While I will try my hardest not to delve deeply into any sensitive topics in my review, I will have to mention some heavy shit in my review, so beware.

tw: mentions of sexual abuse, sexaul assault, general sexual violence, rape, incest, and pedophilia

I came to this omnibus (containing the three novels of the Vampire Hunter D series) from the two movies that came out in 1985 and 2000 respectively. While the first one, simply titled Vampire Hunter D, was pretty alright, the second one, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, is a goddamn masterpiece that has since my first viewing of it become my absolute favorite movie in general. Beautiful animation, wonderful subtle world building, lovable and morally complicated characters with a story and pacing that were just perfect.

Now, why is this so fundamental to my opinion and review of the three novels here? A bit of context: I had sought them out after Bloodlust had left me with a want for lore and background information on the greater universe it took place in. In my search, I then turned to the first movie, but honestly, that movie did even less to really explain much in any explicit detail - which is honestly not a bad thing, it’s just that I wanted to learn more. With just a bit more research then, I had found the novels and learned that the first movie was based on the first novel (makes sense, since they also share a title), while Bloodlust was loosely based on the third novel Demon Deathchase which interestingly enough had come out the same year as the first movie (1985). Eagerly I got my hands on the omnibus (swatting two flies in one fell swoop, ‘cause I’d be getting both source materials for the movies) and started reading ASAP. Now, while I don’t regret this move, and I am happy to have gained such a deep insight into the world, the lore, the machinations, so on and so forth, I would never recommend the books to anyone ever. No. Save the time and read something better, and most definitely just watch the movies, especially Bloodlust. Why? Oh boy, what a wonderful question.

I don’t plan on divulging too much on the actual content of the stories or give away any spoilers, because it’d be a bit tedious to go through each plot line, especially since those are actually pretty great and one of the positive aspects of these novels.

Starting off with Vampire Hunter D (1983), this is honestly the best one of the bunch. It introduces the reader to the world quite competently, even if it reads a bit like a wanna-be Tolkiens if instead of for high fantasy, the world was futuristic vampire western gothic or whatever you want to call it. D is presented as a disciplined, but also very empathetic character who goes beyond the codex of his profession to help those in need and who looks out for the weak. There are some minor scenes of sexual assault that I can recount, but compared to the two stories that follow, it’s barely anything. If I were to rate it on its own, I’d probably given a score of 4.5.

The worst of the trio was quick to follow. Raiser of Gales (1984) presents a story with a much less obvious and immediate threat and instead goes much more a route of intrigue and detective work. Mysterious ruins that had belonged to the Noble Vampires once upon a time, teenagers that been gone after visiting those same ruins, but returned under just as mysterious circumstances, deaths that nobody could explain, and a panic about the potentiality that there might be a Noble out there who could walk in the daylight. Simply following that premise, I had hoped that this novel would be even better than the first, but the story quickly becomes convoluted, the mystery doesn’t really hold up over the +200 pages, and most of all the sexual violence against women is cranked up to 11 almost right from the get-go. The scenes involving a 17-year-old girl and her adoptive father sexually abusing her are at times described in harrowing detail to a point, where you realize that this isn’t here to in any way enhance the story (how would it even), but it’s most likely just to satisfy the barely disguised fetish of the author. There are also threats of gang rape of the same girl by another group of men (who have already engaged in sexually and violently torturing her) toward the end of the novel to add to that. As a score for it on its own, I’d probably give Raiser of Gales a score of 2.

In comparison to that, Demon Deathchase (1985) luckily tones it down by several notches and only includes one explicit scene of sexual abuse (this time perpetrated by a man towards his younger sister), some “minor” sexual assault, and implied gang rape by the aforementioned man and three of his brothers of the same younger sister. The story, just as an aside, is pretty alright, but does not in the slightest compare to how it pans out in the movie - which has changed so many elements of the original story of Demon Deathchase that you can only loosely tell that one is based on the other. That didn’t much matter to me in all honesty, because at that point, I had already grown quite weary of all the sexual violence described, mentioned and normalized as a story element.
As an additional “Fuck you” to me, and anyone who enjoyed the movie, the Marcus brothers in this novel (yes, they are the brothers from before) are the absolute worst and no, this doesn’t “only” come from their heinous acts against a sibling of theirs, but also just their general attitude and behavior. I would continue to list all the elements that the movie did better, but honestly, I’d just be here listing literally everything, but by comparison the book sucks ass. I’d probably give Demon Deathchase a 2.5.

Overall, the only good character is D, his left hand is a nice comic relief (and they could never make me hate Bengé), but most other men are the mindlessly violent and rapey type, while women are weak and fragile, and the few times a woman is actually strong and badass, D makes it very obvious that at a time where a woman “enjoys the hunt” she is no longer a woman. That’s an underlying theme through all of these, but I’ve already said enough and all the blatant and explicit depictions of sexual violence against women show plenty evidence of what the author thinks about women.