Vampire books are in great demand. Adults, young adults, children and almost everybody else wants to read them. They are one of the most sought after genres of books. Recently with the success of twilight books and movies and the TV shows “True Blood”, Being Human”, Vampire Diaries” etc. there has been a great demand not only for the books from which movies and shows were created from, but also for other vampire books.
This has also caused writers to write many new vampire fiction books which have gone on to have great success. This article is about the best vampire books out there. This post is different from the best vampire series post which will soon be available on the website.
These are mainly single books that stand alone are not part of any series…
1. Fevre Dream by George R R Martin
350 pages
Abner Marsh is a successful and skilled boat captain. But due to a harsh winter that particular year, he loses almost all his boats. He has just one left. This chaotic situation makes him go bankrupt, which makes him desperate.
Joshua York a rich mysterious person comes to his rescue. He tells Abner that he’s ready to fund the building of a ship, which they can co-captain. He also puts a condition that, when on board nobody questions his and all his friends behaviour. Abner in his desperate state, agrees to the deal and a powerful new steamboat called Fevre Dream is built.
On board everybody the crew and the passengers get suspicious of Joshua and his friends behaviour. They have odd eating habits and they only come out at night. This gets Abner suspicious too and he breaks the deal and ventures into Joshua’s cabin to find out more. He finds stuff in Joshua’s cabin which makes him more suspicious and he confronts Joshua about it, who tells him all about himself, vampires and more.
This book’s a beautiful fantasy Novel. It’s full of horror, friendship and hope. All through a well paced and amazing book. Also as the article title says it is a vampire book.
2. Dracula by Bram Stoker
352 pages
Jonathan Harker a new solicitor is on his way to Transylvania to explain the purchase of a new estate to a foreign count. He’s count Dracula. At first Jonathan is happy with the counts hospitality and his friendliness.
He later finds out that count Dracula is a vampire who is holding him hostage in his castle and plans to find out more about England from him. The count wants to know more about England as he plans to shift there and feed on the humans and he does.
In England the count ends up attacking Jonathan’s Fiancée Mina’s friend, Lucy. This angers her friends Mina, Quincey, Arthur, Seward and Abraham Van Helsing, who, joined by Jonathan, who eventually escapes from the castle, chase Dracula.
All together a wonderful book to read. It’s very descriptive and imaginative. The story in the book is mainly revealed through entries in journals and letters. This lets you see the story in different angles. If you’re a fan of horror and vampires you must read this book. You will like it even more if you’re a fan of history.
3. Let me In (Let the Right One in) by John Ajvide Lindqvist
480 pages
Oskar’s a 12 year old boy. He’s very lonely and is both physically and mentally bullied in school. During this lonely time he makes friends with a 12 year old girl called Eli. Eli is lonely too and she has her own problems. Both of them grow really close even though Oskar later finds out that Eli is actually a 200 year old vampire.
She looks really young because she got converted into a vampire when she was really young. Eli preys on the drunkards and the late night wanderers, some of whom get infected by her and turn into vampire themselves.
Later on the problems both of them deal with worsen and they get really close to each other as they deal with them together.
One of the best vampire novels ever, it mainly deals with emotions like fear, loneliness and friendship. It also deals with some serious problems in the world today. This novel has the ability to really scare you.
4. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
720 pages
A girl who is the narrator of the story finds a book and some letters. The book is entirely blank except for a woodcut dragon and the words Dracula. This gets her really curious so she decides to ask her father, who is a historian, about the book.
Her father then recites a story about his search for Dracula, taking him back many decades. He talks about how he and his professor, and later his professor’s daughter and he, go on a quest across Europe to track down Dracula. The story revolves around all the myths surrounding Dracula.
If you’re a fan of Dracula, vampires and history you will really enjoy reading this story. It’s got a wonderful plot and really good characters. It brings all the myths surrounding Vlad the Impaler and Dracula come to life. You can really feel it.
5. Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
480 pages
Ben Mears a really troubled man moves back to Salem’s Lot, where he grew up as a child, as he feels that moving back to Salem’s Lot will help him move on from his troubled past. Salem’s Lot is a small town where everybody knows everybody. On moving to the town he meets Susan Norton who helps him move on and everything seems to get better.
He seems to start enjoying the close community in this town. Then all of a sudden bad things occur one after another. A boy goes missing, his brother dies and many other people start dying one after the other. Ben and Susan soon realize that something odd is happening and when they find out more about it, they decide to take action and help the town get rid of its problems.
This is one of Stephen King’s best books ever. He himself has says so. The plot and the characters are amazing and the story has a very smooth flow. It’s a fun to read, entertaining and horror filled book. If you like vampires you should love this book as this book is creeping with them.
Have you read any of the stories above and did you enjoy reading them? Have you got any favourite vampire stories and novels that I haven’t mentioned above?