The Lesser Dead

Read this soon after The Blacktongue Thief, also by Christopher Buehlman, and I will be chasing up the rest of his work on the strength of these two reads. The Lesser Dead is a vampire novel with a perfect balance of horror and humanity. Buehlman successfully builds an original vampire-haunted world with a good balance of tropes and unique lore.

Characters: ★★★ Atmosphere: ★★★★ Writing Style: ★★★ Plot: ★★★ Intrigue: ★★★★ Relationships: ★★★ Enjoyment: ★★★Overall Rating: ★★★A vampire horror in which the scariest part is having to babysit three insatiably hungry children.We follow unreliable narrator, Joey Peacock who is a forever-teen vampire who's been roaming New York City for the better part of 60 years. He lives underground with his small found family of vamps in the forgotten corners of NYC's subway systems. He spends his nights charming people into letting him eat them, assaulting unwitting women, and getting kicked out of nightclubs. Classic vampire stuff. It's when he comes upon a group of child vampires that things really start to unravel.This story had some predictable twists and turns, and some unpredictable that didn't feel like they made much sense. None of the characters were very likeable, but hey, they're vampires. Should they be likeable? This was the first of Buehlman's books I've read and in the two I've finished, they both included child or childlike characters in graphically sexual situations. I don't care to read more to see if this is a trend in all his works, but having two in a row with this subject matter was enough for me to retire this author.The plot moved along at a good pace and it was an easy read but I found the inner thoughts of the main character to feel odd considering it's supposed to be a 60 year old vampire who was transformed as a teen in the turn of the century, yet sounds like a teen from the 1970's and beyond. Even then, it's not even his voice; just meant to sound like his he's been telling the story all along. Some of the key plot points felt lazy (it was right in front of us the whole time! forehead slap) and the character choices seemed unrealistic at times in order to drive the story forward. In conclusion, even vampire kids are annoying.

After LOVING Those Across The River it was only natural for me to give this a shot, especially since I like Vampire Tales. The authors accents in the Audiobook were very well done but the story was just horrendous. The entire first half was the main characters meandering thoughts that just meant nothing to the story. I had to DNF with about 2 hours left in the story.

Shit. I totally forgot to review this :(.

Finished it like 2 months ago at this point.

Really enjoyed it. Very fun take on vampire mythos. Loved all the characters, especially the creepy kids.

Definitely nowhere near as good as “Between Two Fires”, but it's basically the difference between “5-stars, one of the best books I read this year” and “5-stars, probably the best book I've ever read.” so it's not really fair to compare.

Biggest problem I had with it, and this is a personal, very minor gripe, is the repeated use of a specific stylistic element I kind of hate. I'm not sure if it has a name, but you know when a book has a line like... “She dashed across the room. Fast” or “He bit me on the arm. Hard” or “I scritched the kitty on the chin. Soft” or “I heard someone fart in the library. Loud” etc. etc. etc. It's a writing trope that annoys me. Lots. And it's used in this book. Constantly. Minor nitpick in an otherwise awesome book.

I need to check out “The Blacktongue Thief” soon

Story told from the vampire's POV, like Interview with the Vampire, or even better, The Vampire Lestat. The narrator, Joey, is a vampire (like Lestat) that enjoys being one. He and his gang take advantage of the humans in myriad ways in the 70s-disco-era New York City. It's grittier and less romanticized than the Rice series.

Joey's ADHD-fueled narration tells the story of how he was turned and gives the scoop on what vampires can do and what can harm them. How they survive and keep hidden from humans. And how they make sure other vampires follow the “rules” and don't expose them to the human herd of New Yorkers. It's in a conversational tone, as though he were talking to the reader directly.

The Lesser Dead is a book that starts out by just daring you to read it:

“I'm going to take you someplace dark and damp where good people don't go. I'm going to introduce you to monsters. Real ones. I'm going to tell you stories about hurting people, and if you like those stories, it means you're bad.”

The A-plot addresses the question of what happens when monsters meet worse monsters? The answer is nasty and dark things but a thrilling time for the “bad” reader.

I'll be on the lookout for more of Buehlman's books.

That ending tho

THE LESSER DEAD by Christopher Buehlman is a vampire tale with a bite that stayed with me after the last page. Great writing (audiobook is strongly recommended, too, especially for nighttime reading...if you dare). I loved every sentence through the shivers they sent down my spine.

3.5 star rating.

Third book of his in a little less than two months. And I loved it. I wasn't sure at first, because Joey wasn't my favourite narrator. But oh, my stars. THE END. This man has consistently decent endings, which is amazing for horror. Now I'm super pumped about the next book of his I have on my list to read.