For previous posts and future FFF topics check out my Friday Favorite Five page here.
Favorite Five Book Featuring Vampires
Vampires!!! Ok, so if you’ve followed me here at all for a little while you may have seen me mention before how much I love vampires. They just never get old for me (har har!). I love how authors put their own spin on vamps, or sometimes go back to the original mythology.
- Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice
I mean, come on, this is just a classic. It’s probably THE book which took vamps out of the realm of horror and humanized the monster. How can we forget Louis, who laments his lost humanity (thus setting the tone for broody vampires everywhere)? And Lestat, the brat prince! I love Lestat because he’s always like ‘GUYS. I have this idea to do this thing.’ And everyone else is like ‘That’s a terrible idea, it’s not gonna end well, don’t do it.’ And then Lestat is like ‘…..I’m gonna do it.’ Later books in the series get formulaic and then at a certain point….very wtf-y. BUT. The first 4 or 5 are definitely worth checking out if you haven’t gotten around to them yet.
- The Gilded King by Josie Jaffrey
Ok, so I just read this one and don’t even have my review up yet, but it’s already a favorite. It’s so much fun. The gist is a plague of some sort (not to give things away) spread over mankind and the cure rendered human blood deadly (in a way) to vampires. The humans that were not inoculated could still be drunk from, however, so the vampires have a zoned off city where some humans live in a society built around being subservient and food for vampires. Basically. But there’s a world out there! I just loved so much about this book because it has so many elements I love and they work well together here. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.
- The Greyfriar by Susan and Clay Griffith
I know I’ve mentioned this one before, but here I am talking about it again because honestly I just can’t get enough of this series. It’s SO much fun. This one also combines a lot of elements I love – vampires, steampunk, romance, post-apocalyptic setting. Also, the main vampire lives in a castle in Scotland and loves kittens. I’m not even joking. The main vampire–badass extraordinaire and veritable cat lady. There’s also some pretty cool geomancy in this series which I loved. And did I mention romance? SWOON. But it’s a fun adventure too, if romance isn’t your bag. 🙂
- Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
I have been a fan of the Sookie Stackhouse books for a loooooong time. I remember when Charlaine announced that the books were being adapted into a show and then it still took two or three years before True Blood actually came out (let’s not get into my disappointment with the show’s direction). Like a lot of longer series this one also does kind of peter out at a certain point, but those first several books are SO GOOD. And so smart and funny.
- The Awakening by L.J. Smith
Ok, so I read these books back in middle school so…probably not long after they came out in the early – mid 90’s. I’ll admit, these are NOT highbrow literature, and they definitely paved the way for things like Twilight (I also enjoy Twilight for what it is, knowing it’s not great, so sue me), but these books are fun! They have interesting characters and an engaging story and also Damon is one of my favorite characters ever because you just really never know what side he’s going to join in the end. It’s also fun small town ‘urban’ fantasy. Small towns always have lots of secrets and Falls Church is full of them. These books will forever remain in my heart for helping stoke my love of all things vampire.
Well, that’s my list! Honestly there are so many other books I could have put on here (how could I leave off Sunshine by Robin McKinley???) because there’s so many fun vampire books. What are some of your favorites featuring vampires? What do you think of my picks? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to hear from you!
Way Too Fantasy 
Ooh, how did you stop at five!
Let me think:
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Dacre Stoker’s Dracul
Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian
Charlaine Harris – Stackhouse series
Silvia Moreno Garcia – Certain Dark Things
There’s another five 😀
I love the Vampire Empire series and Interview with the Vampire.
Lynn 😀
I know it was so tough! I love The Historian too, such an interesting one. U haven’t read Certain Dark Things, I’ll have to look that one up.
I love Anne Rice! I’m going to have to add these others though. Thanks for sharing this. 😉
You’re welcome! I love Anne too, even if some of her books go off the rails a bit I’m still a fan. 🙂
Vampire Empire sounds fun!
I thought it was a ton of fun!
Great topic! There are some fantastic vampire books out there, and my first choice would also be Interview😁 If you haven’t read them, I highly recommend Certain Dark Things and The Suicide Motor Club!
I haven’t read those so I’ll have to check them out! Thanks!
You have to read Sunshine by Robin McKinley!!!!! Just the best, honestly.
Oh, I’ve read that one, honestly one of my favorites but I’ve used it for so many lists before I was trying to avoid being super redundant hahaha. 🙂
I actually kind of liked the first…4-ish seasons of True Blood (if only for Alex Skaarsgard :P) but I’ve been told the show is NOTHING like the books, so I should really give them a try one day.
Well, yeah, not gonna lie, Alex Skaarsgard is a huge plus there lol. And he does play Erik well! But there is a point where they started to follow a main plot of the books and then made it dumb and then gave that up and there is just a lot of other things so yeah….lol. I’d say if you liked the show consider at least reading the first book. 🙂
I loved Dead Until Dark! Tho I agree the series did kind of peter out, there are just too many books! (and also the show sucked!) 🙂 I just finished Soulless which has vampires in it too, it was really good!
Oh gosh, I totally forgot about those Gail Carriger books! Those are fun.
I need to read Interview with a Vampire.
So far, my fav type of vamp story is the Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I like that the focus is on a virus, which makes the story almost like a medical thriller.
Oh, that sounds pretty cool actually! Interview is definitely a favorite. If you’ve ever seen the movie it’s a *fairly* good adaptation, helped that Rice also wrote the screenplay I think.
Interview with a vampire is a classic! Glad it made the list 🙂 greyfriar and gilded king sound good as well 🙂
Greyfriar and The Gilded King are both fun post apocalyptic vamp stories!
I loved the Sookie Stackhouse books. I miss binge reading those books like crazy.
Right?! I used to love then back in the day
So happy you got The Vampire Diaries on this list! I read it in middle school too and I re-read the series so much the cover on my paperback books fell off 😍
I re-read them a lot too! They’re so much fun. 🙂