Book Review: Chronicles of the Undead

Chronicles of the Undead

By AF Stewart

(5/5 stars)

These days when people think of vampire books they think of emo teenage angst-ridden romance yarns like "Twilight" instead of classics such as "Interview With the Vampire" or the granddaddy of them all--"Dracula."  With "Chronicles of the Undead", AF Stewart goes back to those traditional favorites to spin a short, breezy, but satisfying yarn about a family cursed by vampires.

It all begins near the end of the 18th Century in England when Samuel Harrington meets his new neighbors:  Henri and Eleanor.  At first he befriends them and while thinking them a little odd, finds them pleasant company.  Then Samuel stumbles on their dark secret:  they're vampires!  Slowly Samuel is seduced by the dark side, becoming increasingly fascinated with the vampire world.  In the end he makes a terrible decision that haunts his family for another 30 years.

The story is told in the form of a diary, starting with Samuel, then picking up with his son and granddaughter as their lives are interwoven with those of Henry and Eleanor until the inevitable final clash.

My only major complaint is this book wasn't long enough.  At 168 pages I breezed through the story in about two hours.  Like a vampire after sucking a victim dry I was hankering for more.  Still, as I said at the beginning, this is a great old-school vampire story with a little bit of a new sensibility and told in an engaging way.  Don't miss it!

That is all.