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Description
Some people are born boring. Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort. One fateful night-different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful-Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos of the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to "survive." Because even after it's over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.… (more)
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LibraryThing member ViragoReads
I expected to be amused with this and I was. The stories were all told via journal entries. Fred was turned into a vampire a year prior to the start of the entries. He was a normal, boring guy who worked as an accountant. He was overweight and awkward as a child and of course bullied. The first
As a vampire, the only thing that changed for Fred was that he was relegated to a liquid diet, which helped with weight loss, and he had to open his own accounting firm, as he could no longer go into the office, because he would burst into flames in sunlight. Fred's boring life as a human carried over to his unlife as a vampire. The vampire who had turned him disappeared immediately, so he had to learn how to live as a vampire on his own. Poor Fred realized that his life was uneventful and decided to take a risk and accept the invitation to his high school reunion.
From there Fred falls into one ridiculous situation after another. At the reunion, he reconnected with his only friend from high school, who works for an agency that polices supernaturals, or parahumans, that step out of line. Then together they stop a pack of werewolves from eating all of their classmates. They begin dating and keep falling into shenanigan after shenanigan picking up new friends--some as hopeless as Fred--along the way. They create their own parahuman family, who also happen to be trouble magnets.
The narrator did a good job capturing Fred's "voice" as well as the other characters. My only pet peeve was that each new story started with a recap. This would make sense in a series of separate but connected stories, but this is one book broken into sections for each story. It was just a little annoying, but did not take away from the stories.
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opportunity he had to leave his small town, he did and never looked back. Well, almost never. As a vampire, the only thing that changed for Fred was that he was relegated to a liquid diet, which helped with weight loss, and he had to open his own accounting firm, as he could no longer go into the office, because he would burst into flames in sunlight. Fred's boring life as a human carried over to his unlife as a vampire. The vampire who had turned him disappeared immediately, so he had to learn how to live as a vampire on his own. Poor Fred realized that his life was uneventful and decided to take a risk and accept the invitation to his high school reunion.
From there Fred falls into one ridiculous situation after another. At the reunion, he reconnected with his only friend from high school, who works for an agency that polices supernaturals, or parahumans, that step out of line. Then together they stop a pack of werewolves from eating all of their classmates. They begin dating and keep falling into shenanigan after shenanigan picking up new friends--some as hopeless as Fred--along the way. They create their own parahuman family, who also happen to be trouble magnets.
The narrator did a good job capturing Fred's "voice" as well as the other characters. My only pet peeve was that each new story started with a recap. This would make sense in a series of separate but connected stories, but this is one book broken into sections for each story. It was just a little annoying, but did not take away from the stories.
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LibraryThing member JediSloth
This book was great fun, and an interesting take on the supernatural genre.
It was reminiscent of the Dresden Files books, though much more light-hearted, and I enjoyed it a lot.
The book was split into several smaller stories, each with several short chapters. It was a little like episodes of a TV
It was reminiscent of the Dresden Files books, though much more light-hearted, and I enjoyed it a lot.
The book was split into several smaller stories, each with several short chapters. It was a little like episodes of a TV
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series. Show Less
LibraryThing member Velmeran
What a great and unique idea! Interesting characters and fun adventures combined with a vampire who doesn't think himself special combine in some great tales!
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
Fred is funny in his failure to be a scary creature of the night. This novel feels like a series of short stories in the life of Fred, which kind of threw me off a bit.
LibraryThing member MrNattania72
Though it wasx pretty interesting and a new take on the un-dead, I found this more of a preteen book. I think my boys and girls in grades 6 - 8 might find it interesting, however; my more advanced readers might blow right through this and find it a bit remedial for them. It was light and
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entertaining overall. Show Less
LibraryThing member Tikimoof
This was structured as several short stories, which worked to the book's favor to keep things simple. And thankfully, it was a quick read in general. It was also more urban fantasy than I expected. Male-centric urban fantasy, which I don't care for.
