Vlad: The Last Confession: n/a [Paperback]

I don't read much fiction, usually opting for real history but I thought I would give this one a go and I am so pleased that I did. This novel exceeded my expectations in every way.

The idea behind the book is that 3 people, all of whome knew Vlad throughout his life are brought together to retell his story in a trial that hopes to re-establish Vlad Dracula as a hero of Christendem and not a blood thirsty monster.

Through these three narratives we are able to follow Vlad from his younger years (as a hostage in Turkey), into the prison where he learns the art of Impalement, onto his crowning as Voivoid of Wallachia and the war he raged with Turkey, and finally onto his final years as a fallen Prince feared and despised my most but still loved by some. Along the way we meet a cast of colouful characters that will stay with you even after you put the book down. Ion Tremblac his right hand man best friend and one of the few people Vlad trusts. Ilona Vlad,s love interest, the Sultans, Murad and Mehmet, Hamza Pasha Vlads mentor in his younger days and Radu Vlad's younger brother.

I don't want to give anything away as it will spoil the read but I did find myself at 2.00am saying "Just one more chapter" "I've got to see what happens next" and this sums up the book for me. It's moving in places as Vlad's relationships with his closest "friends" change and is quite graphic in others (the impalement scenes leave nothing to the imagination) but in the end it's a great story well told and that in my opinion is what makes a book worth reading.

The only negative thing I could find to say about this book is the chapters did jump ahead in time quite a lot (7 months later, 1 year later etc) but that's only because I wanted to know more, what happened in those 7 months? tell me more!

Give this one a try, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed especially if you have an interest in the real Dracula. However, if you are looking for a book about Vampires this may not be the ideal book for you, but it's still a great read and worth a try.

In a world where the very name of a certain Eastern Count is the very epitome of fear and evil deeds it was with great interest that I awaited the first novel by CC Humphrys to land. Not only has the author humanised the principle protagonist but rather than ridding the tale of some of the excesses of the "Impaler" they allowed the character the chance to explain their actions before a reading public which presented them in turn with the discovery that he was not quite the rogue agent that we've all come to believe.

Whilst many would prefer to keep the Prince as the Vampire of Legend who dreamt of new ways to torture his prisoners, CC allowed the reader the chance to see the man behind the myth and what he did to save Christendom from the Turk. Cracking historical fiction with a humanised Count who utilised the greatest weapon in his arsenal against an invader and a book that is a must have for all fans of the genre.

Given my appreciation for the enduring horror figure of Bram Stoker's creation, Dracula, my curiosity was piqued when I came across C.C.Humphreys Vlad, with the intriguing tagline of "The Epic Novel of the Real Dracula".

Knowing a little of the history behind the real figure that Stoker (at least in part) drew some of his inspiration from, I was reminded of a passage from Stoker's Dracula which brought to mind the man that Humphreys has based his tale on:

"...What devil or what witch was ever so great as Attila, whose blood is in these veins?... Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkeyland, who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again..."

C.C. Humphreys has taken historical fact and analysed the actions of the real-life Wallachian Prince and sought out what motivated the man to visit such acts against those who would oppose or defy him and creates an epic, brutal story covering 50 years of Vlad Dracul's life that is entirely believable, compelling and punctuated with the brutal horrific violence associated with 15th Century feudal society in Eastern Europe and warring against the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire.

On a critical note, I feel that Humphreys could have written much more on the subject. He has a tendency to jump forward with the narrative and skip months, even years at a time but his method of storytelling works and ought not to be faulted simply because I sought more information on his version of Vlad the Impaler.

The only real issue I encountered while reading this novel was asking myself "Can this book be categorised as horror?" Well, it has taken one of the foundations of what could be considered one of the most well-known horror characters of all time (Count Dracula), provided a fictional account of his real-life based on historical fact and woven into it some particularly horrific accounts of war, torture, decapitation, mutilation, dismemberment and it would be amiss of me not to mention that for which Vlad was most feared: impalement. Yes, I would suggest to you that this book can quite comfortably sit in the horror section of your own personal library.