Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Immortal Knight Chronicles #1

Vampire Crusader Lib/E

Rate this book
"He was crusader, outlaw, khan. He was a count, a cavalier and a cardinal. William was a murderer, a devil. A vampire."

England, 1189. Earl William de Ferrers and his six knights slaughter the family and servants of Ashbury Manor. The victims have had their throats ripped to shreds. The killers flee for the Holy Land.

Richard of Ashbury, a young knight alone in the world and brother of the murdered lord, swears an oath of vengeance to the dying Lady Isabella. Richard tracks Earl William and his men to the Mediterranean where the Third Crusade is just beginning.

Along the way he falls in love with Alice, a beautiful and lonely young widow taking her children to find a future in the land of Christ. Alice is everything he ever wanted but can Richard be a good husband and also fulfil his oath?

Unarmed in a dark dungeon Richard grapples Rollo, a disgusting Norman monster. In the hills of Palestine he crosses swords with the undefeated Hugo the Giant. In his great hall he fights for his life against the merciless evil of Ralph the Reaper. These battles lead Richard ever closer to the climactic confrontation in a cavern of blood...

Vampire Crusader is the first part of the Immortal Knight Chronicles, a dark fantasy, historical horror series that spans 800 years from the 12th Century to the present day. William creates vampires. Richard destroys them. And Richard will have his vengeance or die fighting.

Audio CD

First published September 30, 2015

543 people are currently reading
446 people want to read

About the author

Dan Davis

27 books205 followers
I write action-packed sci-fi and historical fantasy. I want to immerse readers in another time and place and for my stories to be gripping adventures. You should love my complex heroes and hate the twisted bad guys.

If you like the sound of that then check out; GODS OF BRONZE (my new historical fantasy series), THE IMMORTAL KNIGHT CHRONICLES (bestselling historical fantasy) and the GALACTIC ARENA series (smart military scifi).

Thanks for taking an interest in my stories. Follow me here on Goodreads to keep up to date with releases.

You can get the Bronze Age fantasy novella THE WOLF GOD (it’s the GODS OF BRONZE prequel) now for FREE via my website: dandavisauthor.com

And why not come and say hello at my Facebook page: facebook.com/dandavisauthor



Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
233 (31%)
4 stars
277 (37%)
3 stars
161 (22%)
2 stars
48 (6%)
1 star
11 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
Profile Image for Economondos.
176 reviews15 followers
July 15, 2024
Love the historical accuracy and depth of motivation for both the protagonist and antagonist. This is a 3.4 or 3.5; good, but not rising to a 4 star review. Dan Davis' deep knowledge of history comes through by weaving actual historical events around the Third Crusade into the story.

The story is good, not great. Some grammar errors were egregious enough to take me out of the book. The character development is okay, maybe there is more of an arc in the later books in the series (can't have all the arc at once). That said, this was one of his earlier books, so later novels may well overcome these issues.
Profile Image for Connie.
440 reviews21 followers
January 6, 2018
Richard of Ashbury's family have been brutally murdered at the hands of Earl William Dr Ferrers, a lord returned from the dead and his men. He swears an oath to his dying sister in law that he will avenge their deaths.
Richard's quest sees him fighting in the crusade with king Richard the lionheart and winning favour with his Lord.
But he is obsessed with revenge and on his final confrontation with William, Richard finds out some shocking truths about his own origins.
I really enjoyed this, it's a bit different from the usual Vampire stories. Will definitely read the next.
Profile Image for Richard Myers.
509 reviews11 followers
October 25, 2017
Great book

A great book about knights, vampires, and a brother struggling with the knowledge that he is chasing after his brother that is pure evil. All of the characters are very well described and I would recognize them if they walked down the street. I recommend this book and I am going to buy the second book right now!
Profile Image for Victor Salinas.
107 reviews2 followers
August 20, 2018
Pathetic !!

This story line had a lot of promise then crashed and burned out very quickly in the end .the one mindedness of the main character is a completely ridiculous and the lack of insight is just plain stupidity . The way the author wrote his fights to where the main character gets into ridiculous situations get a lot worse as the story line goes on its gets sillier as the book goes into filling page's. A wasted opportunity to really do something special with the story line .
1 review
February 20, 2018
Makes you feel as though you are in the middle of the story. A thrilling read from start to finish. Looking forward to part two.

Makes you feel as though you are in the middle of the story. A gripping read from start to finish and looking forward to part two.
65 reviews
August 13, 2018
Awesome premise, horrible grammar and way too many sentence fragments to truly fully enjoy. I felt like I was reading a book written by a 12 year old at times. A lot of the book was boring and it finally picked up at the end, the last chapter was actually really good but the rest was not.
56 reviews
October 25, 2018
Poor

Badly written,poorly researched miasma of violent,gory but above all tedious supernatural/historical bunkum. Leaves a nasty trace in the mind. Not recommended!
Profile Image for Brock Deskins.
Author 25 books172 followers
May 24, 2021
I listened to the audiobook and found it fantastic. There is a uniqueness to the story with excellent characters delivered by a fantastic narrator. No clichés good guys or bad guys, just flawed people doing what they feel is right and necessary.
Profile Image for M.S. Dobing.
Author 8 books30 followers
January 18, 2016
Vampire Crusader follows the adventures of young knight Sir Richard of Ashbury who battles the terrifying William de Ferrer throughout history.

The story is vivid and gripping, and you find yourself enthralled in the world the author has created. It is obvious a great deal of research has gone into the historical elements of the book and this only adds to its authenticity. Such characters as King Richard the Lionheart (who until know only existed as Sean Connery in my head!) are brought to life as living, breathing characters rather than names from history. This particular entry in the series follows the Crusades where Richard, through his pursuit for vengeance, finds himself following King Richard to battle in the Holy Land against Saladin and his armies. Whilst the focus is on Richard and his personal story, this is subtly blended in with the wider events as a whole which gives a wider context to the story and its events.

Whilst the novel is about vampires, it is done in a subtle way rather than having any kind of stereotypes (both modern and old) that scream "vampire story". These creatures are strong, fast and savage, but from the perspective of our hero and those around them they are obviously different, but treated with an air of mystery that I look forward to exploring in future books in the series.

I should also draw attention to the depictions of combat within the novel. It is gritty, brutal but feels so authentic. Rarely have I read battle scenes where I could practically feel the cut of the blade through muscle or the breaking of bone and cartilage. It's grim, but necessarily so and really adds to the realistic feel of the book.

Richard himself is an interesting character. You feel through his narration the years of hell he's been through (over 800 years of them!) without him having to explicitly describe them. This is a hero who's been through hell many times over, and there's almost a world-weariness about him that layers his perspective. When some of the bad things happen to him (and I mean, bad!) you genuinely feel the rage he feels and I was racing through the pages purely to see if the wrong-doers would get their comeuppance.

As the story progresses more layers are peeled back in both on the vampire mythology itself and Richard's history. There's an excellent balance of both that promises good things for book 2.

Really enjoyed Vampire Crusader. Once I'd picked it up I raced through it. Recommend.
Profile Image for J. Kahele.
Author 15 books438 followers
October 25, 2015
When the author approached me about his book and told me it was historical fiction, I jumped right one it, historical fiction is one of my favorite genres…and then I saw the title when ordering the book and was tempted to walk away the word 'vampire,' came across and I was like:

hell no photo: HELL NAW HellNaw.gif

I've had enough of these bloodsucking characters to last a lifetime.

vampires photo: vampires e3231e5d.gif

But I made a promise and when I make a promise, I keep.

So I read it...and just like that I was hooked. These weren't the glamorous vampires that we are so use to reading about in books now-a-days, these were ruthless, blood-sucking parasites and I loved it.

The author did a wonderful job of masterfully creating characters that were true to the era and the writing was so excellent and the plot was so gripping, I found myself, turning page after page. Definitely a good read and I would recommend it to everyone.

Profile Image for D.B..
Author 8 books27 followers
January 7, 2016
I love historical fiction and author, Dan Davis didn’t let me down. His book, ‘Vampire Crusader’, kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt like I was right there in the action.

The plot was good, with plenty of action, deceit, and the coming of truth. There were plenty of twists and turns. The characters are strong and sometimes surprise the reader.

I highly recommend this book to history and vampire lovers!

