First might I start out saying I love The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod. I read the entire series and would love to own all of them. The story follows our current eighth grade hero Vladimir Tod. He is a vampire– but he doesn’t sparkle. Vampires are hurt and even killed in the sun light in this mythos about vampires.

Vladimir has a very depressing life; his parents died when he was much younger. They died in a fire at his house and he now lives with aunt Nelly. Nelly isn’t his real aunt, but she and Vlad’s mom were best friends so he refers to her as aunt because she practically is. And the most important plot point in the early story is Vlad’s teacher– his favorite teacher goes missing and is never seen in the series ever.

Of course, Vlad is bullied and not many people besides his best friend Henry like him. That being said, he does have a crush on a girl as most boys around that age do. As she is put up to be the most beautiful girl in the school, Meredith tends to hang around Henry more, which throws up a bit of tension between the two till further in.

Down to the good old heart of this book: it’s a vampire story; but no matter how hard you look at, it’s not Twilight. It’s more for men. It’s funny, it’s mean at times, and it can be rather clever. No matter what you think of vampires, the book is at least mildly interesting, and it can be a great way to read away a late Sunday night. Personally I love these books, and it makes me very happy to read them over again.

And lastly, the most important joke of the book for me; in the first few chapters Vlad and Henry go to a Halloween party of Elm Street; clearly a reference to Nightmare on Elm Street.

There are a few problems here and there, but I really enjoyed this book. I would go more into detail, but that would spoil a lot of the book, which I think is just sick. The story works really well, and of course it’s a nice story for kids and teens. It’s more child friendly than, say, Van Helsing, but teens will like it because it is rather relatable. It has a lot of points where it can hit home for all those kids who were loners, who can sympathies with this character. Teens should give it a look even if your not sure if it’s your type of story, you will enjoy it as long as you like a good tale of vampires who hate garlic, don’t sparkle, and bite people like they are supposed to.

Vladimir Tod gets a 7/10 for his first outing in the book world, and the books only get better and more emotional. I strongly recommend putting this on your “must read” list as soon as you can.

-Cameron S., 12th grade