The Bloody Red Baron

Rating:
Summary: Worthy Sequel -- The Vampire Wars Continue!
Review: "The Bloody Red Baron" is an excellent follow-up effort to Kim Newman's "Anno Dracula." In "Baron," Newman updates his alternate universe of vampires rubbing shoulders (and more!) with warm humans by having Dracula lead the Axis powers in WWI.

Once again, Newman takes the audacious step of having the famous and powerful become vampires (Winston Churchill is a prime example, although there seems to be less of this trick than in "Anno Dracula"). But the most notorious vampire is easily Manfred von Richtoffen, the Red Baron. The ultimate hunter is cross-fed by several vampire "elders" to create the ultimate winged combatant . . . a winged vampire armed with powerful hand-machine guns. Now, not only must the Allied pilots be wary of a violent death in a fireball or a screaming nose-dive to earth, they must be wary of being plucked from their pilot-seats and eaten alive! The vision of the vampire-squadron taking off from a high tower, with strains of Wagner echoing from Dracula's Zeppelin-flagship, makes for a riveting read.

Newman brings a few characters along from "Anno Dracula," including Charles Beauregard, aging agent of the Diogenes Club, and vampiress-journalist Kate Reed, but most of the storylines follow new characters. Edwin, seeming heir apparent to Beauregard as Diogenes agent, becomes entwined with the hunt for the Red Baron after a horrifying air raid on the German fortress of Schloss Adler, and Edgar Allen Poe, turned vampire and propaganda-man for the Axis powers, struggles to come to terms with his new role in the world.

Newman combines an eye for historical detail with the talent to write riveting scenes of carnage . . . setting the scene amongst the carnage and devastation of WWI is perfect for Newman's style. This is one difficult book to put down!

Newman's tale is also one of transition. Like the warm, the vampires must also come to terms with the violent transition to the 20th century, as technology poses new threats to vampires and warm alike (a chilling scene of an Allied elder vampire first vanquishing, then being vanquished by, Axis tanks exemplifies this theme). Among the most moving scenes are the "educations" that young, romantic American troops receive on the front lines.

Not for the squeamish, "Baron" offers thrills galore, and also throws out some good condemnation for the leaders of World War I on both sides . . . an excellent, though eccentric, take on leadership and the ability of some to throw lives away for the sake of their own ambition.

To borrow a cliche, if you liked "Anno Dracula," you'll love "The Bloody Red Baron."

Rating:
Summary: Unusual take on WWI
Review: An excellent sequel to _Anno Dracula_: thirty years after the events of the original, vampires are fighting in the skies of Europe. Meanwhile a vampiric Edgar Poe is trying to write a biography of Manfred von Richthofen, and soldiers are dying in the mud and barbed wire of no-man's-land.

This book has most of the same strengths and weaknesses as its predecessor (which isn't to say that Kim Newman has fallen into a rut - he hasn't - but you'll probably like this book as much or as little as you did the first one.) Newman mixes his own characters adroitly with real people - some far more unpleasant than Newman's vampires - and characters borrowed from other authors. I was disappointed not to see Genevieve Dieudonne return for this book, but any author willing to turn Biggles, Algy, Ginger and Bertie into vampires earns points for style. (Newman also makes them more like three-dimensional characters than they ever were under their original creator.)

As with _Anno Dracula_, the ending comes too soon and too suddenly; Newman throws in a major catastrophe which makes many of the book's struggles and characters irrelevant, and then fails to follow up on that catastrophe. But even with that failing, this is one of the best vampire books out there (and certainly one of the most unusual.)

Rating:
Summary: Interesting-Spot the Allusions
Review: As vampire stories go Blood Red Baron is very refreshing and original in its portrayal of vampires in an almost mundane sense. As a war novel or alternate history its a little unfocused. Newman introduces dozens of characters, many of who are plucked from popular fiction of the time (Drs' Caligari, Mabuse, Herbert West, and Moreau). He freely uses allusions to famous silent films and literary works of the Great War and vampire fiction (Graf Orlok, Karnstein). In many ways its a lazy way to create characters without needing the effort to flesh them out. But I happen to enjoy trying to spot the allusions which are rather widespread.

Rating:
Summary: A well-researched, fun read ... but I didn't buy his premise
Review: I enjoyed reading "The Bloody Red Baron." Newman's mingling of historial and fictional characters in his vampire-laden alternative history continues to be entertaining. He's also done his homework on World War I ... perhaps a little too well. From the time of "Anno Dracula" (the previous book in Newman's series), there's been tremendous political and social change due to the advance of vampirism across Europe. And yet World War I grinds on in almost exactly the same way that it did in real life.

While I enjoyed Newman's speculations about the impact of vampirism on trench warfare and military aviation, I wish he'd explored the different political alternatives as well. A conflict on the scale of the Great War may have been inevitable in Newman's vampire-led Europe. But I doubt that the war would have progressed in almost exactly the same way as it did in our world. (I suppose we can look forward to a vampiric Hitler in a future sequel.)

Rating:
Summary: Kind of odd...
Review: I really liked Anno Dracula, partly because it was well-written, and not least because it has one of the greatest end scenes I've read in ages.

I didn't like this quite as much. Not to say it was bad...it wasn't. The writing's good, and the imagery is vivid: I had this incredible picture of Condor Squadron battling JG-1 around the Attila during the Peace Offensive, reminding me of a scene from Star Wars.

However, something was just a bit off. I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe it's that he seems to not like any of the real world characters, and to have a general distaste for authority in entirety.

But, all in all, it's a pretty good book if you can find it.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting-Spot the Allusions
Review: kim newman has created the finest vampire books since dracula.his respect to the traditions of vampire-building is examplary.his premise is fantastic,and in all,he creates a wonderfull tribute to the horror-adventure-science fiction writers of classic reputation.but sadly,modern readers don`t understand the inner neuances that make this novel great.BRAVO KIM NEWMAN!

Rating:
Summary: "It'll be over by Christmas."
Review: Not bloody likely. Not when Dracula is helping the Kaiser and the German war machine during the Great War. We meet some old characters, like Kate Reed, Charles Beauregard, Dr. Moreau and, of course, Dracula. We also meet a few new characters, from reality and fiction, like the Red Baron himself, Edwin Winthrop (a new intelligence officer), Goring - who seems to pop up in a lot of 20th century fiction - go figure, Herbert West of Miskatonic, Mata Hari, Edgar Poe (who dropped his middle name), a Hungarian actor we all know and love, the elder Orlok and even the name of Langstrom of Gotham University is dropped at one point. He is from DC Comics.
Plus hundreds of real or fictional soldiers, spies and fliers. As gripping and detailed as the first book, but it felt better made - I plowed through it with great speed. The story was tight, never slowed down, always on track.
PERFECT. I look forward to buying the next book.