Book Review: The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes

Everything you need to know before jumping into this book is in the title. This is a book about Fred, the vampire accountant, and his misadventures. There are several smaller stories inside, introducing new characters, lore about the world, and how vampires and secret government agency, who know about supernatural beings, work. I listened to this as an audio drama, and I was highly annoyed at first because some of it was poorly made and a bit over the top, even for a humorous urban fantasy novel. But then I got used to it and find it somewhat entertaining, both the book and the dramatization. Also, I am partial to stories about accountants and bureaucrats; it beats me why.

Okay, I like the idea of antiheroes as the ones modeled after the ones in myths are predictable and boring, not that antiheroes aren’t, but at least it lets you imagine yourself in their place and, like in this case, gives magic to the mundane. Not that I imagined myself as Fred the Vampire or his sexy government agent, friend, Krystal. I think I preferably identified myself with the mindless ghouls, but it is no news I have issues. The writing is simple, fast, and the story and twists are somewhat predictable. It is like watching a not so seriously taken TV show. But I think that is the aim of the book and especially the audio drama. So I think this hits the mark. To be honest, I thought at first that oh no, I don’t want this, but then actually I did. It is good to read something which has purely entertaining value, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Not that the last statement needs to be said aloud.

So, if you are in the mood for quick, not-so-serious fiction about vampires, werewolves (and the other kind, you need to read it to find it out,) dragolings, and whatnot, I would say this is a good choice. 

Thank you for reading, and have a mundanely vampirous day!