The Last Vampire

Giving this four stars more for nostalgia than how I actually felt reading it this time. I guess it's a 3.5.

As a child and young adult, I thought this novel was comic genius. Reading it at least a decade later, probably much longer, it isn't really my kind of thing any more. It's about a British family who are on a disastrous European camping holiday and stumble into the middle of a horror setting, with mistrustful villagers on one side, a lonely vegetarian vampire on the other and a bunch of hungry wolves thrown into the middle. The humour is entirely derived from poking fun at archetypes and a hell of a lot of farce. It's very traditional British humour, which I apparently find a bit annoying now. There's no depth at all. I was show more shocked that Henry and the Count only spend one scene together before we head into the finale. I thought that friendship was the basis for the whole story! Also it struck me as odd that the Count is supposed to be a descendant of Dracula, yet the castle described bears no resemblance to that from Dracula. Instead the setting is clearly inspired by old movies. There are some nice moments however. It is well written, it just isn't my sense of humour any more.

Anyway, it spawned an entire series of vampire sequels, and I'm not sure if this was the first Hollins family book, but they certainly turned up again in a later book or two. show less

LOVE THIS BOOK! Great comedy with typical 70's sitcom family, who embark upon a nice quiet camping trip, in the wilds of Transylvania. Plenty of Wolves and villagers with burning torches ‘n pitchforks but of course… only one vampire!
Wonderful illustrations in the original edition really bring the characters to life. Wish I had a copy! Borrowed this from school and read it loads of times, seeing the cover brings it all back!