I enjoyed the idea of this book much more than I actually enjoyed the book, unfortunately. I didn’t have the nostalgia piece many people talk about when they rave about Viktor Valentine, I just had the thought of, “would my students like this?” Unfortunately, the pacing was just off. It took too long to get to the juicy parts and most of my students would have lost interest before they got to find out what was going to happen. Knowing that this was the first book in a series so it was setting up for future books makes it make more sense that it took so long but again, it would have lost my kids shortly into it.

The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine by Z Brewer explores the idea that not everything is as crystal clear as we initially thought.

Will Viktor figure out what his parents are hiding?

Viktor Valentine
Viktor Valentine has a pretty ordinary life. He has a mom, a dad, and a younger sister. Not only that, but a best friend that has been with him through everything. Well, that is until Damon, the best friend, got new friends over the summer and now Viktor doesn't think he can compete with them since they are so much cooler than him. Despite that, Viktor has more to worry about. Why are his parents suddenly acting weird? I have to say that I feel a bit bad for Viktor and how everything has happened to him at the beginning of seventh grade. Viktor is definitely not a kid that I would've hung out with back in middle school.

The Story
Viktor Valentine is trying to enjoy the last day of summer vacation before heading back to school. Until his mom tells him, she has volunteered him to help at the library. The first period of the new school year is basically when everything really changes for Viktor. I have to say that a lot of things happen pretty fast, but I do feel bad for Viktor overall. Viktor seems like a nice kid who has a strange family dynamic.

Four Stars
My rating is four stars for The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine by Z Brewer. I suggest you give this book a shot and see what you think of it. Some parts I didn't really care for, and some I did. Z did a great job of immersing me in the story and wanting to know what happened next.

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine by Z Brewer.

Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness

If you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out Baroness Book Trove.

What worked:
From the book’s synopsis, readers already know Viktor’s parents are vampires but Viktor himself is a mystery. The sight of blood makes him dizzy although it doesn’t affect him while playing his favorite video game. He’s often battling a zombie apocalypse with his best friend Damon and blood and gore splatter everywhere. Damon is Viktor’s only friend until a new girl named Alys moves in across the street. Young readers can identify with his middle-school insecurities, especially with a bullying girl living right next door.
Readers have a good idea of what will happen but the author lets the events slowly unfold. This piques their anticipation as they wonder when Viktor will realize the truth about his parents. Viktor’s mother volunteers at a blood bank while his father designs coffins. The opening chapters reveal that Alys and her parents are vampire hunters and they’ve moved to Nowhere to kill one. Alys is nice to Viktor and becomes his friend but readers will know she’s actually collecting information about his family. However, Alys’s father isn’t happy that she displayed sympathy for their previous target and it’s unclear what she’ll do this time. Readers will root for Viktor as he’s just a nice guy trying to survive the early days of seventh grade. It feels wrong for vampire hunters to take advantage of a kind, innocent boy but that adds intrigue to the story. The plot has a bit of a Romeo and Juliet vibe going on.
A couple of supporting characters add to the story’s uncertainty as readers try to figure out if they’re normal humans or friends of vampires. Viktor’s mother insists he volunteer in the school library and she’s helpful with locating vampire information. A substitute English teacher doesn’t fit the description of a “normal” educator. Her appearance gives off a strong goth vibe and she has a special interest in the supernatural. She scraps the regular teacher’s lesson plans and has the students read the novel Dracula. Viktor is startled by her reaction when he shows her his father’s original copy of the novel. Readers will wonder about the backstories of these characters and others.
What didn’t work as well:
The downside of the synopsis is that readers already know what’s going to happen up until the climax. There aren’t as many opportunities for surprises and twists which may not appeal to some readers. However, many truths are revealed during the climax that will make readers want to read the sequel as soon as it’s published.
The final verdict:
The book touches readers’ emotions as an innocent boy doesn’t realize he’s at the center of a brewing storm. He just wants to have friends and survive middle school and doesn’t know his family is in danger. The book will appeal to lovers of vampires and goth and I recommend you give it a shot.

Viktor is an average kid living a boring town called Nowhere. Summer vacation is almost over and Viktor will be in seventh grade with his best friend Damon. But, it turns out that things are not exactly what they seem and the people around Viktor have been keeping a big secret. Will they all survive? This is a really fun read and I think the kids are going to like it a lot.

