I, Vampire : The Confessions of a Vampire - His Life, His Loves, His Strangest Desires ...

Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable. Literally.
Review: First, I think I'd better explain exactly what this book is about.

It is set up as a journal. For the first half of the book, the journal entries are divided between a short retelling of the narrator's past, which goes back just as far as the 1950s, and an account of the events occurring as he writes (1989). His past relates to his marriage to an unfaithful drug-addict wife, his own cocaine-abusing habits and suicide attempts, and of course his finally becoming a vampire after falling in love with a vampire woman. The present is a battle between good and evil sort of affair. He is part of a union of good vampires, and is being terrorized by some of the people from the bad vampire gang who plan on taking over the world. He has to stop them, and at the same time prove himself worthy of the good vampires.

David (that's `is name!) is supposed to be an extremely good guy, who has sex with girls while drinking their blood and leaves them alive, instead of terrifying and killing them. It gets extremely sappy, as you may imagine. David is such a goody-goody (promiscuity is depicted here as... charitable) that it just gets irritating. He has zero depth of personality, just like all the other characters.

The secondary characters are mainly historical figures, among them Mozart, Tatiana Romanov, and Jack the Ripper. Do you find it difficult to believe that Rasputin strangled Hitler? If so, you'll understand why the inclusion of historical characters makes the novel so unconvincing.

The entire storyline is completely uncreative. The battle between good and evil is something we've all read before, and, just like an old comic book (but worse), the evil characters are entirely evil and lack any characteristics beyond that. The conclusion, linear and predictable, adds absolutely nothing in terms of interest, surprise or originality to the story. All exciting parts of this story rely entirely on the shock-factor of describing such things as dead mutilated prostitutes to hold any sort of interest.

In general, this was a very dull, unoriginal novel of the cheap-and-sparse-thrills genre. Nothing to see here.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but the last eighty pages nearly sinks the book...
Review: First, let me say this: before the huge glut of vampire novels on the market with similar themes to this book, this novel came out. And this novel and the books that came from it have been quiet influences (and in certain vampiric RPG games and movies certain ideas in this book and series have been outright stolen) in said glut of vampire novels, games, movies, etc, I believe. But is the book itself that good?

For the most part, yes. It's a quick, fun, entertaining read, with vampires that you'll hate, love, feel sorry for, cheer for, one that will scare you to death, and one in particular, though he never actually appears within the novel, is nonethenless one of the most ingenious vampiric creations I have ever read (and one that's been duplicated in other works sense). But, sad to say, the last eighty pages are horribly dull. Once the author begins to tell Rasputin's tale (probably spoiling here, so sorry in advance), the book immedietly loses its steam. To give you an idea of perspective - reading this book a second time I finished 150 pages in no time flat, yet it took me three days to finish the last 80 pages. That's how bad it gets.

Do I recommend this book? Yes. But for the love of God, stop at Rasputin's story unless you require a cure for insomnia. In fact, because I care, I'll go on ahead and spoil the last eighty pages, to save you good people the time! Stop here if you're insane and would prefer to read this for yourself! I also recommend the next two books in this series - the Vampire Papers and the Vampire Princess, both are EXCELLENT novels that improve upon this one in spades

Rating:
Summary: A new classic
Review: I fell in love with this book the moment I finshed the first paragraph. I read Ann Rice's Interview with the Vampire and liked it well enough, but I, Vampire is so much more. This book, as is the case with Michael Romkey's other vampiric novels, are new classics. They have everything. Danger, romance, horror, a touch of sex, poetry, princesses, and murderers. Composers and sorcery. For the history buff, historic figures like Mozart, Jack the Ripper, Rasputin, and the lovely Princess Tatiana Nicolaievna Romanov. And of course, vampires.

Rating:
Summary: How to manaul for vampires!
Review: I like vampires alot, and there are'nt many books that tell it how it is what its like to be a real vampire, but now I know now that Mr. Romkey wrote this book I vampire! This book tells one all the things you need to know about vampires, like how to like Mozzart and what kind of *wine* to drink! I vampire is definately one of the best vampire books that I read and you should read it too!

Count Blood

Rating:
Summary: "-I have been half in love with easeful death,"
Review: I read this book for the first time last year and have since read it twice more. It's just that good. I love the idea of historical figures being vampires (i.e. Mozart, Jack the Ripper, Rasputin). David Parker is a wonderful character who uses poetry and classical music to keep him alive, who is caught in the classic battle between good and evil. This is a great read and should be read by anyone who likes children of the night...

