Hunter of the Dead by Stephen Kozeniewski

Hunter of the Dead ultimately tried to cram too much into not enough time. I feel like it should have been longer or split into more than one book. There’s a lot of lore, a lot of gore, and just too much plot to really make that much of an impact. And then it devolves into all-out chaos so… yeah.

Well I’m amused at Twilight being used as a “sacred text.” That and the Harry Potter reference tell me this author is truly a ‘90’s child. Or at least one that grew up in the 2000’s.

This business of vampires having heirs is a little hilarious to me. Heirs are there to take over if something happens to the head of the family. Theoretically, nothing should happen to the head of a vampire family so there should be no reason for an heir. Just need a second in command to take some of the “head of the family” edge off. But nah, apparently even the super-long-lived vamps like Cicatrice and Otto have heirs. Just very weird and funny to me that they apparently except to die at some point. Foreshadowing, don’t ya know.

“Idi Han, after eight hundred long years of life my power is limited only by the laws of physics.” - Cicatrice says this and I am just sitting here, shaking my head. The laws of physics, you say? Limiting, you say? Then how the fuck are you as strong as you are, or as fast? I would think those powers wouldn’t be a thing if the laws of physics held sway. Especially not the whole crazy regeneration thing these vamps have going on. But sure, physics are the limit.

There is a point where I’m extremely glad I’m not a “visual” reader. So much gore. Gratuitous gore. For, like, zero reason other than just to be gross. Maybe drive home that the vampires are frickin strong and don’t care about mortals. Whatever. It was too much for too little pay off.

I have zero investment in the apparent Idi Han/Nico “romance.” They’ve barely met and it’s just boring crap. Honestly, they’re both fairly boring by themselves. I’m really not sure about either of their motivations and then Idi Han seems to do this 360 that’s just bleh… Not impressed.

I feel like the character work really suffered for the sake of the plot. I didn’t really get a feel for Idi Han or Nico’s motivations. Would have liked to know more about Price and Cicatrice’s relationship or Price and Bonaparte or both. Would have really liked to get to know the characters better, so maybe I would have really cared what happened to them in the end.

Honestly, I was just racing toward the end for the last 80-some-odd pages. Just so much chaos and not enough of me caring. I ultimately didn’t even give a crap about The Hunter reveal. None of that was my cup of tea.

Favorite Line

“I’ll let you in on a secret, kid. I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing or where I’m going. But I’m doing it confidently. And as long as you can do that, people will listen to you.” - Carter Price