Recommendations for quality vampire books?

[Mary Carolyn]

I am looking for serious vampire books, where they are not monsters, and the books aren't padded with sex. I didn't enjoy Twilight...too juvenile for my taste. Most the vampire books I find now are soft porn...not interested at all, nor in YA style. I want mature books, with the vampires as the central characters, not those hunting them. I know the pickings must be thin.

[MJ]

Anne Rice
Erica Stevens
Sherrilyn Kenyon
JR WARD

[Tammy ~Witching Hour Reads~]

You could try the Hollows seriesDead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison her main character is a bounty hunter witch, but her business partner is Ivy a vamp.

[Zombieslayer⚡Alienhunter]

Not really a 'vampire book', but one of the MCs is a vampire in Gil's All Fright Diner.
More Christopher Moore than Anne Rice.

[Scott]

Let the Right One In

[MJ]

True Blood series

[James]

MJ wrote: "Anne Rice"

Yes.

And the Fred Saberhagen series that begins withThe Dracula Tape.

[Donna]

JR Wards - Black Dagger Brotherhood series
Lara Adrian's - Midnight Breed series
Jeaniene Frosts - Cat & Bone series
Richelle Meads - Vampire Academy

[Donna]

Jeaniene Frost
JR WARD
Lara Adrian
Richelle Mead

[Victoria]

My favorite vampire series is by P. N. Elrod. The series I like are Bloodlist and its sequels: the main character is a recently-made vampire, and the setting is 1930s Chicago! Elrod has a few other vampire books set in the time of the Revolution, which are also good; I just get a kick out of vampires in gangland Chicago.

I also like Those Who Hunt the Night and its sequel, but the vampires are not the only protagonists.

Fred Saberhagen's Dracula series is also quite good.

Oh, I almost forgot Tanya Huff's Vicki Nelson series. She's got a nice sense of humor in her characters, too.

If you don't want YA, then avoid Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books.

[Tytti]

The Vampyre and Carmilla are some of the first vampire stories, written before Dracula.

[Darcy]

They Thirst

[Mariyam]

How about the Dark/Carpathians series of Christine Feehan or Argeneau series of Lynsay Sands? Those are the Vampire stories I read, and the Argeneau series have a little twist to vampire part :)

[Aaron]

The Madness Season

The word Vampire is only used once in the series, but it's clearly what the main character is.

It's like 300 years in the future and humanity has been subjugated by aliens. Only one person on earth remembers the time before subjugation and that is the main character because he is a vampire and actually fought in the final battle, he has been in hiding ever since with the rage of 300ish years of subjugation and watching human culture...his culture crumble and the fact that he is unable to do nothing about has been eating away at his soul all this time.

[James]

Victoria wrote: "Oh, I almost forgot Tanya Huff's Vicki Nelson series. She's got a nice sense of humor in her characters, too."

I especially like that one of the novels in that series had the characters come to Kingston, Ontario, which is where I grew up.

I've never read characters set in my home town. That was cool. (although not particularly important to anyone outside of Kingston)

[Sophie]

Peeps is an interesting take on the vampire mythos that is nowhere near erotica. The main character is both a vampire and a vampire hunter.

[drowningmermaid]

I haven't actually read this one, but you might want to check out The Radleys

[Mary Carolyn]

James wrote: "MJ wrote: "Anne Rice"
Thank you James, I should have mentioned I have read and re-read the Rice books 3 times through. I need something new and just as captivating. I will check out The Dracula Tape now.
Yes.

And the Fred Saberhagen series that begins withThe Dracula Tape."

[Mary Carolyn]

Outstanding Aaron! I look forward to this one. Getting it now.
Aaron wrote: "The Madness Season

The word Vampire is only used once in the series, but it's clearly what the main character is.

It's like 300 years in the future and humanity has been subjugated b..."

[Mary Carolyn]

This one looks really good, but I put it on my wish list because the Kindle edition is $16! Wow!
drowningmermaid wrote: "I haven't actually read this one, but you might want to check out The Radleys"

[Joseph]

There's always the great classic that started it all Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I'd also suggest Molly Harper's Jane Jameson series. It starts with Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs and is a lot of fun.

Deborah Harkness wrote an amazing trilogy that features vampires, witches, and demons. I gave the whole thing 5-stars. The first book is A Discovery of Witches

[Tytti]

Joseph wrote: "There's always the great classic that started it all Bram Stoker's Dracula."

It didn't actually, see my previous post. :-)

[Michele]

I haven't seen anyone mention Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and her Saint-Germain series Hotel Transylvania.

[James]

Tytti wrote: "Joseph wrote: "There's always the great classic that started it all Bram Stoker's Dracula."

