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.
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.
Rating: 
Summary: A Twist of the Vampire Mythos
Review: This is not the typical vampire tale. In this story a doctor of hematology (world-renown) discovers an abnormality with a baby in Romania. She is helping to assist the numerous children found in the Romanian orphanages from the early 1990s. She adopts this child and takes him home with the hopes of saving his life. While in the States, she discovers that his condition creates a biochemical which could save the world from AIDS and cancer. The story will include her fight to save the child from the "vampires" with the help of a ex-priest and a sworn enemy of the "vampires".Like the book "I Am Legend", Simmons explains vampirism not a some mystical ailment, but a condition brought about biochemically. This is why I say "vampires." They do not have the elongated teeth to allow them to tear open the veins. These people will use knives to open the wound, then will suck the blood as needed. Their bodies produces a chemical/anti-virus which uses the blood to repair their own bodies. Some of the explanations of this do tend to carry on a bit, but it does give you the impression that Simmons studied the terminology of blood and anti-viruses. Simmons has done his research (and acknowledges the Vlad Dracula scholars of Florescu and McNally) on the historical figure of Vlad Dracula. If you have read many of the legends and histories, some of this may strike you as incorrect. It is hard to say whether Simmons is wrong or right since there is a lot of conflicting information in the history. It does add a nice flavor to the book. If you are a vampire fan or a fan of the historical figure of Dracula, then I would recommend this. If you are a fan of the romantic vampire, this would appear as sacrilege.
Rating: 
Summary: Silver medal winner
Review: This is Simmons' latest entry into the vampire Olympics (his previous one the mega-volt Carrion Comfort), and it weighs in with a Silver medal, at least with this judge. I liked it a lot better than the last novel of his I read, Summer of Night, which wasn't bad, per se, but suffered from being too slavishly tied to the Stephen Kingish subject and style of It and "The Body." Children of the Night is vaguely related to Summer of Night--a main character in Children was a child in Summer (wait a minute...yeah, that's right. Weird. Seems that it should be the other way around given the titles). Although Vlad Tsepes is a character, he's very ancillary. The story is told from the viewpoint of a woman nematologist who, while providing humanitarian aid in Romania, stumbles upon a child of the "family." The child has been abandoned by its parents, and only survives through periodic blood transfusions. The doctor, through professional curiousity and personal generosity, adopts the child and brings it back with her to the U.S. and her work at the Center for Disease Control. But the family, whom the child had been stolen from, wants him back, because he is the heir apparent. And the chase is on. What Simmons brings anew to the vampire games is a strictly plausible, even science-fictional, treatment of vampirism. And, while he's firmly set his story in the modern world--post-Ceneasque regime in Romania, post-AIDS--he pulls a twist on the normal AIDS/vampire nexus. For Simmons, the "curse" of vampirism breeds hope for an AIDS cure, so the story games a meta-level above the pure "rescue/protect the child" storyline, as the child represents a hope for humanity. But that isn't enough. Although there is no specific fault I can pick with Children of the Night, as a whole it fails in plotting. Too many things resolve around chance occurrences. Nothing quite so obvious as a deus ex macchina, but on the level of the "... plot." Because Simmons is such a masterful writer, one doesn't really notice this while reading, caught up in the roller coaster ride, and because he uses his research in such original ways, the ideas remain interesting. But he only gets the Silver medal; Kim Newman is holding the Gold for his masterpiece, Anno Dracula.
Rating:
Summary: great suspense book!
Review: This pseudo-sequel to SUMMER OF NIGHT (Father O'Roarke and several minor characters loosely tie into the other book) is a fine example of what a suspense-slash-horror writer can be capable of. Ever since the magnificant CARRION COMFORT, Mr. Simmons has not disappointed me yet! This has all of the markings of a great book - well developed characters, interesting plot (you'll also get a lesson or two on Romanian culture), twisted villians (corrupt politicians, lurking men dressed in black, etc.) and excellent stylings told through Kate (the heroine) and a series of dreams/flashbacks from Vlad Dracula himself! The story is a hard-nosed, quick read about a hematologist (re: blood doctor) wrestling with the cure for AIDS as she also seeks to unravel the "myth" of vampirism from medically. It is an excellent idea, executed beautifully, and although it crumbles in a few places, the story will open up the imagination and stick with you long after you've turned the final page.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best page-turning books I've ever read.
Review: This was my first Dan Simmons experience. "Children Of The Night" was informative, horrific, mysterious, with an action-packed surprise ending! I am scared to read another book right away for fear that it cannot compare! Excellent read!
Rating:
Summary: Vladdy good show, old boy!
Review: Unlike many reviewers, I've not read everything Simmons has written. "Song of Kali' was, for me, a bust. It was too turgid. the rest of the world loved it - so what does that tell you about me? "Summer of Night" I started reading. Honest. It got so that I dreaded turning the next page. That is one scary book! This is a romp. It's great fun. It lets you know a lot more about the legend of Vlad than you've ever known before, and I - for one - was impaled by the story. Read it. You'll enjoy it. And if it does end up like an adventure novel / flick, so what? It's fun!
Rating:
Summary: Vladdy good show, old boy!
Review: Unlike many reviewers, I've not read everything Simmons has written. "Song of Kali' was, for me, a bust. It was too turgid. the rest of the world loved it - so what does that tell you about me? "Summer of Night" I started reading. Honest. It got so that I dreaded turning the next page. That is one scary book! This is a romp. It's great fun. It lets you know a lot more about the legend of Vlad than you've ever known before, and I - for one - was impaled by the story. Read it. You'll enjoy it. And if it does end up like an adventure novel / flick, so what? It's fun!
Rating:
Summary: Not too impressed...
Review: What I enjoy most about Simmon's Song of Kali and Carrion Comfort is that they are very different from a lot of horror fiction. I thought Children of the Night would likely be a new and different take on vampires- and it is. The scientific explanation of vampires is fascinating but that and the true stories of Vlad the Impaler are really the only interesting things about this book. It pretty much follows the same story format as most of Dean Koontz's books: Hero and heroine battle a supernatural villian, or villians which turn out to have a natural explanation; along the way they have a graphically descriptive sex scene before destroying the bad guys and living happily ever after. It doesn't have the intensity of Song of Kali or the thrills of Carrion Comfort and the characters aren't that interesting. It's not a bad book but it's not one that many people will treasure either.
Rating:
Summary: Not too impressed...
Review: What I enjoy most about Simmon's Song of Kali and Carrion Comfort is that they are very different from a lot of horror fiction. I thought Children of the Night would likely be a new and different take on vampires- and it is. The scientific explanation of vampires is fascinating but that and the true stories of Vlad the Impaler are really the only interesting things about this book. It pretty much follows the same story format as most of Dean Koontz's books: Hero and heroine battle a supernatural villian, or villians which turn out to have a natural explanation; along the way they have a graphically descriptive sex scene before destroying the bad guys and living happily ever after. It doesn't have the intensity of Song of Kali or the thrills of Carrion Comfort and the characters aren't that interesting. It's not a bad book but it's not one that many people will treasure either.
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