Review – Pale Fallen Angel, Parts Three and Four (Vampire Hunter D, Book 12) (3/5 stars) by Hideyuki Kikuchi

This is the twelfth book in the Vampire Hunter D series and the second book in the epic story “Pale Fallen Angel”. It wraps up the story of Pale Fallen Angel nicely. Although I had some issues with the writing style and following the plot.

In this book D continues to lead Miska and the Baron to the Baron’s home town. The Baron is on a mission to kill his father and Miska needs to pick up something that her grandfather left to her.

I didn’t enjoy the second part of this story as much as the first. There are a lot of extra characters thrown in here; including many doppelgangers of characters already present in the story. As is often the case with Kikuchi’s writing it gets hard to tell who is talking sometimes and who is doing what (especially with the doppelgangers thrown in). The fight scenes can be pretty confusing. The plot itself is also a little crazy and switches viewpoints a lot. In general this book was a bit of a struggle for me to get through. I am not sure why; I usually enjoy these books quite a bit.

There were some positive things about this book too. The world is crazy and inventive as always. D continues to manifest new and interesting powers that give insight into his origin. The Baron is a great character and gives D a run for his money power wise. D continues to alternate between coldness and glimpses of feeling for the tumbling brother and sister.

This was an okay book. More so than in previous books; I thought the writing style/plot were a bit choppy and hard to follow. I also think that these continuous adventures of D’s are getting a bit tired for me. D never makes a lot of progress as a character and I am unsure of what the series as a whole is building towards. Will I continue to read the series? I am not sure right now.