Vampire Series Not By Stephenie Meyer

Anyone want to weigh in on good vampire books other than The Book?

I've been thinking of checking out the House of Night books by P. C. Cast (I think Marked is the first?) or maybe Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz... and then someone else recommended Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris and I've also promised my sister I would reread the L.J. Smith Vampire Diaries books with her.

I know there's probably a ton more out there than the ones I mentioned here, too. Anyone have recommendations? Which ones are awesome? Which ones kind of suck (pun intended)?

How about Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles?
Interview with the Vampire
The Vampire Lestat
Queen of the Damned
Tale of the Body Theif

Thanks for chiming in!

I read and loved Interview with the Vampire years ago; I had a copy of Vampire Lestat but I lent it to a friend and never got it back. Might add it to the TBR (or TBF - to be found). ;)

Well what do you like about Vampire fiction?

Nancy A. Collins has the Sonja Blue series though I've only read A Dozen Black Roses, which was written for White wolf to mess Sonja into the WoD game for a book, so I would avoid that one unless you like WoD, but I think the others will be good by themselves and mean to read them sometime myself.

Karen Taylor has The Vampire Legacy series starting with Blood Secrets, these are more the 'romancey' kind of vampire books I found the main character pretty wimpy for a vampire until the 3rd book, which is as far as I've made it.

I've read Vampire$ by John Steakley it was a much more down and dirty and gritty book where the Vampires were more like Buffy, blood thirsty intelligent animals that needed putting down. His other book Armor was a SciFi and MUCH better book IMHO.

Dracula is a requirement for vampire readers.

I also have all the vampire novels that take place in the WoD (World of Darkness) so if you want any suggestions out of there, I'd be willing to advise. Some of them are quit good and don't really need the game to be worth reading.

there is always Anne Rice but I haven't yet tried any of her work so can't ya or nay it.

El, I miss you! Thanks for starting this thread! I think it's going to help me with book suggestions as well. :)

I've read all of the books you spoke of in post #1, LJ. Smith's books being the ones I haven't read within the last two years so hers aren't fresh in mind. I would say that I enjoyed Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series the most. It's hard to choose between the House of Night and Blue Bloods series. Possibly the House of Night books are more fluff, though enjoyable. I'm really eager to read the unreleased newest book in both series. For a fluff and quick read YA vampire series, there is also Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series.

Vampire books in my TBR pile that I've heard good things about:
Cynthia Lettich Smith's Tantalize
Robin McKinley's Sunshine
Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy series
Susan Hubbard's The Society of S

Vampire book on my wishlist for curiosity:
Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series
And now fair amount of others. ;)

ETA: Links. Tags are down.

El: I personally have loved all of the series you just mentioned. Another good one is the Vampire Academy seires by Richelle Mead I think she is a wonderful author. I also vote for Anne Rice. I did like the ones I have read 9Which are only the first couple.)

El, I actually liked The Vampire Lestat better than Interview with the Vampire. Louis got on my nerves. I enjoyed the story much better from Lestat's perspective. :o)

I agree with readafew. You need to read Dracula if you are going to read in the vampire genre.

I liked the first Blue Bloods book better than the first House of Night book, though I didn't like either series well enough to go on with it.

I think Sunshine is better writing than Twilight -- it's my least-favorite book by a favorite author, if that makes any sense. I'm beginning to think that I just don't care for vampire books . . . there are few that I like, of the several that I have read, and none that I really love. Sucks to be Me was all right -- fluffy, but fun. Suck it Up by Brian Meehl is one I don't hear much about, but it's quite funny. I recommend it to people a lot.

Annette Curtis Klause has a few vampire books, including Blood and Chocolate and The Silver Kiss. If memory serves me right, I believe Melissa Marr might have a vampire book or a plot involving vampires. And who could forget the classic: Dracula?

If you want to laugh out loud there is Christopher Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck.