I was provided with a free pdf copy, from the author, in exchange for an honest review.

https://mauldinfamily1.wordpress.com/...
1,007 reviews77 followers
March 8, 2018
A gruesome but exciting tale.

This book was an exciting medieval romp across Europe and through the Holy land. It was a gruesome story with a vampiric backdrop. I look forward to reading the sequels.
Profile Image for Mark.
7 reviews
January 31, 2019
Vampiric knights, yes please!

The story moves at a good pace, and the writing is well done. The foreshadowing leads me to believe this isn't the last weve seen of Richard of Ashbury. Definitely worth a read,
40 reviews2 followers
April 29, 2018
Well where to begin?
Knights in Armour? Check
Violence? Check
Damsel(s) in distress? Check
Religious zealots? Check
Betrayal? Check
Ok so after going through the standard check list of knights on crusade. The writer throws in a twist of vampires. These are not the normal high from the sun/crosses/silver type. These are viscous daylight walking types who strangely see themselves as saviors of christ. Well each to their own.
Starting with the death of his family the main protagonist Sir Richard of Ashbury, vows to bring the killers to justice. Little knowing just what this would entail. Setting off to hunt the killers, Richard follows a trail of death and murder across Europe (as was) into the holy land. Where he encounters both happiness and loss. While trying to bring the killers to justice and establishing a reputation of his own. As the book enters its final act some loose ends are tied off, but for me (this is personal only) a bit more on how the vampires came about would of been nice. Richard meets and fights his nemesis. By such time Richard has become a vampire himself and like the others he can walk in daylight etc and he is not the mindless killer you would expect. In fact he struggles to remain in the main a good man. In last pages the set for book two of the series is very neatly handled and will flow nicely into the second one.

BTW I cheated and brought this via auldible
Profile Image for Craig Clark.
17 reviews1 follower
August 30, 2019
At first I thought it was too plainly written to draw in a reader, everything was bland and basic descriptive for maybe, the first few chapters. The main character came across as just 'there'. He comes across a massacre and that is the most descriptive thing I can say. The entire hometown of the character is plain and you get the impression that that is deliberate.

Richard of Ashbury swears vengeance on William de Ferrers after he kills his brother and his servants, his wife, torches their land and rides off. Swearing revenge to his dying sister-in-law he sets off in pursuit to the Holy Land and it is here that the narrative changes into a form more befitting drawing the reader in.

In the Holy Land he lives, loves and meets historical figures (this is SERIOUSLY condensed). The title of the book gives away the twist but no one within the plot seems to see it until you realize that vampires (although embedded in our culture) weren't too common in 12th century Britain. Twists abound as the book nears its conclusion and I am left gasping with baited breath at the next book.

The author describes mass warfare in explicit detail and his pedigree as a historical expert shines through in this regard.

Characters are slightly basic though. The hero is heroic, the villain is evilly terrible and the henchmen are cackling stereotypes you don't really know

Overall a good book and worth sticking with if only to see where it goes!!
Profile Image for Morgan Lindey.
182 reviews8 followers
March 29, 2020
It took me a while to decide how to rate this book, because it had some really good parts, and unfortunately a few things that really effected how I enjoyed the book. I think one of the strongest things it has going for it is the setting. I have never personally read another vampire novel in the crusades setting. I also think the book has really good pacing. I really enjoyed the adventures of the travel and information gathering. I think one of the other strengths is his characterization, especially with William the villain for the book. I think they made him very interesting, they also did not hold back on making him actually intimidating. They give him reason for what he is doing with out justifying it.

Now unfortunately, the major irritation I have with this book, is it is set in a time with combat, and about a knight, but the author did a very poor job of making comprehensive fighting scenes. I may be a bit biased because I am a martial artist, but if you are writing about a character who "knows how to fight" they should know how to fight. I found myself cringing often in the combat section, of techniques that don't work, don't make sense, or repeat... over and over and over again. That was my biggest complaint over all with the book.

Regardless, I did have a lot of fun, and I think it is worth the read, especially if you don't care about combat accuracy. It is a good fun adventure novel.
Profile Image for Toria ~.
143 reviews8 followers
December 2, 2018
It took me some time to complete "Vampire Crusader” by Dan Davis. It wasn’t the book, but the holidays that stood in the way. Thanksgiving was filled with travel, shopping, cooking and visitors. The reading challenge suffered severe neglect.

