Vampire Memoirs

by Traci Briery, Mara McCuniff

A sixteen-hundred-year-old vampire tells her life story, from her birth in the fourth century in a small British village to her present-day life in Los Angeles, and describes her existence as a creature of the night. Reprint.

Genres: Vampires, Horror, Ebooks, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Romance

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[lady h · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is what I get for succumbing to nostalgia!

This book is Bad. It's not because it's about vampires; actually, the vampire mythos here (which is rather traditional) isn't bad, nor is the general idea of the plot (a vampire writing her life story). It's just that the book has terrible writing and terrible characters and awful pacing and the worst dialogue and it's so melodramatic and campy and just...really bad. And I could have seen past all of that if it hadn't also been boring. Like I said, weird pacing issues, and it draaaaaags. This book takes place over two thousand years, give or take, and yet 3/4 of the book takes place over the course of about...fifteen, maybe? And then we're just treated to huge time skips. Also, there's no sense of setting or historicity. It's all just very bland. It doesn't help that Mara is a very lame vampire (even her fellow vampires think this).

I do own the companion novel by this author, and I think that will be marginally more interesting because the character seems far more interesting than Milquetoast Mara, but I probably won't pick it up anytime soon, because I have no desire to experience this terrible storytelling and writing again right now.

[Eavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a crazy amount of thoughts for so bad of a book.

Following a young woman from the 4th century in Britain, the Vampire Memoirs tells the story of Mara, a former tomboy mercenary who becomes a vampire against her will, escapes her maker/captor, and ambles around the country for another 1500 years.

The book has a serious pacing problem, with a wonderful first and last 100 pages and a horrible, dragging middle 200. The main premise of the plot--Mara's maker and torturer--is never given a reason for his actions, and the accompanying action is so lost in the faults of the pacing that it feels almost nonexistent. It felt painfully like a first draft, without anyone else looking over it to make the structural changes it needs to be better. I'm also not one to clutch pearls, but the central love story has aged horrifically and is clearly rape and the reader is just supposed to buy into it. Insanity, man. I'm so glad it's not 1990 anymore.

Now despite this... why can't I stop thinking about this thing?! I think because it's a rare pre-2000s vampire book that wholly centers a woman's perspective. Mara is fascinating in her early stages, as a crossdressing mercenary and a person navigating the world with such a unique tenacity. I love detail, and I loved the long internal dialogues that made this so Ricean. For some reason this all kept me hooked, even after the author had her raped into skirts and marriage, wtf! I am pretty much always going to love female crossdressing stories, so this is no exception, but holy hell!!!

All in all this is a fun ride, but only for the dedicated vampire readers out there.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wouldn't quite call this a "remarkable saga". It is a good story BUT you never really get to know the protagonist, Mara, the way you do Lestat. Also, she just seems to try and survive, not really pro-active, just letting thing happen to her. Also, you never get the sense as to why the vampire chose to turn her. The reader is told that she is unique in a few ways but other than that.... I don't see why she managed to survive as long as she did in the story. It's a fun read but don't expect it to compare with "the vampire lestat"!

[Courtney Gruenholz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to 3 stars for GR.

Browsing the shelves of Half Price Books, I hesitated to grab this one but since it was about vampires I wanted to give it a chance. I grabbed it before it ended up either on someone else's bookshelf or who knows where after books get banished to the clearance shelf.

Judging by the cover, you would think you would get a very steamy and sexy story told to us by a vampire. The "author" gives a shout out to Tom Holland (not that one) for making Fright Night and the one on the cover looks strikingly like Julie Carmen as Regine in its sequel.

Mara McCuniff tells us that she is a 1600-year-old vampire born in Britain in the 4th century in this 1991 published manuscript. Her mother dies in childbirth, and her heart-broken warrior father raises her like a son but still has her do the chores. Her village is attacked when she is a teenager, and it is completely destroyed.

Mara goes off and takes on a mercenary lifestyle as a warrior and soon earns the respect, admiration and love of a fellow warrior named Gaar. They marry, have children and all of that is soon ripped away when Gaar becomes the new magistrate and goes to a foreign country to do business.

Their children are left with Mara's only female friend, Leta, and they are welcomed into the home of Agyar, the capitol's magistrate. They only ever see him at night, and you guessed it...he's a vampire with a yearning to have Mara as his wife. Against her will, Mara is turned into a vampire with her husband murdered and her children left as orphans while she is forced to be Agyar's wife in name only.

After a long period of time, Mara finds she is going to be replaced when a wife brings her stricken husband to their home and Agyar means to find a new wife. Foiling his plans and destroying Agyar, Mara sets off to find her own place in London around the time of The Black Death as well as seeking new family to make-up for what was taken from her.

None of this works out until she comes to Los Angeles of the early 1990s to find other vampires and live amongst them yet still hoping to find love. When it seems, she has finally found someone to understand and accept her, Mara's past comes back to bring ruin from a source she never expected.

Not being a fan of first-person narration, the Vampire Memoirs can be bogged down in places with all of the detail. When it hits on actual dialogue between characters, Mara interacting with anyone really, the story flows better. Finding love, losing love, gaining respect for yourself and dealing with grief and loneliness are tangled up in the sheets of sucking blood as a metaphor for sex once we get to the modern setting.