Heh heh... I maybe should have said something about what I've already read. Dracula is still one of my absolute faves and it also led to me reading and enjoying The Historian. Some people have mixed feelings on the latter, but I really enjoyed it. Also, was wonderfully entertained by Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck. Read Sunshine and liked the premise, but there were some points in it where I was a little irked because I would have written parts of it much differently (still a good read though).

Another rarely mentioned stand alone that I like is George R.R. Martin's Fevre Dream which is typical GRRM (if you like his style, you'll probably enjoy it) and I also read The Strain which is a new release kicking off another trilogy. And I am Legend was a good novella too - quite different from the movie, but I enjoyed both.

It's hard to pinpoint what exactly I like about vampire novels, but usually I enjoy them most when the author does something different with the usual traditions/legends. Mostly I've just seen tons of them on the market (especially the YA ones) and I just don't know what's worth reading and which are just authors trying to capitalize on a trend. Thanks for all the input from everyone and please keep the thoughts and suggestions coming.

Anno Dracula is fun. Victorian setting. It is the first in a series.

With the World of Darkness (old WoD) vampire novels, the vampires believe they were descendants of Caine, the first murderer and cursed by God. They were also very much into Machiavellian machinations, puppets pulling strings for puppets pulling strings...

The (new) World of Darkness is quite a bit different and a LOT darker.

Just an FYI, so you (and anyone else) knows a little more behind those books.

RE Blood and Chocolate (#9):
I enjoyed the book as a teen but don't watch the movie. Not because it's nothing like the book, but because it fails as a movie alone. It was terrible.

#10 compski:
Those are excellent!

Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot was a pretty awesome vampire novel. It's not in everyone's taste but it was great.

#10 any particular high points you'd recommend for WOD stories. I never played it but am vaguely familiar with the world. I've read On a darkling plain which I enjoyed, and played the PC game Vampire Maskerade which was ace. I'm probably not interested enough to read a whole series of them, but if there are the odd good standalones like Darkling Plain, I'd enjoy them.

The short story 'Penance' by Stephen DOnaldson in Reave the just and other tales is well worth seeking out.
For DW fans there is carpe jugulum by TP which is very funny.
Harry Dresden battles with vampires several times and besides being a totally fun series well worth reading in it's own right, also explores some of the different canon's of vampire abilities. STart with Storm Front but you won't meet the vamps till book 3 grave peril It might just be readable as a standalone. The vamps appear intermittently throughout the rest of the series.

Grr touchstones look like they are there until you hit submit.

I have also read Sunshine by Robin McKinley. It is a slow read at times and she goes into the head of the main character a bit too much, but it was a good read. Also there is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. The movie is much different than the book. It was very very interesting. It is just a short novel though, and I wanted more!

I wanted to second the Vampire Academy series, and recommend Evernight & Stargazer. I really like The summoning and The awakening no vamps so far tho. so far.

I have an awesomely fab idea for a video game! wish i was a computer geek so I could design it!!

16 > I assume you meant 13 instead of 10.

I will try to give some recommendations based on On a darkling plain.

OK, these are the list of Stand alone novels for VtM the rest are parts of trilogies (or longer) All the single novels were fairly early in the game development, and generally OK not great IMO.
Vampire Diary: The Embrace - This is a book written in Diary format about someone who has been embraced and the mental shift that takes place, interesting but not 'great'
As One Dead - I would guess this one is probably the next closest to On a darkling plain as far as story line while still being different, and it takes place in Toronto. Pretty good.
Prince of the City - Takes place in Early San Francisco (mid-1800s), the current prince of the city is having his domain infiltrated by these strange Kindred of the East, another Pretty good
Pomegranates Full and Fine - This one crosses paths with Changling the Dreaming and was sorta OK.
Eternal Hearts - OK this one is the only one that was listed as 'Adult' and is not for the squeamish, I think you had to be 18 here to buy it, and is was hard for me to find a reasonably priced copy. This has several different points of view most of which are a couple different Vampire Hunters, Sacha Vikos is one of the main characters but is rarely the focus. He/She's an ancient vampire with no moral code recognizable by normal humans and is a Tzimisce who have flesh molding powers.
House of Secrets - I found this one to be a 'close but not close enough' for a real good book. It even has a bunch of famous Brits appearing which makes it a fun book, (Alister Crowley, Guy Fawkes,etc.). It had a twisted 'who's doing what to whom' plot that kept you wondering until the end. Pretty good.