Rating:
Summary: I have all of this series but possibly the last 1 or 2
Review: I really loved this book! It shared about a struggle to destroy those that would destroy all that the main character held close to his heart. I am not sure why I didnt read the other books in the series as soon as I got done with this one. I would recommend this book to all Vampire lovers and lovers of memoirs and stuff!

Rating:
Summary: An Intersting Read
Review: I thought that this book was entertaning but also hard to like.It was difficult for me to imagin historical figuers such as Wolfgon Amadaus Mozart as a vampire!
The writing it self and the descrptions where great.It had excelent dialog and was quite a page turner.However I couldn't really get pass the thought of Mozart being an imortal vampire though.Not my thing I guess.

Rating:
Summary: I love this book
Review: I'm probably one of the few people who would rank this book up there with the best ever written. I might be the only person. But it is a great book, one I've read several times. Romkey takes the vampire tale and gives it a new twist. The first half of the novel, when David Parker first becomes a vampire, is a very lyrical novel. And the second half turns into more of an action sequence. And the two halves work well together. Romkey brings back just about every important historical figure, but it does keep it interesting. I've read most of what Romkey has written, including the other books in this 'series' and nothing else he has written reaches this level (that's not to say that his other book aren't enjoyable, most of them are good). I can't recommend this novel enough. It's great, and I think it should be one of those few books that everyone should read.

Rating:
Summary: A Vampire that almost hits the mark
Review: I, Vampire has all the elements to be a solid novel but at just about every turn fails to hit the mark. The storyline, the characters, the twists and turns, and even the historical aspects all have the feel of a low-budget B rated movie.

In a diary format, we learn about the facinating, yet barely believable life of David Parker. His path takes us from Chicago to Las Vegas to Paris and Germany. We get an interesting history of Russia from the Middle Ages to modern times. We're introduced to several famous historical characters, all of whom are Vampires that help David along the way.

It's almost like the author tried 'too hard' to make the story work, and in the process did an injustice to it. The choice of Mozart and the other historical characters takes away from the dark atmosphere and suspense and turns the book into an unintentional parody and in some cases a comedy, neither of which I believe was the attempt.

The book however, does stand on it's own and does lay the foundation for many sequels. I think the author has great potential to develop the character of David. I wouldn't put it at the top of the list of Vamp reads but definately take the time to read it when you can.

Rating:
Summary: Fails To Reach It's High Aspirations
Review: Romkey envisions an absolutely fantastical gothic world full of the romantic quasi-aristocratic lives of rich and cultured vampires, full of detailed history, even the unique idea of historical characters reappearing as modern day vampires (such as Mozart, Rasputin, Jack the Ripper, and Tatiana Romanov, yes thee Czar Nicholas Romanov's daughter), car chases,violence, sex and creative horror; Romkey has imagined a novel abounding with many references to eminent classical composers and some of the darker figures of popular culture. It starts out with an aspiring young pianist named David Parker who gets trapped into the insufferably boring (note the hint of sarcasm here) life of a successful attorney whose passion for cocaine, over priviledged life, and faithless wife drives him to the brink of suicide. Soon he is transformed into a vampire and initiated into a world of combating rapacious evil.
Unfortunately, it all falls short of anything but a really cheesy B-rated gothic horror story.
Romkey's venture into the macabre begun to get more horrid than horrifying when he first mentions the Illuminati. There is no historical background on what the Illuminati is or was, how it was created, who created it, or what the general mindset it consists of other than that its a collection of moralizing pseudo-Christian altruistic vampires bent upon saving the human race from it's stupidity. Which is extremely vexing when the original Illuminati was a secret society begun by Adam Weishaupt in 1776 that masqueraded as a philanthropist gentleman's club that based its teachings on the acts and teachings of Jesus Christ, when really it was a group of atheists/anarchists obsessed with Enlightenment literature that worked toward subverting the current government for the betterment of all humankind. It was found out and abolished in 1785, mostly because of internecine rivalry within the society caused four university professors in the lower degrees of the Order became disillusioned with it and informed the authorities of it's existence. Anyways, the point is, is that with all of Romkey's digressions into the history of Russia and whatnot I felt the Illuminati deserved its own history lesson being it played a pertinent part in the story. Also I felt the views of Mozart and Rasputin as presented by Romkey were out of context with the atheistic Illuminati in that both of them were represented as pious believers in a God. He even went so far as to make Mozart a friend of the Catholic Church, which is inconsistent with history being that Mozart refused the last rites on his death bed. I also felt that there was far too much moral philosophizing to the point where it made the main protagonist David Parker seem no less than an insipid weakling of the same status as the interminably whining Louis of Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire.
In any case, the book was well worth reading if only for the history and for the fact that it started out so well. Its only too bad that it had to fall flat on its face.