After over three hundred years trapped underground, thousand year old vampire Yulric Bile awakens only to find no one believes him to actually be a vampire. Though he was once known as The Cursed One and The Devil’s Apprentice, now he is considered too ugly to actually be taken seriously. To his horror and dismay, he soon discovers that vampires today are pretty, weak, and horror-of-horrors…good.

Yulric is determined to correct this turn of events and re-establish his blood drenched reign. Or failing that, murder the person responsible.

An Unattractive Vampire was another one of those books that was recommended to me by my local library. And I am so very glad it was.

An Unattractive Vampire follows Yulric Bile as he awakens in the twenty-first century. Over three hundred years have passed since his imprisonment and while he and others of his kind were once feared, now opinions are worryingly different. Vampires of olden days have been replaced with a modern version; and to Yulric the new version is far inferior.

Fast paced and quite funny, I found it to be reminiscent of some of Terry Pratchett’s work. From me, that is high praise indeed as Pratchett continues to be one of my favorite authors. The inclusion of amusing footnotes only cements the comparison.

The book doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at the various tropes that have populated vampire lore in recent years. It also doesn’t hesitate to poke fun at itself which keeps the book light hearted if a bit violent at times. Yulric doesn’t apologize for what he is, he embraces it with enthusiasm and often malicious glee.

As I said earlier, McDoniel’s first novel reminds me a great deal of Terry Pratchett. Incredibly amusing, I found it quite a good read. Fans of vampires in all their many forms and the absurdity behind it will likely enjoy it as well.