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thesawyerbean's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
A dark, eerie and dramatic memoir of the life and experiences of a vampire named Louis, told in the context of an interview with a terrified but intrigued boy.
The story unfurls before us, laced with treachery, eroticism, death, love and a lot of blood; paced with twists, turns and climaxes; and underpinned with a nuanced discussion on existence and the concept of good and evil.
What made me not enjoy it as much as I could’ve was the lack of connection with the protagonist. I know fundamentally he is supposed to be evil as a murderous vampire, but I think in reading vampire fiction we suspend the vilification of this inhumanity as one both expected and understood. However, the seeming obsession in contemporary vampire fiction of making important characters have involvement in the slave trade/confederacy is so off-putting and honestly needless. In addition, his relationship with Claudia (although a grey area considering her actual temporal age), was very strange and gave off similar vibes to that in Lolita. Overall my empathy with Louis was extremely stunted from the get-go which made the rest of the story quite the slog.
That was a shame indeed, as the writing is incredible - vivid, atmospheric and poetic. If my gripes with the characterisation were non existent I’d be tempted to give it 5 stars just for that. As an important part of the vampire canon I’d say this was worth the read, especially for spooky month.
The story unfurls before us, laced with treachery, eroticism, death, love and a lot of blood; paced with twists, turns and climaxes; and underpinned with a nuanced discussion on existence and the concept of good and evil.
What made me not enjoy it as much as I could’ve was the lack of connection with the protagonist. I know fundamentally he is supposed to be evil as a murderous vampire, but I think in reading vampire fiction we suspend the vilification of this inhumanity as one both expected and understood. However, the seeming obsession in contemporary vampire fiction of making important characters have involvement in the slave trade/confederacy is so off-putting and honestly needless. In addition, his relationship with Claudia (although a grey area considering her actual temporal age), was very strange and gave off similar vibes to that in Lolita. Overall my empathy with Louis was extremely stunted from the get-go which made the rest of the story quite the slog.
That was a shame indeed, as the writing is incredible - vivid, atmospheric and poetic. If my gripes with the characterisation were non existent I’d be tempted to give it 5 stars just for that. As an important part of the vampire canon I’d say this was worth the read, especially for spooky month.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail