Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
by V.E. Schwab (Tor, 2025)
audiobook read by Julia Whelan, Katie Leung & Marisa Calin (Macmillan, 2025)
This feminist vampire take should be compelling, but loses its power somewhat as the spirit of repressed uprising rots away to reveal a downbeat metaphor for toxic self-centredness. While a lengthy perspective is justified, Schwab’s characterisation of Sabine is belaboured and disproportional.
Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery
by Deborah & James Howe (Atheneum Books, 1979)
audiobook read by Victor Garber (Listening Library, 2004) [as part of The Bunnicula Collection]
![Book cover: "The Bunnicula Collection" by Deborah & James Howe (Listening Library, 2004); audiobook read by Victor Garber; review of “Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery” [first published, Atheneum Books, 1979]](https://www.derelictspacesheep.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Howe_Bunnicula-Collection.jpg)
A gentle MG story in which a dog and cat’s peaceful existence as family pets is disrupted by the arrival of a supposed vampire bunny. The human and animal characters all evince distinct personalities (brought to the fore in Garber’s audiobook reading).
Carpe Jugulum
by Terry Pratchett (Doubleday, 1998)
audiobook read by Nigel Planer (Isis, 2000)
A perfectly respectable Discworld novel. The vampires pose a serious threat; Agnes Nitt evinces personality(ies). Still, there are rather more characters than focus, and thus a nagging sense of Pratchett extemporising a skyscraper and pulling it into place at the pointy end.
Blade
dir. Stephen Norrington (1998)
A dark, oddly persuasive vampire/superhero film. Wesley Snipes could so easily have come off as faintly silly, yet doesn’t. Stephen Dorff and his crew walk a similar line, leaving Kris Kristofferson and N’Bushe Wright to add just the right touch of authenticity.
Fangs
by Sarah Andersen (Andrews McMeel, 2020)
Not a love story per se but rather a collection of single-page (A5, often multi-panel) comics exploring aspects of a vampire-werewolf relationship. Some clever, funny ideas; a bit too much filler. Simple but endearing artwork, making good use of the black-and-white format.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
dir. Ana Lily Amirpour (2014)
Marketed as the first Iranian vampire western. This latter aspect sits hazy in the background but the sense of (noir-ish, feminist) vampirism permeates, starkly enhanced through black-and-white cinematography and an astute substitution of silence for traditional scoring cues. Quality cast. Award-worthy cat!
Carmilla
by Sheridan Le Fanu (The Dark Blue, 1871-1872)
A very early vampire novella, constrained by attitudes of the time yet nonetheless pursuing a lesbian angle and affording an uncommon measure of female empowerment. Le Fanu for the most part hints subtly at the supernatural, but resorts at last to exposition.
Vampire Knight, Season 1
dir. Kiyoko Sayama (TV Tokyo, 2008)
Stylised rather than stylish, its characters stilted in both posture and delivery (at least in the English dub), Vampire Knight stakes its appeal on an inscrutable human/vampire love triangle and carry-over from the manga. The end result is 100% daytime soap opera.
Elemental (Shadows of Otherside #1)
by Whitney Hill (Benu Media, 2020)
An elemental spirit posing as human and working as a private investigator must find her way in the devious, dangerous world of North-Carolinian elves, vampires and djinn. Nicely paced and characterised. Marries the best elements of urban fantasy and hardboiled detective fiction.
Priest
dir. Scott Stewart (2011)
In a pseudo-futuristic dystopia, an excommunicated warrior priest confronts inner demons and a newly spawned vampire threat. The premise may not inspire but the plot at least hasn’t been twisted to throttle itself, allowing moody quiet moments to mollify the over-the-top action.