Yawn - Rated 
I gave up on this book something I do very rarely. Slow moving, too confusing and characters that irritated me. The plot seemed to be going nowhere and the action seemed stilted, maybe this was the translation, maybe it was the book itself I'm not sure. What I am sure is that I'm not tempted to give it another go.
1/5 stars.
Simply awesome... - Rated 
I bought this book in a nookshop in France, purely because the other books didn't look particularly interesting...and it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. Although it gets a little difficult to follow in places, it's usually sorted out within a few pages, and the storyline is amazingly complicated, yet amazingly easy to understand at the same time! If you like fantasy-style books, buy it...even if you don't, buy it anyway!
Originality at its best - Rated 
After watching the film I decided to read the books and I am not disappointed.
Very original, better than the film and a fantastic beginning to the trilogy.
The idea is not very original, but the way the idea is made into a story is. Set in moscow it takes the theme of the supernatural (werewolves witches vampires and the like) to a new area.
Bringing the idea up to date with a story full of twists and intrigues.
A good idea, well written and with enough new ideas to set it apart from your 'standard' vampire yarn.
Top notch
Dreadful book and the film is even worse! - Rated
It never ceases to amaze me how a book can have reviews of 5 stars and others at the lower end of the scale. They obviously mean different things to different people and whilst mine will be considered a bad review by all those people who rated this book so highly, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on how good they find a book (and in this case, the film).
I had high hopes for this book having seen a number of good/excellent reviews for it, both online and at local bookshops. I was so sure that it would be a great story that I almost bought the other two books in the trilogy before I had read the first. I am so glad now that I didn't.
To say on the front cover that this book is 'JK Rowling, russian style.... [A] cracking read'. The Daily Telegraph' is an insult to JK Rowling! This book doesn't come even close to anything written by her or any other brilliant fantasy writers out there at this time for that matter.
This book was confusing, boring and very uninteresting to say the least. I really don't know why I wasted so much time reading it right to the end. I suppose I just kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. And as for the film of the book...........don't even bother going there! It's just as bad if not worse!
Excellent modern fantasy - Rated
I'm extremely surprised by the amount of negative reviews that this book has received. Whilst there is a minor tendency to fall back on 'deus ex machina', looking back you can often see where the seeds of these revelations were planted. The characters are very alive to me, especially Anton, and having seen the film(s) certainly helps to visualise the settings and protagonists (even though the plots are radically different).
If you want a smart, modern take on an old idea, then you really can't do much better than this book.
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