I'm utterly obsessed with Dracula (okay maybe not, but I do happen to love the book), and I was wondering if anyone has any good vampire-ish novels that they'd recommend? Not. Twilight... but "legitimate" vampire novels that are actually scary and don't kill brain cells?
Let the Right One In is really good - the protagonists are adorable, and there's some good old-fashioned human-killing. Also a zombie at one point.
I second this. It's nice to read vampire books where the vampires were rightfully enemies, feared upon, and didn't glow.
What do you mean GOOD vampire novels? Cause I've seen a number of vampire movies, but only read I am Legend (the ending makes it epic!) I'm somewhat of a disadvantage because I have not seen any of the Twilight movies and do not have a clear idea why they are so loathed. I didn't want to see them because it looked like a brooding chick flick.
Let the Right One In, John Lindqvist I Am Legend, Richard Matheson The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova The Traveling Vampire Show, Richard Laymon Vampyrrhic, Simon Clark Interview With a Vampire, Anne Rice The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice Lost Souls, Poppy Z. Brite Children of the Night, Dan Simmons Carrion Comfort, Dan Simmons In no particular order.
I've only read the Twilight books, but I almost keeled over with boredom reading them. Also, they were written in such a simple way that I felt like the author was patting me on the head and treating me like a child, with the way that she developed her plot and characters. And I read them when I 15 Also, thanks everyone for the suggestions!!! I'm going to the library tomorrow to pick some of those up
So I Am Legend IS about vampires?!? We had a huge lunch-table discussion about this last year. Some people said mutated humans, some said vampires, and some said zombies.
Vampires. Whoever said Zombies were thinking of that terrible movie with Will (one-hit wonder) Smith. Whoever said mutated humans ... were lying. I thought this wasn't in the books section at first. My mistake.
I Am Legend was the exact novel that inspired George A. Romero to create Night of the Living Dead, which in turn ignited the whole zombie apocalypse genre. But still it's a vampire novel. And people may have said mutated humans because iirc the disease was described to have vampire like traits, and they may have it seen as that, a disease that causes people to act like vampires, but don't become one. Like how some refuse to refer 28 Days Later and its sequel as a zombie movie because they aren't the undead, rather infected humans. Though you're just splitting hairs at that point.
Well, I kinda thought of that as a zombie movie, but I also think of that as a disease that makes you seem like a zombie I guess. Right?
There's been a lot of debate about what it should be classified. Before Romero, zombie meant someone that was brought back to life. That's it. Didn't mean they would eat anyone they saw in sight and infect others; I think there was a zombie movie long ago in the 40's where a witch brought back people to life to make them work as slaves. Romero single handedly transformed the term zombie into meaning an evil being that will eat you and bring you back to life. Now you have a movie where people would animalistically eat others and infect them with their disease. But, technically they're still alive and weren't brought back to life. If you go by the old definition, it wouldn't be. By the new standards, yeah I guess.
I should also mention "Fledgling," by Octavia Butler. Even though she wrote mostly science fiction, you'll usually find her in the fiction/literature section of the book store.
Jasper Kent has written some very interesting and entertaining historical vampire novels, set in nineteenth century Russia. Worth a read, if you can get your hands on them. I'd also second the recommendations of Let the Right One In and I am Legend. Both are brilliant in very different ways.
If you liked that, and like what I suppose people would consider a more literary vampire novel, you should also check out Fledgling, by Octavia Butler.
Haha, I've never been into the whole vampire craze. I will admit it to you. I've been a snob about Twilight and etc. But one novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, which was about a vampire, was The Otherworldlies. It was awesome. I highly recommend it.
What about hybrid novels, with the vampire theme also running together with a sci-fi or medieval fantasy theme? I have to admit I do not read many vampire books, but I find that in general horror-type books are not very interesting unless A) great author writing it or B) has some twist to it, like it is a genre mix. I find horror/vampire movies to be more entertaining than horror books, though I have heard alot of people say they always prefer the book version of some title to be better than the movie version. In the case of most fiction works in general, I am the opposite, as I enjoy the film version usually over the paper versions. But then again, I do not bother to read the book once I have seen the movie, hehe. One exception though is Stephen King, reading his books is usually better than watching the films, as they can't match the experience of his master prose, scene setup, character descriptions, and just sheer writing skill.
I cannot reccomend The Historian as a good vampire novel - it is just pretentious drivel. I was a fool to read through it but I hate being 'beaten' by a book so rarely stop once I have started. Honestly though the author managed to make magic/ vampires/ fights/ sex/ history/ science/ libraries (things I enjoy reading about) all very boring and then had the cheek to end on a 'cliffhanger' (they can stay on that cliff edge forever!) which for a weighty tome like that is an insult. Finish the story then let the reader decide if they want more. Sorry got my rant on. As you were.
I heard Fevre Dream by George r. r. Martin was quite good. I have a copy but I haven't gotten around to it. I have huge stack of to-read books.
'Salems Lot by Stephen King, and They Thirst (if you can find a copy) by Robert R. McCammon. And I'm kinda partial to my own book.