Wow I hated all of the nerd stereotypes in this
We start off with a 10-year high school reunion, where the main character is still clinging to all of the stereotypes and misery associated with high school. One lady already has 4 kids, and she's 28. He still hates people from the football team, who somehow - again, at 28 - have completely gone to seed. He thinks people in the chess club - who are still defined a decade later only as having been in the chess club!!! - are too geeky for him (also, the third story tries to establish him and Krystal as having been chess prodigies, which makes this comparison EVEN STUPIDER). Fred is still flustered by seeing attractive women and is really obsessed with looking at their breasts.
The second story had LARPers, with all of the condescension associated with them. Like, I can tell that the author has actually done some LARPing, but it was still presented in a condescending look-at-these-nerds-who-don't-know-how-to-talk-to-people way, which hasn't been my experience with them. Fred is still really into ladies' breasts..
Third story: Fred must protect girlfriend, because another man has dared to look at her. The resolution was relatively amusing. The weird male posturing around his girlfriend was way less so.
Fourth story: Fred worries about gay men seeing other men naked. Also, all people who get high love Pink Floyd.
Fifth story: Other vampires assume that women cause all problems.
Honestly, I was mostly fine with all of the other characters. I just hated Fred.
The writing wasn't great. I made a lot of angry Kindle notes about bad word choices and comparisons. The simple sentence structure and word choice made it faster to get through, at least. If I was listening to this on audiobook, I would probably be screaming.
There was also a problem with the ebook edition of this, where it would mark chapter ends at almost-the-end of each short story, but miss by a chapter or two.
Wow I hated all of the nerd stereotypes in this
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book. Fred is pretty stereotypically nerdy, but he's also stereotypically close-to-misogynistic nerdy, and that's definitely an element I come to fantasy to forget. Fred is strangely focused on being able to tell whether a woman is actually attracted to him (by pheromones, obviously), which is kinda skeevy.We start off with a 10-year high school reunion, where the main character is still clinging to all of the stereotypes and misery associated with high school. One lady already has 4 kids, and she's 28. He still hates people from the football team, who somehow - again, at 28 - have completely gone to seed. He thinks people in the chess club - who are still defined a decade later only as having been in the chess club!!! - are too geeky for him (also, the third story tries to establish him and Krystal as having been chess prodigies, which makes this comparison EVEN STUPIDER). Fred is still flustered by seeing attractive women and is really obsessed with looking at their breasts.
The second story had LARPers, with all of the condescension associated with them. Like, I can tell that the author has actually done some LARPing, but it was still presented in a condescending look-at-these-nerds-who-don't-know-how-to-talk-to-people way, which hasn't been my experience with them. Fred is still really into ladies' breasts..
Third story: Fred must protect girlfriend, because another man has dared to look at her. The resolution was relatively amusing. The weird male posturing around his girlfriend was way less so.
Fourth story: Fred worries about gay men seeing other men naked. Also, all people who get high love Pink Floyd.
Fifth story: Other vampires assume that women cause all problems.
Honestly, I was mostly fine with all of the other characters. I just hated Fred.
The writing wasn't great. I made a lot of angry Kindle notes about bad word choices and comparisons. The simple sentence structure and word choice made it faster to get through, at least. If I was listening to this on audiobook, I would probably be screaming.
There was also a problem with the ebook edition of this, where it would mark chapter ends at almost-the-end of each short story, but miss by a chapter or two.
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LibraryThing member travelgirl-fics
an interesting concept that, sadly, took place over several short deus-ex-machina style stories.... i was expecting more of a cohesive and coherent storyline, not short stories that collected sidekicks so the "plot" could tackle the next story in line...
LibraryThing member Fiddleback_
An excellent choice when you crave the Twinkie equivalent of a book.
LibraryThing member purpledog
Fred is what made this book. You can't help but love the awkward, nerdy, accountant, turned vampire. His dedication to his friends was admirable and though his adventures were anything but uninteresting, I wished the story and characters had been fleshed out a bit more.
I enjoyed this bit of fluff
I enjoyed this bit of fluff
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and it was a quick read. If you like vampires and enjoy a character you can empathize this, I suggest you give this book a try. Show Less