Review | American Vampire: Volume 1 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King

American Vampire: Volume 1

by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque and Stephen King

My Rating: 

From writers Scott Snyder and Stephen King, AMERICAN VAMPIRE introduces a new strain of vampire – a more vicious species – and traces the creatures' bloodline through decades of American history.

Snyder's tale follows Pearl, a young woman living in 1920s Los Angeles, who is brutally turned into a vampire and sets out on a path of righteous revenge against the European monsters who tortured and abused her. And in King's story set in the days of America's Wild West, readers learn the origin of Skinner Sweet, the original American vampire – a stronger, faster creature than any vampire ever seen before. 

I enjoyed this. Honestly I've never been the biggest fan of vampires. I don't hate them, but if I'm given a choice between reading about vampires or reading about another mythological creature I'm likely to choose the other option. This I liked!

So many books that feature stories about vampires in the past tend to take them back to the 19th century, which is understandable considering that was when staples of vampire literature like Carmilla and Dracula were written. I loved that this was different. We have an actress in the 1920s - and I don't read enough books set in the '20s! - and then we have the origins of Skinner Sweet, mainly set in the early 20th century that has a very Western feel to it. It was great fun, and I'd definitely like to read the other books in the series.

My rating could have been higher, but there were a few flaws. The main one being that all of the women were very similar in terms of their body types - which is a real shame when it comes to something as visual as a graphic novel - and they all seemed to be, for lack of a better word, defined by their relationships with the men around them. I'm hoping there'll be as many diverse women as there are men in the other issues.

But I did enjoy this, and I think with Halloween coming up it was the ideal time to read it!

J.