The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

More of a 3.5 on the stars, I first have to say that I really enjoyed both the narration and the voice of the character in the telling. He's very strong, very persuasive, and interesting all on his own.

Sure, being a vamp in 1978 New York City sounds kinda familiar and such, and so much of what happens is the usual kind of vampire tale, getting down to the nitty gritty of survival, an origin tale, and a potential big bad. I won't say the content here is all that amazing. If you've read a lot of vampire tales, this will feel like any time-period's penny dreadful.

However.

The coda at the end successfully skids my noggin in such a way that I am able to enjoy the full tale in an entirely new way. Without it, I may have rated this as a regular 3 star. There's nothing all that new... except when the entire tale becomes something altogether different. I liked that a lot.

Was I scared at all? Hmm... not really. But I did have a fairly good time. :)

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