As the book opens, Richard of Ashbury, is rushing to return a crossbow to his brother Henry’s house without being found out. He saw riders galloping away and arrived to find his brother, family, and servants have all been slaughtered. Richard swears an oath to revenge the fallen and follows Earl William de Ferrers across land and sea.

This book is not for the squeamish; descriptions of fighting and battles are dramatic, graphic and viscerally disturbing. There are tons of triggers for the sensitive. Govern yourself accordingly, but this is such a unique take on the vampire story that I would absolutely recommend this to my fellow dark readers.
1,477 reviews25 followers
August 30, 2020
Vampire Crusader. Dan Davisa

Sir Richard of Ashbury a young knight has been thrown into a world of chaos and brutality . It is the time of the crusades. Richards brother, his wife and children have been murdered in their home. Horribly murdered. Butchered. Richard has sworn to avenge their deaths. The quest begins. The young knight has killed everyone responsible except Earl William de Ferrers. The one person responsible for all the carnage. Their is a dark secret between the two families. They are immortal, impossible to slay. Fast paced read. Enjoyed immensely!
103 reviews
March 16, 2021
I wasnt expecting to like this as much as I did. It sounds like a silly premise but it's actually an entertaining read. It's got some nice history of the time woven into the plot which makes it seem more real. The character Richard of Ashbury is believable and compelling and you really feel sorry for the losses he has. I also like how he isn't ridiculously good at fighting, it grounds him a little even with his supernatural abilities. I hope we may find out more about his and William's origins in future books.
99 reviews1 follower
June 7, 2017
A Tale From The Past.

This book came as a real surprise! Not what I'd normally go for but it turned out to be a great read. Dan draws you into the story from the first page and from then onwards you can't put it down, as you always want to know what happens next. With that said, time to move on to book two and find out. Surprisingly good, so five stars.
76 reviews7 followers
August 12, 2018
I enjoyed the pacing, plot and protagonist. There wasn't much development outside the main character, but I feel that comes with the territory of aiming to cover a large span of time in one book. The writing style was generally enjoyable, but there were a couple of spelling and/or grammar issues with the version I had from Amazon kindle.
Profile Image for Pam Bales.
2,510 reviews12 followers
March 22, 2019
Great read for vampire story enthusiasts.

Richard the Lionheart's historical period is one I enjoy so having a vampire tale set in that time period is great. The next one moves a few years later to the time of Robin Hood. That's even better. Blood, murder, l mayhem abound so if you don't care for gore, best steer clear of this series.
12 reviews
March 5, 2020
Fabulous! Five stars all the way! Can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series!

This book isn’t for children, or anyone afraid of gore, but I love reading historical novels, and this is one of the best. So much attention to detail, and such an interesting plot. I’m fascinated and addicted to this man’s writing already!
Profile Image for Anselm Patey.
Author 2 books19 followers
December 13, 2020
This is a solid adventure story that is dripping with insight and historical fact. It's not for the faint-hearted just in case there was any doubt, but it's a fantastic introduction to what promises to be a gritty series. Dan Davis is clearly a well-read history buff, so if you are one yourself then these books will especially appeal.
Profile Image for Hannah Mills.
331 reviews1 follower
October 10, 2021
Now I love the premise of this book. Vampire horror meets historical fiction, but for me it just fell a bit short of the mark. There wasn't enough character development. I just didn't really have any feelings about the main character one way or the other. However, it was an entertaining read and a quick one at that. Perfect for halloween month.
Profile Image for Sara.
1 review
November 21, 2024
My kingdom for an editor. The story is interesting but feels rather rushed. The book is short, and it feels like most of the thought and effort went into the action scenes much more than building up the world or the characters. I feel like this had the potential to be a really good book, but landed on an "okay" read.
610 reviews2 followers
April 12, 2018
A FINE TALE OF SOME KIND OF VAMPIRE LIKE THINGS IT IS...

Hello, this is a very interesting and entertaining story about vampires, I think. I haven't quite figured that out yet. Blood drinking yes. Other usual stuff, not so much. Good stuff. Thanks.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.