These 3 are not really novels, nor are they Sourcebooks but I found them to be good reads.
The Book of Nod - This is fragments pieced together and was originally written by 'Caine' in his solo sojourn around the world.
The Erciyes Fragments - A diary of a monk who has traveled to a monastery high in the Carpathians to view and study a rare piece of the Book of Nod. Really good.
Revelations of the Dark Mother - Lilith is the Dark mother and has a very different view of Genesis, and claims to have taught Caine how to spread his curse so he wouldn't be alone. It's been a while since I read this but I remember it being well put together and I still haven't looked up Lilith from the Hebrew mythology.

These are Anthologies /Omnibuses that have at least one Vampire book in them.
Three Shades Of Night - New World of darkness, the whole book gives a good idea of the setting/feeling of the world, a lot darker the the old WoD.
The Quintessential World of Darkness - has a story dealing with the Kindred of the East, and boy are they different than the other vampires, filled with eastern philosophy, I thought it was pretty good.

This is getting long, but I wanted to point out a couple of the series (short ones) that I thought were either unique or just good reading.

Masquerade of the Red Death This is the first series I read and I REALLY liked it, it's been over 10 years so it's possible I might change my mind on a reread.

Victorian Age Vampire - As the Series title suggests this happens (or at least starts) in Victorian England, and is written in a style reminiscent of Dracula, but not so flowery. Has ancient vampires and new blood in a constant struggle, Mithras makes an appearance. Also some well known characters from other books show up as they were a 150 years earlier.

The Grails Covenant - Takes place during one of the later Crusades and involves the Knights Templar, really good.

My favorite vampire series is still The Last Vampire, by Christoper Pike. There are six books in the series, and I think they're probably all out of print by now. I first read them in 6th grade and reread them again most recently in college, and they stood the test of time pretty well! Pike's take on the mythology of vampires is pretty different - they originated in India and have more in common with snakes than bats. Of course, the series is sympathetic to vampires rather than humans. That seems to be the case with most vampire series, nowadays, doesn't it?

I read a series which I enjoyed. It was like a vampire comedy, and the first is called Braced 2 Bite.
Dracula is a requirement. ;)

Heather Brewer has a series out too, the first is Eighth Grade Bites. Only the 2nd one is out, Ninth Grade Slays, but I know the third is due out sometime.

Scott Westerfeld's Peeps is sort of vampire, but more a parasite that gives the infected the 'symptoms' of a vampire. That has a sequel as well, but I can't for the life of me remember the title....!Last Days!, that's it :D

ReadaFew- Thanks for those!

23 > no problem, I have and have read all the WoD novels so if you have any other questions feel free. Also if you read any let me know what you think.

#22
The third book in that series just came out last week. Tenth Grade Bleeds.

The 'Betsy, Queen of the Undead' series by MaryJanice Davidson

In spite of her obnoxiousness, I love this series!

the first in the series is Undead and Unwed

I have just now realized I am poorly cultured in the world of vampire books. There are a lot more out there than I realized.

#1 El, I do love a good pun! :)

I mentioned The Last Vampire series earlier in this post...just wanted to add that they're re-releasing them as two collections (3 books in each volume)! Probably just to bank on the vampire phenom, but still. They're great books.

http://www.amazon.com/Thirst-No-Vampire-Black-Blood/dp/1416983082/ref=pd_bxgy_b_...
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Thirst-No-1/Christopher-Pike/e/9781416983088/?i...