Julie Légère

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

This is a fantastic little book about the history of vampires! I was shocked to see just how far back in history the book went; back to before vampires were even called vampires. It also even briefly covered what, in pop culture at least, has long been the "natural enemy" of vampires, werewolves! I never knew that at one point in history, werewolves were viewed as basically the same as vampires, just with the ability to change into an animal form. There was a lot of historical information about vampires and the creatures that are akin to them, that I didn't know. I also loved that it didn't have strictly a European focus on the details about vampires, but also vampires from every culture that they existed within worldwide. The book also talks about the intersection of vampirism and how they were viewed within Catholicism, as well as other religions. I also found it very cute that this book is formulated as if a vampire themself compiled the information and they were narrating it. The illustrations were gorgeous and honestly elevated this book to the five-star level. I look forward to when I get a print version to have on my coffee table!… (meer)