🏘Good mix of real adolescence with paranormal suspense👀

4-4.5🌟 stars
I enjoyed this tale of a pre-teen boy coming of age amongst a passel of secrets his family wants to keep from him. It's a really adroit mix of real pre-teen issues about initial dealings with the opposite sex, trying to fit in and deal with bullies, handling feelings of abandonment when his best friend starts splitting his time with a larger social circle, etc, and the main character's growing suspicion that vampires may be real and close to home in Viktor Valentine's backwater town. I found it a total page-turner, with action, suspense and a very realistic, grounded main character in Viktor.

I believe the plot and characters would easily appeal to a young reader as well.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for sharing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest opinion.

I remember reading “The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod” when I was younger and feeling seen and amazed by this story. Loving the twists and turns each book brought. How the series became one of my favorite book series of all time!


Z Brewer’s brings up back to Elysia with “The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine” and I loved it! It gave me the same nostalgic feeling their original book gave me and I was so excited to be back to this world.

Bringing back some supporting characters that needed the love and even one BIG CHARACTER from the original series (even though their part is a blink and you miss it part) it was amazing and I was happy that these characters had a bigger role.

I love that these new characters and drama are not the same as the original. It would not be a Z Brewer’s book if it doesn’t leave you with questions and excited for the next book!

Overall, great addition to an already amazing series and cannot wait to continue the story of Viktor and his friends. And I need more of the legacy characters back…*HINT HINT*
4.5/5

This was a really clever take on vampires living in 21st century suburbia. I liked how the author keeps the reader on their toes as to whether there are real-life vampires, and if there are, who they might be. There's also a nice mystery at the end which should keep younger readers excited for the next book in the series. I am especially interested to see if the relationship between Viktor and Alys changes. I don't think there is anything that would be too scary for younger readers or cause nightmares. And, hey, maybe it will inspire a few to check out Dracula at some point in their reading future. My only problem with the story is that Viktor's parents are some pretty heinous people from back in their day - the Dracula from the book is pretty awful and does some terrible things and Elizabeth Bathory murdered innocent young women in an attempt at immortality. And all is forgiven because they now play happy family in modern day? I also found the story about Viktor's birth mother to be unsettling and to also leave some pretty big questions regarding his biological family. Was his mother really one of Lilith's minions? Does he have any family out there wondering what happened to his mother and him? Obviously these are thoughts that may only be had by older readers and may go right over the heads of the intended audience here.

This book felt nostalgic to me - the vibes, the plot, the characters are great for older and younger readers.

Viktor Valentine is your typical middle schooler. He is loathing the end of summer and the start of the school year, he worries about his best friend, Damon, starting to like his cool friends more than him, and he has parents that make him cringe with dad jokes and signing him up for things he doesn't want to do. All Viktor really wants to do is eat junk food with Damon and play the video game All the Vampires Everywhere. But this school year is starting off different with a substitute teacher that assigns the book Dracula to the class which he usually hates reading but this book is cool. And his parents are hiding something. Between his parents acting sneaky and have a lot of blood on them at times Viktor is wondering if between the video game and the book his imagination is getting the best of him or his parents are vampires. He's determined to find out what his parents are hiding and to spark a friendship with the cute girl that just moved in across the street.

First, I really connected with Viktor. He brought back so many memories of when I was in middle school even though I was a weird kid that loved school and reading. But Victor feels weird and I think we all do at that age. I really appreciated that Z Brewer made Viktor's character multi-faceted and didn't stick with the typical tropes of being a young 7th grade boy. All of the additional characters were great and I found the introduction of some characters so intriguing. Especially the new neighbors. The parents are top tier in my book and even though this is a middle grade I would totally read an adult novel based on the parents.

I also really enjoyed the setting of the book. It's set in that magical time of late summer, early fall and adds that vibe of the weather turning and school beginning. The beginning of a new school year always brings changes - who will I sit with at lunch, will I make any new friends, will I keep my older friends, how can I get through this school year as painless as possible, etc.. The new girl is at the forefront of Viktor's mind which is new for him along with the questions he has about his parents. The setting of the small town where everyone knows each other and everyone gets food at the local diner made it feel cozy.

The plot itself is fantastic as well! It moves along at a pretty even pace but then the last quarter of the book the action is cranked up. The beginning of the book you're getting sucked into this mystery and wondering what is real and what is just a 7th graders imagination. And then when you finally start getting answers you get all of the answers! It feels like this was set up to be a series which I really hope it is. I would love to learn more about the different characters and see how the story unfolds with all the knowledge we now have about the family and other characters in the story.

I highly recommend and think this is a great middle grade book to get into this fall.