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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Humor horror is the genre.
If you like Shawn of the Dead or Army of Darkness, this book might be for you. If teenage humor and constant dissing of friends is your thing, this book might be for you. If you live for stereotypes that are never challenged and characters which never grow beyond the initial frat boy, b*tch girl and geek, this book might be for you.
The book fits its genre.
Now I like humor, but the "sly" touch on stereotypes is instead of breaking them, the characters become the epitome of them. The main character, when you get down to it, is so misogynistic and cruel (jokingly) to his friends you wonder how he has any. A lot of homophobic jokes. The only break from stereotype is how the vampire powers work and Bill actually becoming a vampire; the typical vampire is still a smug a-hole.
And I think what really got me is when the main character and his male friends made a joke and then ended with "syke, no just joking" the MC growls, thinks them assholes and but still friends. When the attractive female does it, she is a bitch. I really had hoped when she pulled the "I was in the middle of college with a great GPA" joke it would end with something along the lines of "damn, her humor is just like mine." Nope. And that is one of the major problems with the book - all the characters have the same sense of humor. Which is a cruel, let your friend fail type so often seen on sitcoms.
Some of the geek conversations are truly great, and many of the actions of the characters are in-line with stereotypes. But no one is just a stereotype, and the writer doesn't push this.
If you want juvenile humor, this book really is amusing. But anyone with a touch of feministic support in their brain (male or female), should pass on this book. I gnashed my teeth as often as I smiled while taking the six hours to read this book.
Picked up as part of the Modern Magic pack - 12 paranormal novels, all first novels of a series. An awesome deal! Even if you have to suffer through this book.
If you like Shawn of the Dead or Army of Darkness, this book might be for you. If teenage humor and constant dissing of friends is your thing, this book might be for you. If you live for stereotypes that are never challenged and characters which never grow beyond the initial frat boy, b*tch girl and geek, this book might be for you.
The book fits its genre.
Now I like humor, but the "sly" touch on stereotypes is instead of breaking them, the characters become the epitome of them. The main character, when you get down to it, is so misogynistic and cruel (jokingly) to his friends you wonder how he has any. A lot of homophobic jokes. The only break from stereotype is how the vampire powers work and Bill actually becoming a vampire; the typical vampire is still a smug a-hole.
And I think what really got me is when the main character and his male friends made a joke and then ended with "syke, no just joking" the MC growls, thinks them assholes and but still friends. When the attractive female does it, she is a bitch. I really had hoped when she pulled the "I was in the middle of college with a great GPA" joke it would end with something along the lines of "damn, her humor is just like mine." Nope. And that is one of the major problems with the book - all the characters have the same sense of humor. Which is a cruel, let your friend fail type so often seen on sitcoms.
Some of the geek conversations are truly great, and many of the actions of the characters are in-line with stereotypes. But no one is just a stereotype, and the writer doesn't push this.
If you want juvenile humor, this book really is amusing. But anyone with a touch of feministic support in their brain (male or female), should pass on this book. I gnashed my teeth as often as I smiled while taking the six hours to read this book.
Picked up as part of the Modern Magic pack - 12 paranormal novels, all first novels of a series. An awesome deal! Even if you have to suffer through this book.
Pretty entertaining. Bill is snarky and witty. I will continue to read the series v
This could have been a really funny and enjoyable book. I enjoyed the story. However, I hated the writing. Rick Gaultieri was trying way too hard to be a frat boy, and all though I don't like to make personal insults, I hope you understand me when I say it only made him out to be a prat boy.
Maybe some will say I am older now and a bit of a prude. Anyone that knows me and knows how many times I day I say "for fuck's sake" knows better than to ever call me a prude. I will confess there might have been a time in my life when I was younger when I might have laughed at some of Bill's antics and thoughts. However, I proud to say I am no longer that person. If I met Bill in real life I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him (even with all the vampire stuff aside). if I bothered to count the times he called a female friend "Bitch" in his mind it would be at least a hundred times. If I bothered to count the times he made sexual references to girl's bodies and what he or his mates wanted to do to them, again, well it would take me a while to count them all. And it wasn't just that he made the references. It was that there was also a standard as well. He made clear that some women just weren't physically attractive enough to even warrant a bite. He was no different when it came to men. Sure I guess one can claim that everyone judges each other by their looks. However, these weren't snap judgements. Bill and his mates continued to do exactly this even with vampires/people they knew for any length of time.
It was distracting. It was annoying. It IS WRONG.
I won't preach anymore. But this type of mentality is exactly why...oh hell, there I go again...
Save your money. No person should be valued and judged based solely on their looks. And no book should have dialogue that includes some of the thoughts going on in Bill's head and expect the reader to see him as a "funny good guy". The good old boy frat mentality needs to die...
JMHO
#effyourbeautystandards
Maybe some will say I am older now and a bit of a prude. Anyone that knows me and knows how many times I day I say "for fuck's sake" knows better than to ever call me a prude. I will confess there might have been a time in my life when I was younger when I might have laughed at some of Bill's antics and thoughts. However, I proud to say I am no longer that person. If I met Bill in real life I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him (even with all the vampire stuff aside). if I bothered to count the times he called a female friend "Bitch" in his mind it would be at least a hundred times. If I bothered to count the times he made sexual references to girl's bodies and what he or his mates wanted to do to them, again, well it would take me a while to count them all. And it wasn't just that he made the references. It was that there was also a standard as well. He made clear that some women just weren't physically attractive enough to even warrant a bite. He was no different when it came to men. Sure I guess one can claim that everyone judges each other by their looks. However, these weren't snap judgements. Bill and his mates continued to do exactly this even with vampires/people they knew for any length of time.
