The Vampyre - Tom Holland > Reviews (4)

"It was the custom then for men such as myself, well bred and hopelessly in debt, to perform a tour of the Continent ... I wanted to sample new pleasures, new sensations, new delights..."

History tells us that the close friends of Lord Byron burned his memoirs to hide the truth about his life and travels, wary that they may shock the outside world, this has left many to their imagination

The book sets off along the darkened streets of 20th century London, already plunging you into a mysterious yet strangely familiar world. We follow the actions of a descendent of the great and mysterious Lord Byron as she tries to track what she believes to be his memoirs after being told by a ghastly stranger that they still exist. Her mother has already been consumed by curiosity and has disappeared in her own search leaving no trace or clue to her whereabouts.

The story leads you through happiness and sorrow, hope and despair as you fall backward and forward through the centuries following the young Lord on his journeys across the continent. This amazing work of literature makes great use of what is known of the mysterious poetic master from past records mixed and mingled in a sometimes shocking chilling way with gothic legends and the enflamed imagination of the reader.

We walk by his side as his loyal man servant, we bow beneath his stare as his slave, we tower above him as his idol, we watch in horror as a close friend and we freeze in terror at what his mind has in store. In the shadow of a monster that is living dead, a creature that survives by drinking the blood of others, Byron meets him in human form by day and is haunted by him in his dreams, hopelessly on a battlefield of love and hate not sure which way to turn and un able to win this deathly, life-consuming conflict.

This is not just a Vampire horror novel this is a work of fact and fiction created as a piece on its own, allowing the mind to wander where it really shouldn't go alone.