Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut, Vol. 1

Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut Light Novel #1

by Keisuke Makino, KAREI (Illustrator), Hengtee Lim (Translator)

A fierce space race between two global superpowers gives rise to the Nosferatu Project, a top-secret plan to train up some unusual cosmonauts—vampires! When Lev Leps, a human soldier, is ordered to supervise vampire test subject Irina Luminesk, the unlikely pair bonds over their shared dream of reaching the stars. Together, can the human and vampire duo rise above the chaos and corruption down on Earth and blast off into the final frontier?

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Manga

314 pages, Paperback

First published December 20, 2016

Reviews

[Vendea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irina je vynikající. Autor se inspiroval skutečnými událostmi z 60.let, kdy mezi s sebou ve vesmírných závodech soutěžilo Rusko s Amerikou. Hlavní hrdina Lev je občanem fiktivního Sovětského svazu, Irina je nosferatu - členka zvláštní rasy upírů, kteří byli téměř vyhlazeni a jsou ve společnosti bráni jako zvířata. Proto je ideální adeptkou coby pokusný králík na let do vesmíru. Dva hlavní hrdinové, sociální nespravedlnost a tvrdý režim. Doporučuji i lidem, co light novely nečtou. Viděla jsem sice jako první anime, ale novela je skvělá.

5/5*

[slugbiscuit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is an alternate history that takes place in a fictional USSR (UZSR) during the Cold War and there is a space race between the two world powers with the goal of the first manned space flight. This first volume focuses on the main character, Lev’s, struggles to prepare Irina for a test flight to space. Irina is a member of an oppressed group within the UZSR, the vampires, and is seen as a non-human exempt from normal human rights. I’m not sure what the point of making her a vampire is (as this is the only fantasy element mentioned in story), other than making the story more palatable as there were many oppressed groups under the USSR. In this story, there is still prominent religion in the UZSR and it is indicated that the superstition and prejudice against vampires was spread by the Church to make them a scapegoat for its own failings (which seems about right). In reference to her vampirism, Irina is more Twilight than Fright Night as she does not require blood to survive but in fact prefers milk, though she is in fact unable to taste food other than blood. For some reason, she sleeps in a coffin, the necessity of which is never explained as she was born a vampire and is not undead. I think this story works well dramatically as it is full of the underlying anxiety of living under a totalitarian government as well as the uncertainty of early space flight. The main characters are very likable, and their relationship in this volume is satisfying. I am interested in seeing where this series goes from here.

[Cell · Rating 5 out of 5]

難得看到一部設定是在基尼特拉共和國聯邦(蘇聯)的輕小說
背景是在大空競賽期間，共和國把拜魯斯努(史潑尼克)衛星以及狗狗馬爾伊(萊卡)送上太空之後
加加林(說不定就是男主角)上太空之前的故事
基本上就是把名稱替換掉的歷史小說
而萊卡在劇中是用在培訓基地，感覺到有點混亂以及不吉祥
對於這段歷史細節很熟的人，有可能會從年份就被作者暴雷了吧

可能是因為有豐富的史料吧，關於太空人培訓的過程、人體(還有吸血鬼)在極端環境的反應感覺挺寫實的
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要感覺更寫實的話，腦內配音還要加上一些我發不出來的彈舌……
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劇情上把這集當作完結好像也沒問題
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推薦Penka Kouneva的專輯《The Woman Astronaut》中的第1首 Earth 及第4首 Land of Burning Fields

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just wasn’t in the mood for a dark story. Was hoping for something fairly cute, not about an imprisoned vampire treated no better than also those poor dogs.

[Mayonez Sidorovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

No, no it's great. Just didn't expect Irina to be Estonian.

[Madeleine Knutsson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Space, I hate everything with Space.
Vampires, I love everything with Vampires.
Combine it and I should kinda like it right? Nope. The Space stuff was to much for me and the vampire part was kinda meh.