When I started this book, I was surprised by the urgency and hyperbole of the author's writing style, which led me to some research, by which I doscovered that this book os dort of the latesr installment of a Japanese horror franchise from the 1980's. Read in that light, it feels true tp what I would expect and hope for. The characters and conflict are interesting and well-paced. I love the narration style and find it to be appropriate to the book. I have some reservations about women's roles in the book, but won't be exploring that today. Over all, I enjoyed the story and feel I've learned something new-- which is what I want in a book.

Excellent narration that draws you into this dark fantasy. Anyone looking for interesting characters and a story that tells you a lot in a short time look no further. A perfect audiobook to compliment this classic anime.

Inspired by the book Dracula, this is an amazing narrative by author @hidemaro

What's great:
🧛‍♂️ The world of Vampires, humans and werewolves
🧛‍♀️ The charachter development of Doris is to fall in love with, she is fierce, independent and horribly good 😜
🧛‍♂️ The hunter D will keep you thinking till last moment what roots has he originated from
🧛‍♂️ Don't compare it with other Vampire based novels and you will be good to go n read this
🧛‍♀️ The book also has hints of Greek mythology characters in it, which is a bonus for me
🧛‍♂️ It's a graphic novel 🥰 + It's chapter has names, unlike just regular numbers (somehow that increases the reading experience for me)

What could be better?
🧛‍♂️ The entry of Villan no. 1 (let's call them this way to avoid spoilers) was verrrrry predictable, I could tell by his "too nice" behavior that things will go down hill
🧛‍♀️ There could be a bit more details about the White weapon used to kill.... such as where it's made from, why it does what it does, you know to add a bit of more context 🤔


Overall, the reading experience was great because of the writing + the narration.

🩸🩸🩸🩸/5 Blood drops

"Transient guests are we..." I remember that line from when a buddy was talking about Vampire Hunter D an UNCOMFORTABLE number of years ago. To this day I love the way it can be applied to the vampires and the humans in this setting.

This is an excellent version of the first volume (and animated feature) of Vampire Hunter D. It gives the audience a taste of the techo-frontier wasteland of the far future. And the ice cold visage of D, a dhamphir vampire hunter who is an icon to this day.

The action, tone, and setting are conveyed admirably by Paul Boehmer in this audiobook adaptation. The only downsides of the story are I am unsure if some tropes have aged well. Fans of the property can rest easy.

Also as a representative for redheads we do not claim Greco...

This is the first light novel I've ever "read". I said "read", because I was offered a free audiobook to listen to from NetGalley, and it's a manga. So how do you listen to a manga? Well, it's certainly far easier for me to listen to it than to read one.

I'm not a fan of mangas, or anime, or light novels, it turns out. There's a lot of tropes here which are rooted in patriarchy and misogyny that irk me beyond what I can handle for a regular book.

And yet, within the first 10 min out soon-to-be-hero encounters the most gorgeous of women in a wasteland (sorry, we have to infantalize her, so she's a "girl" in the text), who proceeds to strip off her cape and challenge him to a duel. And then offer her body as payment for his service of hunting a vampire (later it's revealed she's a 17 year old virgin who hadn't even ever held hands before - Madonna-Whore complex much, Mr Author?). This is entirely the type of story I loathe. But I am clearly not the audience. The type of reader who enjoys light novels enjoys these tropes, from what I've gleaned of people who read them and discuss them online.

Add on top of that the completely impossible futuristic post-apocalyptic landscape that clearly has scarcity issues yet still manages to have cows, and I have to question just about everything. Also, "protein-rich vegetation"? This author has never actually looked up how much protein is in plants: spoiler, the rhino got that size from eating plants. The writing is amateurish, though the translator probably did a good job; something I can't judge. The writing style is at times 2nd person, and at other times like a narrator telling us what is going on and questioning the narrative. It jumps between the two without demarcation, and at other times it jumps between being in one characters head to another character. It's quite confusing.

Unfortunately this did not work for me at all. If you like light novels and supporting the patriarchy this book is probably for you. If you want more depth, logical consistency, and no sexism, I suggest moving on. There's better vampire hunter books out there.

As to the audiobook: well read, good voice on the narrator, and I give him props for not letting any of his own emotion cloud his voice while he had to read this book. And one extra point for actually howling like a werewolf. Hilarious.