Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Raiser of Gales

Today’s post is on Vampire Hunter D Volume 2: Raiser of Gales by Hideyuki Kikuchi and Yoshitaka Amano (Illustrator). It is 215 pages long and is published by Dark Horse. The cover has D on it with his sword. As it is the second in the series, you do not have to read the first volume but it will help you understand more about the world but the plots are standalone. There is some foul language, sex, sexuality and rape, and violence in this volume. The intended reader is someone who likes unusual fantasy-horror stories. The story is told from third person close mostly following D but sometimes from other characters for plot development. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- The first rule of Vampires is that the Undead cannot walk in the daylight… or can They?

The people of the village of Tepes once cowered in fear beneath the shadow of the Nobility manor. But the Nobility moved on, and the castle sat empty, a place whispered of in ghost stories to caution young people to stay away. One day four of the village children vanished. Only three returned, with no memory of what had happened or where they went. 

That was ten years ago. Now, in the year 12,090 A.D., vampires who can walk in the daylight have appeared. Did the disappearance of the children have something to do with the undead's newfound powers? Only the vampire hunter known as D can solve the mystery… but the answer may be more horrible than any can imagine. 

Review- An excellent novel in a very odd series. I would like to know when the novels happen in correlation to each other, for example in the first novel it is implied that the sacred Ancestor has been gone or dead for a very long time. In this novel, we may meet him but it is not very clear. D is more understandable and even human in this volume, as he responds to Lina, one the children who had been taken, and he even likes her and we, the readers, see that emotion in him. That is very different from the D we met in the first volume. This D is just mysterious but he is more human and likeable as a person with real thoughts and emotions about his job and the people he works for and with. I liked seeing D be more than just a hunter cleaning up the messes left behind by the Nobility and his, implied, father. I look forward to more adventures with him. 

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this novel with my own money.