Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale Of The Dead Town [Paperback]

Vampire Hunter D is one of those vampiric characters who clings to the imagination -- a chilly, powerful dhampir with a big hat and sword.

And Hideyuki Kikuchi is still in pretty good shape in D's fourth fantasy adventure. "Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale of the Dead Town" is more of a mystery than straight sci-fi horror, and while it lacks the visceral punch of Kikuchi's other work about his postapocalyptic dhampir, it's still a solid story with some solid action scenes, and a glimpse of D's life as a wandering Hunter.

As the story opens, D rescues the lone survivor of a dragon massacre -- a radiation-sick teenage girl named Lori -- and a brash biker named John M. Brasselli Pluto VIII.

With his two new companions, D arrives at a very unique town -- it floats above the ground, and constantly travels. Compared to the rest of the Frontier, it's pretty idyllic, except that the mayor's daughter has been attacked by the Nobility. At first D thinks that the place has been invaded by a lone Noble, but when he kills the vampire he finds that the man is not the only one in the floating city.

And he finds that something strange is lurking in Lori's old home, where her father was conducting some odd experiments. Using John's special talents -- possessing the minds of others -- D soon discovers just what Lori's father was trying to create all those years, and who is responsible for the vampire attacks. To make matters worse, the city is going waaaaaayyy off course toward some Noble ruins...

Hideyuki Kikuchi has explored the horrors that science can create before, even in a series with vampires, mutants, and monsters of assorted types. And "Tale of the Dead Town" straddles the line between horror and mystery -- not mystery of the Agatha Christie type with subtle clues and many suspects, but more of a Raymond Chandler dig-up-the-dirty-nasty-facts pulp variety.

With that in mind, "Tale of the Dead Town" unwinds at a relatively relaxed pace, with D poking around in dark corners and fending off the bigotry of the locals. Kikuchi's shadowy, lushly detailed descriptions lend themselves well to the eerier scenes -- such as the vampire girl's creepy multiple-personality moment -- as well as the action sequences. One particularly striking scene is D's battle against some vicious carnivorous birds to save a little girl.

There are a few bumps in the literary road, though -- Kikuchi's detailed writing sometimes goes a bit over the top ("vermillion rage" in someone's voice?), and he reminds us at least every two pages about how unspeakably gorgeous D is.

Though D claims he's "seen too much" to react to his surroundings, Kikuchi keeps his anti-hero from becoming a cardboard cutout. He spends most of the book being chilly and remote, but occasionally comes out of his shell -- his unacknowledged with the brash, talkative John M. Brasselli Pluto VIII is a particularly fun one, since the men are utter opposites. At the same time, we get a glimpse at the mindless hostility he's been hit with for centuries.

"Vampire Hunter D Volume 4: Tale of the Dead Town" is one of Kikuchi's lesser works, but it's still a solid horror/mystery tale of a hi-tech city that is rotting from the inside out.

This is the first Vampire Hunter D novel I've ever read, but it won't be the last. This book will probably only appeal to a limited number of people, but if you are one of them you will probably end up loving it.

Early on the book's genre-y goodness comes oozing off the page. By page nine, the impossibly beautiful half vampire hero has rode in on his cyborg horse to fight off dragons attacking a motor home. At first I was worried that the book wouldn't be able to continue after such a high-point, but luckily the author has a vast imagination and a lot more ideas to use.

The basic plot is that D is hired by the mayor of a mobile floating city to come and kill a vampire that is hiding somewhere in town. I don't want to say anything more about the plot, one because I don't want to spoil anything and two because it's a bit of a mess. But while it falls apart near the end, the journey along the way is filled with exciting action scenes, a few good moments between D and the minor characters, and bizarre fun stuff that could only happen in this book (i.e. a out of nowhere reveal near the end that a character's actually a cyborg).

The translation reads excellently. There's a nice use of alliteration sprinkled throughout the book, and while it's tiring to hear for a 1000th time just how beautiful D is, Hideyuki Kikuchi goes to great lengths to describe things which helps when the story's placed in such a futuristic/fantastical world.

I had a lot of fun reading this book, more fun than I had in a long time while reading. There were a few instances of swear words, and some gore, so I would recommend this for 13+. I would also recommend it for people who want something a little different from their fantasy or sci-fi books.

While Dead Town does not outshine Volumes 1 and 3 of the series, it does however work well in the series. D's character, while still cold, is starting to develope into a person that can in fact, partner up from time to time with other characters in the story.

The twist at the end of the novel however is pretty obvious, and it has been a staple of the series to have a hidden villain turn out to be one of the "good guys" that are trying to help D. The true easter egg of the story however is the reference to a previous book, in which the fate of a popular character is revealed. That fact definatley makes it a must read.

All in all it was a quick and pleasant read; and I still look forward to the next installment.

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