Vampire Hunter D

Vampire Hunter D, Book 1

By: Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano - illustrator, Kevin Leahy - translator

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

The year 12,090 AD. It is a dark time for the world. Humanity is just crawling out from under 300 years of domination by the race of vampires known as the Nobility. The war against the vampires has taken its toll; cities lie in ruin, the countryside is fragmented into small villages and fiefdoms that still struggle against nightly raids by the fallen vampires - and the remnants of their genetically manufactured demons and werewolves.

Every village wants a Hunter - one of the warriors who have pledged their laser guns and their swords to the eradication of the Nobility. But some Hunters are better than others, and some bring their own kind of danger with them....

©1983 Hideyuki Kikuchi; English translation copyright 2005 by DH Press and Digital Manga Publishing (P)2022 Tantor

Never seen the movie, super can wait for it.

The less you know about this if you have next to no knowledge about this classic, the better. Let your mind play the movie. Expect the cross between genres this novel took. Also a great performance delivery.

A bit flat, but it’s still a classic

I discovered the VHD novels shortly after they began publication in English when I was a teenager. I heard about the movies, but was too young at the time to rent them, so I bought the novels, following the publication schedule and reading every single one for 8 or so years! (I never did end up seeing the movies haha)

I LOVE this series, and with time being so short now, I can’t say how thrilled I am to know I can re-live my adolescent joy almost 17 years (oh no time is coming for me) after I first experienced it.

As other reviewers commented, the performance does fall a bit flat sometimes, but overall this audiobook has grown on me! I can’t wait to listen to all of these, and I hope all of them are made available via unabridged audiobook. No offense to GraphicAudio, I’m sure the audio dramas are great… I just wanna re-experience this part of my adolescence.

The narrator was phenomenal

The story was ok, I didn’t like how the author is trying to tell us how to feel in certain scenes. The narrator was phenomenal he did a great job it’s just this story wasn’t the best

Vampire Hunter D

Fun story. it's good to go back to the beginning. The narrator did a good job as well, albeit a little slow. Sped it up to 1.15 and it worked out great. will get the next one at some point.

I like it overall

I saw the anime movie and I was thrilled to know about this story, however my only comment I have is in some parts there are unnecessary details regarding weapons or side characters, history.

A Dramatic Reading for a Dramatic Story

Cons: None of the Vampire Hunter D stories are realistic. They are overly dramatic, like reading an anime. The physics just don't work. This used to irritate me sometimes until...

Pros: I found this novel on audio, read by a professional dramatic reader. The story should not be read like a normal novel. The dramatic writing needs a dramatic reading. Suddenly, with the right pauses and tones, the story turned into a delightful romp through futuristic horror. The plot itself is fun and the main character will always be my favorite, but this particular novel has the added bonus of attaching an adoring child to D and giving him a very brief interest in a girl. Very highly recommend this reading and the story itself to anyone who enjoys vampire books.

you have to apply context

early 80s throwaway horror / sci fi with just 3nough big ideas that it has endured. the gothic touch is the best part, but it's stuck in so many 80s manga/anime/comic tropes it's ludicrous at times. very tell don't show. however, it's a fantastic world, sort of a Castlevania meets Elric situation. no complaints about the audiobook, but know that going in that this piece is as much 80s B movie as it is brooding gothic horror.

Paul Boehmer VS. graphic audio

obviously Vampire Hunter D is a well-loved and long-running series at 35 books and Counting.
and after nearly forty years audiobooks are now being made. even better than that there are two versions. this version read by Paul Boehmer is the straight unabridged reading of the book. and it is top-notch. I do give graphic audio The Edge simply because the multicast performances really make it more alive. but I do think it's at the cost of a little bit detail. not sure cuz I haven't done a side-by-side comparison of all the scenes. but I do know the narrator in the graphic audio version sounds a bit too muffled / clogged. but he does grow on you. Paul Boehmer narration is quite respectful, enjoyable, and clear. I look forward to hearing his Renditions on the rest of the series.

personally I'm already decided to buy all the Vampire Hunter D audio books as they are released. I pre-ordered as soon as they were up simply because I want to support this series and help support future releases. I'm very glad of the quality so far.

New (to me) vision

VHD is a true classic. I had no idea of these books, only the films and art books. This gave a lot the same feel as seeing the film for the first time, although there’s nothing that could truly match it. Highly recommend to fans

it's good, not great

if you're a fan you'll probably enjoy it. the writing is ok. it basically just says how beautiful and amazing D is the whole time.