Vampire Hunter D & other book recommends

[guespiere]

has anyone read the Vampire Hunter D series?  I found them while out today - the first omnibus - the amount of pages looks very promising and AMANO ART is like genuinely 60% of the reason I'm like "yeah OK I could read you".  I also hear the anime is p cool I guess.

but has anyone read them?  A quick google shows quite a few omnibuses and then other standalone books, too. 

Also, I would love some book recommendations along a similar vein.  I kinda like retook up reading after AGES and immediately dove into the Wheel of Time, which has been REALLY good but also REALLY long and I kind of don't want to commit to such a massive series, I'd rather read like 3 or 5 just standalones, maybe some necessary readings, if you're into sci-fi & fantasy & that sort've thing

thank youuuuu 

[krzchn「c」]

I read Vampire Hunter D in the title, and like a moth to a flame i am HERE! (i should be writing my introduction but i hate figuring those out, replying to this is easier...)

It's so funny to me how we seem on the same path often without rly interacting, I've also started reading books again in the past few years after a long period of just reading graphic novels/mangas when reading at all and I rly missed it. I forgot how much it was making my brain spark with inspiration to draw and create things of my own!! 

I've actually only read the first Vampire Hunter D book. The writing style is quite peculiar, I'm not sure if it's just the author's style, or bc the work is from the 80s, or bc the translation, but it felt a little dry to me in places? I think the only other thing I've ever that I can compare it to would be the Elric of Melniboné saga by Michael Moorcock. They just both have that kind of matter-of-factly way to state what's happening and what the characters are doing/feeling.
Overall I really enjoyed the glimpse into the Vampire Hunter D world I could see through the first book and I can see myself read more of them down the line. Would be curious to know your thoughts if you pick it up! Like you I was drawn to the serie bc of Amano's artwork, and I'm also a huge fan of the 2001 animated adaptation which I heavily recommend watching if you haven't already.

As far as books go, my go-to recommendation is always Robin Hobb... Her Realm of the Elderlings saga is quite long if you want to read everything, but the good thing is that it's split into trilogies that can be read on their own. If you like getting real close to characters and their inner workings and thoughts, you might enjoy it. It's fantasy, set in a grounded universe; there is magic but it's not commonplace. You will discover the world through the eyes of the main character, Fitz - it's all told in first person. If you enjoy crying like I do, you will enjoy it :^)

If you'd rather go for something shorter, I also enjoyed everything I've read from Ursula le Guin. She's done both fantasy and sci-fi, so you get quite a bit of variety to pick from! Her most famous work is probably the Earthsea Quartet and it's honestly surprising to me that I've never drawn anything from it because the pictures it conjures in my brain always feel so vivid and inspiring.

More recently I've enjoyed the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, those were difficult to put down and I devoured them so fast... The main character is a robot who is an introvert (yes, that's possible) and the serie as a whole is definitely more on the fun side - but the setting and universe is a heavy critique of capitalism and megacorporations :^) They're also quite short, 200/300 pages each maximum, and those pass by fast.

This ended up on the longer side, whoops!

[AutoReiv]

I haven't read Vampire Hunter D sadly. I've only watched a bit of the anime long ago. But the art is peak inspo though.

I wanna recommend Adrian Tchaikovsky's Final Architecture series. It's just three novels, starting with Shards of Earth. I'm on book two now and it's a real joy to read.

The reason I wanna recommend it to you is because I think it has a lot of qualities and things in it that you might like. It's about a ragtag bunch of misfits running heists and getting into big trouble with huge galactic players. It's an action packed space opera adventure on the surface, there are humans, but also vat grown humans, slightly weird aliens, and very weird unique aliens. A very diverse cast. It does also take it's time to pause and contemplate on things too, without being necessarily philosophical in that cerebral way that some sci-fi does it (which I also enjoy sometimes). It's not a difficult read. The prose is natural and flows very nicely. The last bit I'll tell you about it is that there's a dark cosmic horror element looming in the background, and it's slowly slowly being revealed while all the factions are busy fighting and scheming against each other. I'm only on the second book still, but it's getting real good and I smell one halluva reveal/climax.