It was distracting. It was annoying. It IS WRONG.
I won't preach anymore. But this type of mentality is exactly why...oh hell, there I go again...
Save your money. No person should be valued and judged based solely on their looks. And no book should have dialogue that includes some of the thoughts going on in Bill's head and expect the reader to see him as a "funny good guy". The good old boy frat mentality needs to die...
JMHO
#effyourbeautystandards
This book was seriously awful. Don't ever read it.
I have no issues with vulgarity at all. That seems like a big sticking point for some readers with negative reviews. I could care less. The main character is just a horrible person. And I've read lots of books where the main character is a bad person on purpose, and it makes the book work. In this case, it really feels like the MC is just a wish fulfillment extension for the author, and even THEN he's horrible. And never changes. Never grows. Never gets better. Just keeps being an anti social piece of crap living in his own head with horrible monologues and one liners that are just pathetic.
The "witty banter" people who like the book chirp about is anything but. In any possible exchange where there's some teasing going back and forth between the main character and anyone else -- friends, enemies, anyone, it's just all about the getting last word, not actually being funny. And he'll throw out a bunch of half assed insults, but if anyone says anything back to him, his internal monologue will be calling the other person a bitch or a douche if they get the last word in. And in any case, the comebacks or putdowns or jokes from any of the parties involved aren't clever in the slightest.
This is what a socially broken person thinks it would be like to be awesome. And it's sad. And hard to read. I got to 30% and thought I'd just keep going, because it has to be going somewhere, and the main character has to change, now that he's gone to being a vampire. Nope. Got to 60% and wanted to put it down, but I was getting so annoyed with it I kept going. Almost quit in the 80s, but by that point I just had to hate read it so I could make a review about it being total shit and know I wasn't cheating it to give it such a bad review.
Really, really glad I saw a few reviews like this on Amazon and only got the first book. I was really close to buying the anthology after seeing it highly recommended somewhere online, like Reddit or something.
I have no issues with vulgarity at all. That seems like a big sticking point for some readers with negative reviews. I could care less. The main character is just a horrible person. And I've read lots of books where the main character is a bad person on purpose, and it makes the book work. In this case, it really feels like the MC is just a wish fulfillment extension for the author, and even THEN he's horrible. And never changes. Never grows. Never gets better. Just keeps being an anti social piece of crap living in his own head with horrible monologues and one liners that are just pathetic.
The "witty banter" people who like the book chirp about is anything but. In any possible exchange where there's some teasing going back and forth between the main character and anyone else -- friends, enemies, anyone, it's just all about the getting last word, not actually being funny. And he'll throw out a bunch of half assed insults, but if anyone says anything back to him, his internal monologue will be calling the other person a bitch or a douche if they get the last word in. And in any case, the comebacks or putdowns or jokes from any of the parties involved aren't clever in the slightest.
This is what a socially broken person thinks it would be like to be awesome. And it's sad. And hard to read. I got to 30% and thought I'd just keep going, because it has to be going somewhere, and the main character has to change, now that he's gone to being a vampire. Nope. Got to 60% and wanted to put it down, but I was getting so annoyed with it I kept going. Almost quit in the 80s, but by that point I just had to hate read it so I could make a review about it being total shit and know I wasn't cheating it to give it such a bad review.
Really, really glad I saw a few reviews like this on Amazon and only got the first book. I was really close to buying the anthology after seeing it highly recommended somewhere online, like Reddit or something.
I come of my college roommates or I became a vampire, this is how we'd handle it! Loved this book, funny, entertaining, and it's how vampire books should be! Make this into a movie and I will be there in a heartbeat!
Fun read, and lots of chuckles. I really enjoyed the book and Bill is a geek that I would love to spend time with!
Oh, Bill. You are the best of the vampires. Unless we're counting all the other vampires who know how to be a vampire and they're probably objectively better at vamping than you. But you, Bill, can throw down a Darkwing Duck reference and then kill somebody with an Optimus Prime action figure so, you know, you got that going for you.*
*Reviewer's note: Bill doesn't have a ton more going for him. It's a super fun story of your run of the mill nerd getting turn into an uber-vamp through no fault of his own. You will LIKE this book. I promise. But you will not be impressed, amazed, flabbergasted, shocked, or any other thing. It's super fun and super predictable in equal parts. Good... same...times.
*Reviewer's note: Bill doesn't have a ton more going for him. It's a super fun story of your run of the mill nerd getting turn into an uber-vamp through no fault of his own. You will LIKE this book. I promise. But you will not be impressed, amazed, flabbergasted, shocked, or any other thing. It's super fun and super predictable in equal parts. Good... same...times.
This book was so awful, I returned it to Amazon for a refund. The writing style is so incoherent, the characters were horrible, and the story so lame that I just couldn't force myself to keep reading it. Didn't even make it halfway through the book.
The snark is AWSOME. I laughed each time I have read it. It is a book I go to when I need a good dose of humor.