24th August 2024

I’ve been wanting to read this ever since it was published. It came with a massive publicity campaign which couldn’t possibly have missed me.

It’s the story of a vampire hunter, told by himself, in conversation with a historian who is also a vampire. Or at least it is for the opening few chapters that I got through before giving up.

I found the format really hard going. The choice of language is a bit weird - sort of slightly archaic but with random drops of repeated French phrasing, and occasional crude references dropped in that do nothing to make the narration seem likeable. And then the fact that the whole thing is verbal, in quote marks, and occasionally ally interrupted. Really breaks up the flow and makes it hard to focus on the actual story being told.

I had hoped after that format of introduction that it would settle down to a more normal narrative, but that’s didn’t happen in the next few chapters. Add to this that the font is really small, and there are 700+ pages, and I’m afraid there really wasn’t enough enjoyment to continue.

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