A hunter of unbelievable skill - Rated 
Imagine a postapocalyptic wasteland, where technology is slowly sliding into a new medieval age... and vampire Nobles have ruled for ten thousand years.
Hideyuki Kikuchi left the rules of vampire novels behind when he crafted "Vampire Hunter D," mingling dark science fiction with ancient mythical creatures -- werewolves, vampires, and so on. Though his style is rather distant, the result is sort of a futuristic western by way of Bram Stoker.
Farmgirl Doris Lang stops a sword-carrying youth on a cyborg horse, and finds that he is a Vampire Hunter. Good thing, because Doris has been bitten by the vampire Magnus Lee, and needs this young man -- who calls himself "D" -- to save her and her brother from the vampire. Haughty vampire ladies, werewolves and feuding villagers all visit Doris' farm -- only to be repulsed by D.
But to deal with Lee, D must venture into a disgusting, labyrinthine castle, dealing with demonic serpent-women, lethal mutants, and the Count himself. Outside, Lee's servants and daughter Larmica grapple with various villagers, intending to capture or kill Doris -- but none of them realize what D, a dhampir, is hiding in his distant past...
The world Kikichi concocts is a pretty fascinating one -- it's over ten thousand years in the future, in the waning days of a vampire empire that ran the whole planet, and Earth is overrun with vampires, werewolves, fairies, mutants and cyborgs. He's invented a gloriously rough, wild kind of world, sort of a postapocalyptic Wild West.
However, his writing is anything but -- detailed, atmospheric, and full of creepy scenes (including D's, uh, left hand reviving him when he's "killed"). If there's an overhanging problem, it's that he has to infodump his audience at times, so they know about stuff like Gargantua grapes.
Kikuchi relies on a formal, distant style reminiscent of 19th-century novels, though more spare and stripped down. But sometimes he bursts into outright pulpy prose ("The people saw the crimson glean of his eyes in the darkness -- the eyes of a vampire!"). And he spins up some pretty intense suspense about D's true nature, and his hidden identity.
D is a rather elusive, haunted character -- Kikuchi rarely shows us what he thinks or feels, but gradually hints at his inner struggles. And he's backed by a pretty solid cast of characters -- feisty Doris, the despicable rich boy Greco, haughty vampiress Larmica, and the downright creepy mutant Rei-Ginsu, who is able to warp space inside his body.
While it has a few rough spots, "Vampire Hunter D" is a haunting, futuristic tale of vampires and the mysterious Hunter who pursues them. An excellent beginning to the series.
brilliant blend of genres - Rated 
This is possibly one of my favourite books ever. Its a great start to a series with lots of new ideas involved based around the myth of the vampire. Here vampires were the ones to reach the pinnacle of technology and many of the nightmare creatures in these books were genetically engineered for their purposes. This book is set after the fall of the vampires, in a world turned into a living nightmare for humans in which the creatures the vampires created rule the night. The genre is a curious mix between western, sci-fi, fantasy and horror. This might sound unappealing but Hideyuki pulls it off very well. The novel itself is very intelligently written, with wonderful imagery, and one cannot doubt the attractiveness of D (this is a joke in regards to the myriad ways that D is described as beautiful - try and count them).
This story is based around Doris a young woman who was bitten by one of the elusive elite, the vampire Magnus Lee. D is portrayed as a mysterious and often emotionless young looking man, whom effortlessly deals with everything that is placed in his path. The other characters too are well drawn and interesting. There are many differences between the book and the film, for example the role of the "smaller" villains(i.e. Rei).
To top it all off Yoshitaka amano is the illustrator, and this alone makes the novel worth reading. All in all a fantastic read and the best one i've read so far in the series. (The second best one is book 3 :) )
The Dhampir adventures. - Rated 
A nice Japanese fantasy and horror novel .filled with dark and colorful imagination . set in a future , where the existence of vampires and mutants, is a fact of life .
The story starts with a vampire bitten farm owner, doris , who hires a vampire hunter , to rid her of the curse of becoming one of the undead. This hunter is a dhampir , half man half vampire , who goes by the name D. after that , we meet the vampire who bit doris , a mutant gang for hire and some suspicious villagers . interwined of course with a satisfying dose of duels, horror, and fantasy.
Hideyuki kikuchi's imagination is impressive .the book is filled with brilliant ideas , that an aspiring horror and fantasy writer , could use to write several books .
weather controlling machines, and the vampires using genetic engineering, to wipe off the memory of the cross's effect on vampires, from the human brain, were brilliant .you don't feel like you're reading a novel from 1983 .
it still lacks depth . it's expected though . this is the first volume in a series of seventeen .
eight yoshitaka amano's - character designer of the vampire hunter d films - illustration are included in this book. My favorite is the one in page 207 .the hand.
good for teenagers and anime fans.
A dark and dangerous future... - Rated
Having recently got into Vampire Hunter D via the anime, I decided to check out the novels on which the films were based, of which this is the first.
Plunging you immediately into a distant future peopled by vampires, werewolves and other horrors of the night, the book tells of a young werewolf hunter, Doris Lang, and the beautiful and mysterious D, a vampire hunter hired to protect her from the clutches of Magnus Lee, one of the 'Nobility'. What really makes this book stand out though is the vivid portrayals of the baser aspects of humanity, the bigotry, intolerance and violence of a population struggling against the fading rule of an ancient terror. The story, and the world in which it is set, seamlessly marries tradtional gothic horror with science-fiction and fantasy, whilst still managing to throw in some of the frontier spirit of the Old West.
I'd certainly recommend this book for fans of the anime, as well as to anyone interested in something more than the usual portrayal of vampires.
!!!!Vampire Hunter D is so cool!!! - Rated
Possibly one of the best dam novels i have ever read, considering i mainly read manga, but looking at the past 2 vampire D movies this novel follows the first vampire Hunter D movie quite accruate and reading the novel it really make me want to watch the original movie.D is awsome with his cool image and has a little handy friend on hand when situations are dire. This is a must have novel as it dipicts D's world as grusome and cruel and how humans and vampire show their status.Anyways, i already pre-ordered my second volume and i can't wait to dive again into vampire D dark world where vampire,demons and all sorts really takes you on a huge roller coaster trip.^^
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