Review: Tale of the Dead Town (4th) Hideyuki Kikuchi

Title - Tale of the Dead Town

Author - Hideyuki Kikuchi

Year - 1986 (Japan) 2006 (RoW)

Stand Alone or Series - Fourth on Vampire Hunter D series

Pages - 171

Reading Time - 28 days 

Rating - 6.5/10

Review and General Opinion

This novel was a bit different than the first and third novel which I enjoyed a lot. The second book was a bit different. When I say different I say about the way the tales are told. Some are works have become less descriptive and more action-driven. To me it's not always that good. This is a rich world and it's a shame that we are losing it. These novel begins as D saves a woman (not so different as all other novels) and meeting an "ally" as he journey to his next job in a floating city. There he will find that things are not always what they seem to be. The story is quite straightforward. A vampire (or two) is stalking the city but they are of a different breed as they need blood to survive they have other qualities different from the noble vampires.  As the tale follows the detective D he finds some hidden secrets by some of the characters. In all the tale there isn't anyone capable of harming D (as in the previous novels). I enjoyed Pluto VIII (the "ally" of D) and in the end I was pleased by the tale.

Criticisms

- There are always a young girl needing rescue
- The movie-script look alike. This upsets me. The first novel didn't appear that way but this is something I am currently facing in latter novels.
- The long chapters. (not that big criticism)
- Maybe is just the translation but some bits are quite odd to decipher what a heck is happening.
- Vampire Hunter D; our hero is quite a character. Is anyone capable of defeating him? Is any character in all next novels capable of making him sweat a little? Godlike.

Good
- Vampire Hunter D: The Hero is quite an amazing "super-hero". All it's power and his talking hand (should appear more) and the feelings of other vampires and humans have around him. (This is the good part the bad part is explained above)
- The Setting & World: The setting of this series is amazing. With each book we get more info about Kikuchi view on the Frontier in the world he created and contributed with 33 novels and half a dozen short stories this world is getting better.
- The postscript: The author himself writes a postscript in the end of each novel that gives us some information about how this world came to be. Not particulary about the novel but the motifs and the why's. It's quite good.
- Yoshitaka Amano drawings are always great. Specially the covers.

Conclusion
This was my fourth book of Vampire Hunter D and as I said before the setting is amazing but this tale lacks more information about the world, nobility or even D. I was pleased with the tale and I will continue reading the novels but I am not happy where the tales are going. If you are a fun of Vampire Hunter D first novel then read these one but if you are new don't begin here. If you enjoy Vampires I would also advice you to read these novels. Maybe I will try reading another kind of book by Kikuchi.

Manga novel (released by DMP). Illustrated by Saiko Takaki.
This manga was as the previous ones... weak. As I read the novel I was floaping the pages so I could "see" the action. In those strange and confusing parts I saw the Manga to fill me in. In the next novel I won't have these companion book. But either way; in my opinion,  it was not as good as the novel.

Review: Empire - David Dunwoody

Title - Empire

Author - David Dunwoody

Year - 2008

Stand Alone or Series - 1st of a Series 

Pages - 293

Reading Time - 7 days (January 2011)

Rating - 4/10

Review and General Opinion

I've read nearly every zombie book out there I guess so I had to read this too. This was new to me. When I read the blurb I thought "This is new and interesting. Let us buy" (I usually don't speak as Gollum, but it's the mood). This could be a great novel. The ideia behind Death investigating why the dead are not coming and about the life in a city that is being abanonded by the military. We follow dozen of characters in fortish chapters (inbetween we have some entries in form of a journal and five chapters with a special force that really don't do anything beside seing the apocalypse rider and trying to find it and confirm his presence. Faith is important here where some people still believe in god and the zombies a form of punishment and others that really don't care. The Goverment is atypical of other goverments where they don't care about anyone except themselves. It's quite a cliche.

It had some good premise but everting fails.First a cross-breading virus that makes thing undead. Not just people but also animals, fish and it's hinted insects as well. But would life still exist after 100 years? The zombies in the other end are a little better. As they feed on other animals they gain power and become runners or more powerful. The inverse what happen? They died? After 100 years is there any abundant life avaiable to them?

(More) Criticisms
- Too many characters: At times I could figure it out who was who or what they were. Until 3/4 of the book I tried to remember a couple of names and everybody else was confusing. And everyone dies and without purpose. They were cannon fodder.
- Dialogues & Writing: My god, what a mess. In one chapter we are with one character and without any indication in the next sentence another character in a different location is talking. It made the storyline falter at some points.
- Proff-reading and editing, anyone? Was it making a script for a movie/game or a novel?
- Pet Zombies & Zombies that just don't die. Interesting no? Well, no. How does a zombie survive without a head? Only a body?

Things that could be Good
- Death - Great character (the end where he made a choice that had dire consequences to him) but unfortunally it appears not so often to be good and it's not that well characterzied.
- It was in the year 2112 but with an unbelieveble scenario
- Maybe the sequel will be better but we will never see it because I won't be buying more.

Good
- Meh. Maybe chapter 41 where Death talks to someone in a higher place.

Conclusion

I pay almost 10 euros for a book for a tradepaperback with only 280 pages and with big letters. It would fit into a mass book with 200/220 pages easily. And unfortunally (again) it's the first of a series. I bought this one but I don't see myself buying the second. If you like zombies and read everything else then try this one. If you like Romero's movies or "normal" zombies or you are new to them then don't pick this book. There are a lot books out there greater than this one.

Thoughts (XI)

The first entry of the year. Just one thing. I will try to enter more posts this year. I promise.
It has being a difficult start. Why? I usually start a book and in two or three days finish it. But last year I  left 15 books in the middle so I wanted t finish some of them. I already finish two or three. I want to this next year to read a little more (which is not happenning so far) and to try finish more trilogies I left opened. Well expect a review soon of "Empire" by David Dunwoody

In other news my work is going along with the crisis... much is going to happen this year.
I will have to cut some money in my books so I won't be buying the amount of books I was used to buy.
My health is doing ok.