Rating: 
Summary: A must for vampire novel fans
Review: It has the external grip of a good mystery and yet the ineffable pull of a tragedy. The portrayal of the vampire is heart-quickening, tender, even philosophical. The dark, haunting imagery of Romania is dreamlike.
Rating: 
Summary: A good book, but not Simmons' best
Review: Let me begin by saying that I love Dan Simmons' books and I've read all of them I can get my hands on. I loved the Hyperion and Endymion Books and I've loved most of his stuff that's closer to horror. I even enjoyed Phases of Gravity, his foray into non-action, mainstream fiction. But I only LIKED this book. It has all of the typical Simmons strengths: strong characters, lots of action and suspense, intelligence, complexity and lots of research. In fact, it offers one of the more convincing scientific answers for vampires I've ever seen. The thing that hurt this book for me was its ending. It rested on too many implausible coincidences. After being great all of the way through, it suddenly reminded me of one of those bad movies where the bad guy who has had perfect aim throughout suddenly starts missing when he shoots at the hero. Still, it's not a bad read and much better than most of the tripe that's available these days.
Rating: 
Summary: if Hyperion is bliss, this is competent.
Review: let me preface this reviewlet with general praise: Dan Simmons is a contemporary storyteller i very-much adore. Hyperion is one of those books i recommend to _everyone_, regardless of what they usually read. this novel, then, was a disappointment. i was hoping that it would posit a scientific explanation of vampires, tie that in with the some juicy Romanian/Eastern European history, then delve deep into the sub-society vampires have crafted for themselves, play with the myths, toy with the characteristics of vampirism. instead, this novel dealt with a heroine who stumbles under the fist of a despotic, Eastern European government and fights for her freedom and her family. along the way she finds a friend/lover, and suffers _a lot_! the vampiric elements felt very secondary, and the Big Revelations were out of place in the general context of the novel. without those trappings, this would have been a decent thriller that does an excellent job of portraying how harsh Eastern Europe can be.
Rating:
Summary: if Hyperion is bliss, this is competent.
Review: let me preface this reviewlet with general praise: Dan Simmons is a contemporary storyteller i very-much adore. Hyperion is one of those books i recommend to _everyone_, regardless of what they usually read. this novel, then, was a disappointment. i was hoping that it would posit a scientific explanation of vampires, tie that in with the some juicy Romanian/Eastern European history, then delve deep into the sub-society vampires have crafted for themselves, play with the myths, toy with the characteristics of vampirism. instead, this novel dealt with a heroine who stumbles under the fist of a despotic, Eastern European government and fights for her freedom and her family. along the way she finds a friend/lover, and suffers _a lot_! the vampiric elements felt very secondary, and the Big Revelations were out of place in the general context of the novel. without those trappings, this would have been a decent thriller that does an excellent job of portraying how harsh Eastern Europe can be.
Rating: 
Summary: A misfire from the master.
Review: Perhaps I was spoiled by reading Dan Simmons' excellent horror novels A Song of Kali and Carrion Confort (both of which I highly reccomend) but Children of the Night somehow falls flat. The author's take on vampirism as some sort of disease is nothing new, and what's worse, he bogs down the story with the most excesive and boring medical jargon imaginable. The story itself is slow moving and rather uninteresting since Dan Simmons is more intent in impressing the reader with his knowledge of modern day Romania (with which we get endless descriptions of unpronounsable locations) than in moving the story forward.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: Reading "Children of the Night" by Dan Simmons was spellbinding for me. I tire easily with the same, simplistic vampire biting storylines, and was unsure as to whether or not I would enjoy this book, but once I read the first page, my mind changed. I followed all that the characters had done down to the tee, and was especially thrilled by the thoughts of Vlad himself. This isn't the usual 'bite on the neck' story. Dan Simmons actually delves into the past of Vlad, what really happened, and even what his thoughts might have been. I read this book in one day and wanted more. This is an excellent book to read, and Dan Simmons did an exquisite job.
Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding
Review: Reading "Children of the Night" by Dan Simmons was spellbinding for me. I tire easily with the same, simplistic vampire biting storylines, and was unsure as to whether or not I would enjoy this book, but once I read the first page, my mind changed. I followed all that the characters had done down to the tee, and was especially thrilled by the thoughts of Vlad himself. This isn't the usual 'bite on the neck' story. Dan Simmons actually delves into the past of Vlad, what really happened, and even what his thoughts might have been. I read this book in one day and wanted more. This is an excellent book to read, and Dan Simmons did an exquisite job.
Rating:
Summary: Vampires - different!
Review: There have been a lot of vampire novels and stories, and I have read a good number of them. But this one is entirely different. The author uses science to explain the phenomenon. This makes the strength and the weakness of the book. We see vampires that are of this world and the author creates horror - and a good one as well - without having to use the supernatural. But his scientific explanations are too lengthy and kill suspense at times. The ending is also a trifle too forced. But all people who love horror must read this novel.
Rating:
Summary: Above-average horror-thriller.
Review: This action packed thriller clips right along, to its well-crafted ending, keeping you guessing page after page. Simmons is the exception among horror authors, standing head and shoulders above almost all the rest: he can actually write a plot, believable characters that you care about, AND creepy, teeth-jarring scenes. I enjoyed "Summer of Night" more than this book, but this was well worth the read (and has an interesting connection to "Summer of Night" which you'll get if you've read the earlier novel). Slam bang good! If you like tense, dark horror, and a character driven story, you'll get a kick out of this one.
Rating:
Summary: good bait, bad switch
Review: This book flies off the shelf both in its promise of vampire fiction (good genre, strong following) and the Hugo award winning author's name in large print. It has a well thought-out mystery for its characters to solve, and a 'medical-thriller' aspect that only just uses too much jargon. However- the development is slow, the story does get boring, and the characters get very introspective without really developing into persons a reader can relate to. This leads to those long, dull interludes of an author struggling to describe a character's thoughts and feelings with only minimal success. Simmons does better when characters' actions define their personality (not thoughts) and when his sci-fi is explained through demonstration (not syntax-laden description). Both of these he does with professional quality in the Hyperion series, which are a must read for any sf fan.
Children of the Night drags, has dull characters and a somewhat corny background and one of the most cliche, predictable endings an author could crank out outside of a King/Koontz thriller. Stick to the sci-fi; that's where Simmons' truly stunning ability lies.
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