven was very funny. Nice Christian touch.justinlarose's review against another edition
5.0
This book and the world within it pulse with menacing darkness. The atmosphere of a Coen brothers film meets the conflict of a Tarantino-esque rager. The big questions asked by narrow windows of time and space.
jbelang85's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good monster road trip Story
The book was pretty good and went in a few directions I was not expecting with an interesting take on vampires. Would recommend to anyone interested in this sub genre
The book was pretty good and went in a few directions I was not expecting with an interesting take on vampires. Would recommend to anyone interested in this sub genre
jillmurrin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
3.0
Like a lot of reviewers, bought the book after seeing Stephen King's tweet endorsing it as frightful. I don't generally read horror, but there was nothing about this that "scared me". Interesting take on vampires. Overall enjoyable. I mostly enjoyed Jesse and Edgar's chapters and not really the Fiends. One thing that was annoying is retelling multiple scenes from different perspectives. I get it, but it was boring and made me want to skip parts.
Also, I've tried reading reviews on this, but on page 265, the last sentence ends mid-sentence with no period, and the next page is the new chapter. Was that on purpose or a mistake? I was very confused.
Also, I've tried reading reviews on this, but on page 265, the last sentence ends mid-sentence with no period, and the next page is the new chapter. Was that on purpose or a mistake? I was very confused.
ensign_jf's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5