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GOOD Vampire Novels?
i'm a fiend for vampires... and i was long before the whole twilight fandom exploded and butchered the vampiric reputation. i did read the twilight saga (before it was popular) and found it amusing but i could cry about what it has done to vampires, what would bram stoker say lol
moving on from that, i want to know what vampire novels you have read and enjoyed, what ones are worth reading? i have read twilight (as previously stated) though i don't recommend it a few of the vampire chronicles by anne rice (excellent) blood ties series by jennifer armountrout (romance, lots of lemon. not a bad series) dark hunter series by sherrilynn kenyon (romance, lemon warning. my favorite series so far) secret vampire by l.j smith (not bad) taste of crimson by marjorie m. liu (really good) i tried to read chosen by p.c cast but i couldn't finish it, i kept getting a "cult" vibe from it and it completely ruined it for me. am i the only one who noticed the cult-like aspect of the book i'm currently reading dark lover by j.r ward (not bad so far) i would also like to hear what you have to say about the books i have listed, if you have read them, let me know what you thought of them |
I'm not familiar with the books you've listed, but I do have two others I can list as being fun and amusing, though they're kind of heading in the romantic direction if you don't mind that.
The Hollows series by Kim Harrison, beginning with Dead Witch Walking and the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson, starting with Undead and Unwed. The first one is more about a witch who's an investigator with a pixie and vampire as assistants and their various adventures. And then Undead and Unwed is about a model named Betsey turned vampire and... laughs ensue. |
"Sunshine" by Robin McKinley was a book that got me into vampire novels.
Corovignh mentioned the "Undead" series, which is also good. I second that recommendation. |
Have you ever read the Morganville Vampire series? By.. Rachel Caine I do believe? Great stuff, I recommend it.
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I liked the books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
'Demon In My View' and 'In the Forests of the Night' x3 |
If you're over 18yrs I suggest the Anita Blake series by Laurel K Hamilton. Though seriously, don't read it under age. It will be a shock.
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Silver Kiss by Anette Curtis Kaluse
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Might I suggest Anne Rice's vampire trillogy
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Oh, my.. so many are already listed... But I would suggest 'Blue Bloods' by Melissa de la Cruz. There are squeals, but I have had no time to read them yet. It was not hard to follow, plot-wise, and not very elaborate, but I enjoyed the back-story, and how it was written. It actually fits true vampiric lore... Bram Stoker, while I will never discredit him and love his work, did not have such plausible 'facts' in his tall-tales. |
JEANIENE FROST. The end. Halfway to the Grave is the first of her Night Huntress series. Best I've read, thus far.
http://jeanienefrost.com/books/ |
Blood and Gold, and the Vampire Armand (both by Anne Rice, and not part of the Vampire Chronicles)
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Vampire books are a dime a dozen nowadays. I was a vampire buff before the Twilight revolution as well. Ah, the good old days when the undead kicked ass and didn't sparkle like fairies... Which, incidentally, are next on the list of mythical creatures to be raped by literature.
I've gone away from vampires now. They're just not the same anymore. You have to look back toward the Anne Rice days to find anything worthwhile. I was a fan of the Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan though, if you're fine with teen books. Also the Peeps series by Scott Westerfeld. Both have a new, interesting take on vampires. |
I tried reading Interview with the Vampire but nearly fell out of my chair for the boredom (of course I was 14 at the time so that may have had something to do with it). I don't read vampire novels out of habit but one of my favourite novels that happens to focus on a vampire is I, Strahd: Memoires of a Vampire. I've read it twice. Elrod also has a series that she wrote called "The Vampire Files" (graphic novels I think) but I've never read them.
If you are familiar with Dungeons and Dragons or Ravenloft at all, that's where part of the novel comes from. Strahd started life as a villain in an old DnD adventure and the Ravenloft setting came from that. I know the book and two others were re-released recently. If you like other supernatural critters, Strahd is the antagonist in two other novels by James Lowder, Knight of the Black Rose and Spectre of the Black Rose where the main character is a death knight/living dead guy. Evil, murder, and mayhem abound though I didn't find the novels squeamish or anything. |
Anne Rice if you like good long novels to fill a rainy day (i'm partial to Lestat but maybe that's cuz i fangirl over him???), Dracular for the same reasons (i prefer the edited version myself; cuts out the waffle) L. J. Smith also did Black Dawn and Daughters of Darkness, and the Vampire Diaries can be good to, if you don't mind romantic horror.
Do not get me started on Twighlight. Puh-lease, vamps do not sparkle! fairies and pixies sparkle, mermaids sparkle, angels sparkle. Vamps do not sparkle! And can we have a little more well-written story and not cliche and whatever else instead of the laughable literature we got?! Rant, over. Phew. |
Definitely check out the Night Huntress series, by Jeaniene Frost. Her books are AMAZING.
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I have a slightly odd vampire series; House of Night, not quite mainstream and not quite not either.
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Um, Peeps. Peeps by... Scott Westerfield? I think that was the author. It was great, though I hear the sequel... not so much.
