I recently finished this book after about four months. Its not that the book was a bad read- on the contrary it was quite exquisite however time has really been limited trying to juggle life so reading had to take a bit of a backseat. That being said this was a great conclusion to the Pale Fallen Angel story.

Continuing from the previous book, D, Baron Byron Balazs , Miska and company finally reach Krauhausen which is the final destination which D was hired to guard the Baron for in order to murder his father. However upon entering the territory they were attacked and seperated; thrusting the characters on seperate and sometimes converging paths. Placing everyone in varying degrees of danger. May being kidnapped and placed in the red light establishment of Fisher Lagoon. Taki being abducted by Vlad himself and becoming one of his enslaved victims. Miska being tricked and experimented on due to the violent Destroyer resting in her body and Baron and D having to face Vlad's minions in an effort to reach the big boss himself. I kept things simple in an effort to reduce spoilers but I assure you there's alot going on in the book. Almost to a fault because you can often find yourself being lost at times.

Nonetheless the world continues to be very rich, which a very deep, dark history that influences not only the characters, but the topography, the creatures, the technology and culture of various locations which they traverse. And regarding character backgrounds we not only get a surprising incite on Baron Byron Balazs and Miska's past, but some lesser characters like the aging scientist De Carriole, Barons mother Cordelia and heck even a little more incite on the enigmatic D himself. However one complaint was that they were alot of throwaway characters or should i say some characters were probably reintroduced from the first book but for some reason they didnt come to mind when I was reading so I was a bit confused. Like Vince for example.

Nevertheless the writing is still topnotch and poetic at times. With plenty of engaging battles and solid pacing. I do love Kikuechis writing style though I can tell he is limited by book space with the amount of ideas he tries to throw in.

All in all it was a great read. I still maintain its one of the best vampire stories ever made and I implore everyone who is a vampire fan to put down twilight and READ THIS BOOK.

4/5 ( )

This is the twelfth book in the Vampire Hunter D series and the second book in the epic story "Pale Fallen Angel". It wraps up the story of Pale Fallen Angel nicely. Although I had some issues with the writing style and following the plot.

In this book D continues to lead Miska and the Baron to the Baron's home town. The Baron is on a mission to kill his father and Miska needs to pick up something that her grandfather left to her.

I didn't enjoy the second part of this story as much as the first. There are a lot of extra characters thrown in here; including many doppelgangers of characters already present in the story. As is often the case with Kikuchi's writing it gets hard to tell who is talking sometimes and who is doing what (especially with the doppelgangers thrown in). The fight scenes can be pretty confusing. The plot itself is also a little crazy and switches viewpoints a lot. In general this book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. I am not sure why; I usually enjoy these books quite a bit.

There were some positive things about this book too. The world is crazy and inventive as always. D continues to manifest new and interesting powers that give insight into his origin. The Baron is a great character and gives D a run for his money power wise. D continues to alternate between coldness and glimpses of feeling for the tumbling brother and sister.

This was an okay book. More so than in previous books; I thought the writing style/plot were a bit choppy and hard to follow. I also think that these continuous adventures of D's are getting a bit tired for me. D never makes a lot of progress as a character and I am unsure of what the series as a whole is building towards. Will I continue to read the series? I am not sure right now. ( )