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waywardskyril's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
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What can I say? This book was... It was... very intriguing... very original, even with the cliches there was some difference to make it new and cool. There were bizarre creatures, surprising twists, and truly epic characters. I also usually enjoyed the way the book was written.
The way it was written... I felt as if the author was watching everything unfold and then describing it to his readers. This was kind of strange and fun, but at the same time, it could be confusing because he was trying to let the reader come to conclusions and connect some dots himself.
There was this process occasionally of reading something and thinking something important just happened, but you're really not sure what:
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Then you'd start to figure it out:
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Then it would occur to you, and the author would be sitting there going:
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Out of everything, my main complaint is the swearing. There was quite a lot of it, and some hard stuff too. This book would have been equally good without any of it. It's frustrating reading such an interesting book and then coming across all of that. I mean come on, really?
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What can I say? This book was... It was... very intriguing... very original, even with the cliches there was some difference to make it new and cool. There were bizarre creatures, surprising twists, and truly epic characters. I also usually enjoyed the way the book was written.
The way it was written... I felt as if the author was watching everything unfold and then describing it to his readers. This was kind of strange and fun, but at the same time, it could be confusing because he was trying to let the reader come to conclusions and connect some dots himself.
There was this process occasionally of reading something and thinking something important just happened, but you're really not sure what:
Then you'd start to figure it out:
Then it would occur to you, and the author would be sitting there going:
Out of everything, my main complaint is the swearing. There was quite a lot of it, and some hard stuff too. This book would have been equally good without any of it. It's frustrating reading such an interesting book and then coming across all of that. I mean come on, really?
romiress's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
It was an interesting read. VHD is a classic, but it's one that hasn't really been emulated. The setting feels completely unique and very well thought out, but 'super powerful vampire MC turns out to be dracula/related to dracula/etc' has been around the block and then some. Feels very dated in some ways.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Misogyny
supau's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Never would 15 year-old me expect 42 year-old me to be reading a Vampire Hunter D light novel, yet here we are.
It's nuts. Any book that starts "12,090 AD. It is a dark time for the world" is something at least worth checking out. I thought the world-building was really, really awesome and there were some interesting characters to latch on to (i.e. Larmica).
I expected to power this one and never again, but I'd totally read another one of these. But first, the movie!
It's nuts. Any book that starts "12,090 AD. It is a dark time for the world" is something at least worth checking out. I thought the world-building was really, really awesome and there were some interesting characters to latch on to (i.e. Larmica).
I expected to power this one and never again, but I'd totally read another one of these. But first, the movie!
sabocat'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? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
aquamarinex's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
paper_dragon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
sandrarbookriot's review against another edition
4.0
The plot follows a young woman named Doris who hires a Vampire Hunter named D to kill the vampire that bit her.
There are a lot of elements in this plot. You have Doris relying on D to fight and defeat Count Magnus Lee, the vampire that attacked Doris. The Count aims to turn Doris into a vampire so he can have her as his wife. The Count’s daughter is trying to prevent this union. There is a lot more in this story that will take me forever to type but it is pretty good.
The book does deserve praise. Despite that Kikuchi writes kinda flowery. The characters are well-written and the setting is well developed.
My issue and the reason why It is 4 stars is because of the audiobook. I spent 4 years being an audio editor and learning how to clean them up to make them sound smooth.
Let me explain, humans, make a lot of sounds with their mouths that they might not know that they are doing. These sounds can be ticks, sighs, teeth sounds, the pronunciation of letters that are drawn out, lisps that affect how one may pronounce letters, etc. In this audiobook, the S sound is very strong. For me, it is hard to miss because that should have been cut down or noted by the editors for removal. What I mean by noted is sometimes, you need permission before you can cut something out/down in the audiobooks.
Anyway, that strong sound of S is hard to miss in the first chapter. It does get better as the story progresses but for me, it's annoying my audio editor side due to how strong it is compared to all the other words and letters within this story. There are also breath sounds within this audio that should have been cleaned up but overall pretty good book. I enjoyed it.
There are a lot of elements in this plot. You have Doris relying on D to fight and defeat Count Magnus Lee, the vampire that attacked Doris. The Count aims to turn Doris into a vampire so he can have her as his wife. The Count’s daughter is trying to prevent this union. There is a lot more in this story that will take me forever to type but it is pretty good.
The book does deserve praise. Despite that Kikuchi writes kinda flowery. The characters are well-written and the setting is well developed.
My issue and the reason why It is 4 stars is because of the audiobook. I spent 4 years being an audio editor and learning how to clean them up to make them sound smooth.
Let me explain, humans, make a lot of sounds with their mouths that they might not know that they are doing. These sounds can be ticks, sighs, teeth sounds, the pronunciation of letters that are drawn out, lisps that affect how one may pronounce letters, etc. In this audiobook, the S sound is very strong. For me, it is hard to miss because that should have been cut down or noted by the editors for removal. What I mean by noted is sometimes, you need permission before you can cut something out/down in the audiobooks.
Anyway, that strong sound of S is hard to miss in the first chapter. It does get better as the story progresses but for me, it's annoying my audio editor side due to how strong it is compared to all the other words and letters within this story. There are also breath sounds within this audio that should have been cleaned up but overall pretty good book. I enjoyed it.
readerbot_lu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-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
Did I like it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes
Do I recommend it? Yes
Favorite Quote
"Transient guests are we." (25%)
“It would be so easy for me to send you into the hereafter but I fear dispatching you so quickly would leave you ill-equipped to testify to my infamy in the afterlife.” (Rei-Ginsei, 45%)
“It would be so easy for me to send you into the hereafter but I fear dispatching you so quickly would leave you ill-equipped to testify to my infamy in the afterlife.” (Rei-Ginsei, 45%)
Positives
This book entertained me, mostly through my problematic fave, Rei-Ginsei. There were a couple of really intense scenes with him and D. I also enjoyed how the story tried to build up suspense for the hand face (which didn’t work for me because I’ve watched both Vampire Hunter D anime). Part of my enjoyment was comparing the book with the anime and considering the changes made.
Negatives
Some of my gripes with this volume are craft-related and some are character-related. In terms of craft, there is a lot of flowery word choice (which could be due to the translation or just the atmosphere of the original) and the occasional jarring narrative jump to post-apocalyptic history lessons. As for the characters, it got irritating really fast how D and Doris were described as attractive whenever they had a new character interact with them. Also, despite Doris’ “hunter training” from her father, she still constantly needed to be saved by D.