Thursday 26 November 2015

Book review: A Symphony of Blood by Matthew Swiontek

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I am a vampire story fan. I mean real vampires. Not the sparkly angsty kind. I'm talking about the thriller, Ann Rice, Bram Stoker style vampires. "A Symphony of Blood" delivers just that kind of vampire. And you can't have a good vampire story without a legendary vampire hunter, which is seen in the character of Gerhold. Similar to Van Helsing, Gerhold is an older gentleman who has a reputation as a hunter of the paranormal and supernatural. Well-rounded, he doesn't stick to simply hunting vampires, although that's a big part of it. His reputation becomes known to a powerful vampire, who then lures Gerhold to his castle for an ultimate test of wit and brawn.

Reading this novella was almost like reading Dracula. It was extremely similar, actually, which was honestly nice. The tone and style is very much like the great novel, and no one can (or should) ever take that as anything less than a compliment. For those who want a quick read, and a classic vampire style story, this is it. It is not for the faint of heart. This is a good old fashioned vampire story that brings you back to a time of purely classic writing. Kudos to Swiontek for a wonderful read, and giving me hope that authors today still understand what it takes to write like the greats.

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