The last act of the book delivers a swerve that gives us a rather happy ending to this vampire story which is why I decided to bump up my rating. The Vampire Memoirs is not Interview with the Vampire levels of storytelling but at least Mara is a strong female character despite her tragic backstory and her interaction with other people is at times very relatable in her awkwardness and actually kind of funny when she and Gaar first encounter each other.

If you can find it for a decent price, The Vampire Memoirs is perfect for this Halloween season.

[Frankenoise · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't a bad story overall but I my main complaint about it is with the main character, or "co-writer" of this book, Mara. Throughout her entire 1600 year history she acts, and talks, like a child. She was bitten by a vampire in her 20s so this doesn't really explain why she's such an infant, considering the fact she was one of the few female warriors around too. Overall, this is a book geared more towards women and the memoir is written well... I just won't be reading the sequel.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Mara, but her story is kind of ridiculous. Her dynamic with her husband is really nice, though. Definitely something that's good when you're like 17, but maybe doesn't hold up for the re-read.

[Country Goose · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites, it's a classic that really had me viewing vampires in a different light. It follows a woman suffering the loss of her love at the hands of an envious man, and she makes her way into the world as it changes.

[Jordan David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Similar to Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice! Cool!

[Lori J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely unremarkable in every way. Ancient vampire speaks like a modern day woman. Embarrassingly trite.

[Mizzy Mint · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book for a nickel at a indoor yard sale shop in my hometown in a building owned by the woman running the yard sale's wife who just sold trinkets to give herself something to do. This is a great book and honestly I loved it when I got it. It's a dark tale about a mercenary who's father holds animosity for her for killing her mother in childbirth and for not being a boy. So she is really unprepared for the world of being a wife or being a woman. She finds a husband who she loves and everything is taken from her by a vampire who kills her husband and turns her and traps her as his bride. It is so tragic and that goes on honestly wayyyyy longer than is necessary. There's also the bit about reupping a love potion to make her "tolerate" him and that's just ew. When time passes and we get around to the industrial revolution and then her travel to the Americas, the book starts to feel like it's speeding through the story and I would have liked for it to linger and give more details as it did in the previous centuries for her. She does get a conclusion with a big battle and a potentially reincarnated husband who SHE proposes to, love that because while it is against the gender norms she was raised with, I feel her having been raised as a man it fits perfect and is so progressive. I feel like this section gave "Queen of the Damned" movies vibes, which is great, but it also felt so rushed. I feel like we should have gotten so much more on her present-day time, but I understand that maybe they felt it needed to just be wrapped up without making it linger for too long. More would have done Mare justice though, and she deserves it.

[J.P. Cane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this because of its simple straight-forward reluctant vampire tale told from the perspective of Mara, a 1,600-year-old woman recounting her life. She’s not the glamorous, wealthy, worldly vampire one might expect in this kind of story, nor did she participate in consequential historic events or meet those who shaped them. She’s plain, poor, and practical. And tragically, cruelly, she lost the love of her life.

Tragedy marked Mara from the beginning when her mother died giving birth to her. As his only child, her father raised her not only to be a man, but a warrior. He trained her in fighting and when she came of age, he admonished her to never let a man touch her. This upbringing profoundly affects her throughout the story.

The focus of the novel for the most part is her combative courtship with a fellow warrior named Gaar. He loves her from the start, but as she has no experience with love or how to be a women wooed, she keeps him and her true feelings at arm’s length. Gaar does not relent and eventually they marry, begin a family, and live happily… well for a time till the very first vampire enters their life, then destroys what she and Gaar built together.

Mara’s grief remains with her through the centuries as she struggles just to survive, mistrusting herself to ever have a meaningful relationship again with another human. But by the end she does find happiness and learns to do more than survive, but live fully.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting one that I flew through pretty fast. It seemed to be going somewhere bigger or better, but it never got there. The use of geographic and time-revealing accents in the writing were both sporadic and overdone. I am a little disappointed in the number of typos in the book. A book is expected to have one or two, but there were enough in here to make my head hurt. Did the editor take a vacation after the first half of a book?

I don't regret reading it.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this story so interesting I wrote an English term paper on it. My College Professor found it such an unusual paper I received an A. LOL This was back in the early 90's before Anne Rice hit big.

[Jedidiah Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was on the very first books I ever read, it enticed me to read more and that is why I have given it four starts. Additionally, I have been looking for a copy of this book for many years and have just found it and enjoyed reading it even more this time.

[Lucinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitly not your average vampire book. The story is well set up and you can easily find yourself sympathizing with Mara. Certinaly worth a read.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ok, I didn't like this book very much. I kept waiting for something to happen but it never did.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book until I got to the end. The end was cliche and so much more dull than the rest of the book. But I loved taking a look into the vampire's past.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the first vampire stories I ever read. I liked it so much I bought it twice. It's still one of my favorites.

[Alexandra]

I have to say that I did not find this very well written, but the story of perseverance and love over lifetimes captivated me.

[Tamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 1996/2011