Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano
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Book Summary Author: Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano Translator: Kevin Leahy Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2005-05-10 ISBN: 1595820124 Number of pages: 300 Publisher: Dark Horse Books/Digital Manga Publishing |
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Book Reviews of the Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1
Customer Review: Not Great Literature, but Great Fun Nonetheless
Summary: 3 Stars
While I know many Americans are familiar with the manga "Vampire Hunter D", the popular series of Japanese novels have finally been translated into English and are being published in the US. This novel, set in the year AD 12,090, is an entertaining mix of genres, most importantly post-apocalyptic futurism and basic horror, with little sword and sorcery thrown in.
Vampires have ruled humanity since the 21th century, after humanity initiated the last world war. Now their time is coming to an end, humanity is reasserting itself, and specially trained humans are needed to kill the various monsters, mutants, and vampires that still prey on mankind.
D (the only name he is given) is such a hunter. D is a dhampir, the off-spring of a vampire father and a human mother. With his tremendous supernatural powers, D agrees to help young farm girl Doris fend of the ammorous attentions of Count Magnus Lee, one of the few vampires to rule his domain.
First, the unpleasant truth. This isn't a particulary well-written book. There is the caveat that this is a _translated_ work. However, I suspect that this was a pretty literal translation. Stylistically, Kikuchi seems to be heavily influenced by 19th century European works as well as early 20th century pulp ficion--many of the turns of phrase, elaborate description of setting, reminded me of an imitation of H.P. Lovecraft imitating Charles Dickens. Kikuchi has an interesting tendency to editorialize about the qualities of his characters: the villains are evil, he states over and over, and the heroes are good. Consequently, the character development is enough to keep the action going.
This may sound negative, but it's not meant to be. So the stuff ain't Shakespeare. I did enjoy the novel, even if its artistic merit is limited. The action sequences are vividly described, the plot is intriguing, there's a fair ammount of suspense, and the characters are likeable. The dialog is servicable, but never really clangs on the ears. In a sense, "Vampire Hunter D" is comparable to a summer blockbuster. Its light, fun, and keeps the reader turning the pages.
One big problem I had was the formatting. There was not a hyphen to be found, and so the end margins were uneven. Hopefully DH Publishing will clean this up for the rest of the series, as it was a distraction.
I do look forward to the next novel in the series. I don't think I've signed on as a fan, so to speak, but there are worse ways to spend the afternoon.