Um... Sookie Stackhouse? /shot I love the series to death, though. |
HoN Is hardcore mainstream. xD;
People usually go straight from Twilight, to HoN. Vampire Academy, by Richelle Mead is good too! But.. its young adult. |
HoN wasn't bad until whatever came before "burned" when I think another writer came into the picture cause the style got switched all up in certain chapters and I simply CAN'T read it. Or the voice changed up, whatever. I can't read it.
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They co-authored it. P.C. & Kristen Caste wrote the books together.
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Yup, Gallows is right. xD; Sometimes one of the authors takes over more of the story than the other, and so it sounds... weird.
I stopped reading at the 5th book. Because Zoey started pissing me off. I'll finish the series eventually, though. Since I had this OCD complex of finishing everything I start. |
I manage to look past all the bad bits somehow, in that series at least. I think it's because i find the plot interesting in a way, especially Kalona.
P.C. Caste wrote the Goddess Summoning series on alone, i think they're better for it; less confusing. |
I haven't read her Goddess series, I've been wanting to, though.
I just have SO much catch up to play with the other series I'm reading, I just.. could never find the time. xD; |
I own Goddess of Spring, they're good. steamy though, so if you blush easily it's probably best to read 'em alone ;) Good though, i like the twist on old myths. I'm after the others, particularly Goddess of the Rose
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I absolutely adore Anne Rice's novels, she is brilliant. I also read some of Patricia Briggs novels, but in her novel, that I read, there are werewolves included and sort of take the main role. But other then that her "Mercy Thompson" series is wonderful, knowing that your interested in vampire novels :D
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I love Anne Rice too, own the first four of the Vampire Chronicals, but do not get me started on the film version of Queen of the Damned, i'll go into full-on-rant-mode :D
Oddly, i prefer the film-version of Interview with the Vampire instead of the book. Odd. |
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I love Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. It is a different take on the cliche vampire and I really enjoy her character development and storyline. I like how she mixes mythology (especially Greek mythology) and the legend of vampires together so smoothly. This series is not exactly about traditional take on vampires, but more of a one surrounded by the God Apollo. I am not going into too much detail but you can easily find her work in any book store and also, she has her own convention. Yep.... She is that popular.
I have no idea why I skipped over you mentioned her work lol... My next suggestion will be Christine Feehan. Her work is unique and I like her style. I have not read much, but what I have read is amazing. |
I'll look into that, thanks. Oh, and another slightly steamy series to pick up is Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. It's not just vampires, it's all sorts of creatures, like Valkyries and Sorcerii and Demons and Werewolves . . . and Witches, of course ;)
Very good series, my fave so far is Kiss of a Demon King, which has only got small appearances from the vamps and is centering more around the sorcerii and demons. |
The house of night and the Vampire Academy series I both started, and liked, somewhat. I do agree with you tender about the cultish feel, but it gets better...ish. There's also the Vladamir Todd Books my little brother reads, and I saw a book called iDracula... Didn't get to check it out though...
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I found a version by someone called Bekka Black; basic story of that one is two rebellious teens find themselves in over their heads when the boyfriend of one of the girls returns from vacation in Romania gravely ill and craving blood. It's a modernisation of Bram Stoker's novel written in cell form.
I might check it out to give a glance over, not sure about the cell-novel format though . . . |
It's not quite a "vampire" book in the standard sense, but Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian is a fairly interesting thriller that explores a lot of the origins of vampire mythology.
The plot follows a girl searching for her vanished father, and much of the story is told in flashbacks through letters he sends her. She travels the world, unearthing mysteries about the life of Count Vlad Tepes (the Impaler), trailed by members of a vampire cult (who may or may not actually be real vampires). It's a strange book, but she apparently spent ten years researching it, and it doesn't pander much to the cliches of the vampire genre. I'd say it's worth a read if you're interested in vampire lore (which I'm not, not really, but I still enjoyed it.) |
Now not Vampire books... I recently saw a supernatural book series that I thought looked worth looking into. The first of the books is called War, the second is called Famine. I'll give you one guess what the books are about.
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The four horsemen, who else, where's Death upon his pale steed? ;)
Supernatural in general??? Immortals after Dark, The Goddess Summoning, and The Riley Jenson novels i seriously recommend :D |
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The Vampire Huntress Legends by L.A. Banks is pretty good, though I have only gotten to read the first three of the series myself. |
I found some awesome vampire related novels on the amazon kindle store recently, Joleene Naylor's Amarinthe saga is pretty awesome so far.
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Oh, man. I wish I could remember the name of the book, but I found it to be really good. It's about a woman that falls in love with a vampire who has been following her through all her past lives till that one. That's all I want to give away from the book, but I have no idea what the name of it is. I read it back in Middle School.
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That plot line rings a bell Nanka, it's not Soulmate by L. J. Smith is it??? If not then it has a similar story to it.
Actually, i need to get the third volume of Night World back . . . my boyfriend's pinched it from me . . . -.-' |
The only vampire books I've read and liked have been the Anne Rice novels. Most of what's out there is... less than satisfactory and juvenile. *cough*Twilight*cough*
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Twilight sucks, the woman cannot write . . . i'd burn them, but i don't believe in burning books. It's bad to do it. I refuse to put them in my local charity shop because i don't want some poor unsuspecting person to pick them up.
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