The Vampire Memoirs [Paperback]

Kensington (Producer)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

Our fascination with vampires seems never to die -- just look at the continuing success of Anne Rice's New York Times bestsellers. When Zebra originally published "The Vampire Memoirs", the sell-throughs were excellent and they attracted a dedicated following. Now, to satisfy reader demand, Zebra is bringing back this remarkable saga, told in the voice of Mara McCuniff, whose life spans 1600 years from 4th century Britain to modern-day LA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Pinnacle (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786011246
• ISBN-13: 978-0786011247
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,178,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pageturner!, July 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vampire Memoirs (Paperback)

This is the second time I have read this book, I was happy to find it's been reprinted! It has excellent pacing and good character development--and it's REALISTIC; also with humor (very hard to find a quick wit in the average horror novel). The authors obviously studied up to make it accurate, historically and culturally (I hope they don't know from experience! ha ha). I am most impressed with this book! Cheers to Mara and Traci!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not a complete waste of time, not a great one either, April 24, 2001

By 

R. Kelly Wagner "[e-mail]" (MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Vampire Memoirs (Paperback)

I'd say this falls into the category of, summer reading, or when you have nothing better to do. If you are just getting interested in vampire books, there are LOTS better.

The story is disjointed, to some extent. We start out in the 4th century, but not a whole lot of historical details, and questionable accuracy on what's there. If you are used to the finely done historical periods laid out in Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's books, this book is sadly lacking. We skip centuries with no particular explanation as to why our character's powers did not develop over the centuries, the way other vampires' seem to. And our villain pops up again in the 20th century, with absolutely no explanation for how our heroine managed to miss finding him, or how he didn't find her, in all that time. Nor is any plausible explanation offered for WHY he should choose the 20th century to pop up and bother her again.

Our vampire characters are superficial and shallow, no great depth of personality, none of them doing anything terribly interesting. They don't regard lifespans of centuries as being any opportunity to keep learning or to influence things. What is the point of being immortal if all you're going to do is be a waitress or aerobics instructer in the evenings, go to parties, and do NOTHING else? That's about what these characters do.

Some of BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification: - Do our vampires drink blood literally? Yes, usually human blood, doesn't seem to make much difference to them whether willing or not. - Is drinking blood intrinsically tied to sex? No, in fact there's not much sex in the book at all. - Does the vampire hold a job? Yes, but a pointless one; many of the other vampires in the book don't, and a few seem to be of the sort where being an evil creature of darkness is all they do. - Is the book serious, or is there a sense of humor? No noticeable sense of humor, either in the writing, or in the personalities of our characters.

In summary: if you're reading all vampire books, then this won't be the worst you've ever read, but it won't be anything worth re-reading; if you are trying to get a feel for the best the vampire genre has to offer, go elsewhere, such as Tanya Huff, P.N. Elrod, or Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Vampire Memoirs, July 25, 2000

By 

kynthia - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vampire Memoirs (Paperback)

I found the character Mara fascinating. I could not put the book down, I was drawn to her. Would love to meet her. I enjoyed the story from a female's point of view. I enjoyed the feelings still alive in her. I can't wait to read the Vampire Journals.