It didn't actually, see my previous post. :-)"

Well, Varney and Carmilla didn't start the vampire fiction craze. They came and went, as far as influencing literature (as far as I'm aware).

It's probably accurate to identify Dracula as the progenitor of the current vampire thing. But I don't think it was the book... I haven't done a survey of the literature, for dates, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lugosi's Dracula wasn't the thing that inspired young writers to tell tales vampiric.

(edited to add: I'm aware vampire tales have existed since before the 1800s, but I'm talking about the current and long-lasting wave of tales. I'm not sure it really extends, unbroken, to the 1800s)

[Mary Carolyn]

Thank you Michele, this is quite a find. I can't believe I never saw these. I had heard something once about a St. Germain vampire. I just downloaded it for free with my Kindle Unlimited program. Michele wrote: "I haven't seen anyone mention Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and her Saint-Germain series Hotel Transylvania."

[Mary Carolyn]

Sounds good Victoria, unfortunately I didn't find Bloodlist for Kindle and because I live in Romania, I am limited to that for reading. I put it on my wish list. Thanks for a great suggestion. Victoria wrote: "My favorite vampire series is by P. N. Elrod. The series I like are Bloodlist and its sequels: the main character is a recently-made vampire, and the setting is 1930s..."

[Victoria]

Carolyn wrote: "Sounds good Victoria, unfortunately I didn't find Bloodlist for Kindle and because I live in Romania, I am limited to that for reading. I put it on my wish list. Thanks for a great suggestion."

It looks like they're being sold under the series name "The Vampire Files" - I see it in the US Kindle store, here:
http://www.amazon.com/Vampire-Files-O...

And this is the first book in the other series (the protagonist of which eventually shows up as a side character in The Vampire Files):
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Death-Adven...

[Michelle °O°]

Heather Graham has a historical series called the Vampire Hunters where some of the good vampires fight the bad vampires

Night of the Wolves

[drowningmermaid]

Carolyn wrote: "This one looks really good, but I put it on my wish list because the Kindle edition is $16! Wow!
drowningmermaid wrote: "I haven't actually read this one, but you might want to check out [book:The..."

Hmm. Yeah. Might want to check the library...

[drowningmermaid]

Heartkeeper features no vampire hunters whatsoever, and focuses on the vampire high court... BUT it's a romance story between a werewolf soldier and the vampire princess so I'm not sure if that's what you have in mind.

[Mary Carolyn]

Not likely to find it here in this small eastern Romanian town. My Kindle is my only access to English novels, especiall the kind I like. Thank you for answering. drowningmermaid wrote: "Carolyn wrote: "This one looks really good, but I put it on my wish list because the Kindle edition is $16! Wow!
drowningmermaid wrote: "I haven't actually read this one, but you might want to ch..."

[Mary Carolyn]

Thank you drowningmermaid. I put it on my list to read,, sounds unique. drowningmermaid wrote: "Heartkeeper features no vampire hunters whatsoever, and focuses on the vampire high court... BUT it's a romance story between a werewolf soldier and the vampire princess so I'm not s..."

[Scott]

Tanith Lee's Blood Opera:
Dark Dance
Personal Darkness
Darkness, I

[Mary]

This doesn't hit some of your requirements (and has mixed reviews!), but I enjoyed it: The Quick. It focuses on both the vampires and those that are hunting them.

[Mary Carolyn]

Thank you Mary, I will give it a good look. It sounds unique

[Mary Carolyn]

thanks Scott for the suggestion about Tanith Lee. Sadly, not available on Kindle, to which I am limited.

[Aibohphobia]

I will second Victoria's recommendation of Barbara Hambly's Those Who Hunt the Night. Not a teenager in sight!

[puppitypup]

A whimsical book, on my top 5 of all time of any genre. It's a far cry from McKinley's usual fare and doesn't fit easily into any genre.


Sunshine by Robin McKinley

[Helle]

Midnight's Daughter it's funny and action pack, easy to read
The Historian this a long book, it take time to read but it is good and the ending is really the best.
Michael Romkey I, Vampire is also a long time book

[Krystal]

I always found The Society of S an interesting take on vampires.

Also The Hunt, though this doesn't always put the most favorable light on the vampires, particularly in the sequels where we're focused more on the humans in the story.

I've only managed to read the first in this series, but I major enjoyed it and if the second and third are as well written and interesting as the first, I have no doubt I'll love them too. The Homecoming Masquerade

I haven't read these but they're on my list: Peeps

And, frustrating, I can think of one more but I can't for the life of me remember the title. Looks like I'll have to start a new thread here to find the name of what I wanted to suggest - not the first time, and probably not the last, lol.