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What are readers saying about Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire?
| Reviews of Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire - Page 1 of 2 |
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-23 12:30:41.
(Language: English)
 
One of the best vampire stories I've ever read. Will one day rival Stoker's work.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-11-29 08:53:34.
(Language: English)
fucking amazing
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-05 07:37:09.
(Language: English)
The story telling reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman. Each character had thier own "mini-story" which all fed into the novel on a whole.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-03 08:08:43.
(Language: English)
great depictions of the creatures and environments, makes it easy to imagine them in your mind, a well-done horror tale tied into hans christian anderson's tale of the tin soldier.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-07-07 08:59:58.
(Language: English)
The first chapter pretty much summed up how well of a job Mike Mignola did in writing this story. Utilizing the art of writing in present tense and then the constant transitions between first and third person kept the story fresh and moving at a good pace while the story itself only took place over about 6 hours. This was the first book that I finished and wanted to restart as soon as I read the last word.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-11 01:26:55.
(Language: English)
Awesome... just awesome.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-11 05:26:06.
(Language: English)
A great vampire story.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-10 10:09:03.
(Language: English)
It was a fun read this one. I like the fact that the characters are so cavalier but I think it would have been more dramatic as a graphic novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-19 09:58:06.
(Language: English)
Interesting twist on the vampire legend set in WWI Europe. Love the stories told by each of the main characters gathered in a bar waiting to meet Lord Baltimore. Engaging from start to finish. Good work by the inventor of Hell Boy, Mike Mignola.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-12-16 11:26:23.
(Language: English)
Unabashed tribute to 19th century horror. You can tell it's written to the comic-reading audience. See http://www.chrishopper.net/blog for full review.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-02 06:06:11.
(Language: English)
Great Dark literature. If you like Hellboy, this'll be a great read for you.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-22 11:35:33.
(Language: English)
An excellent work by one of the masters of the graphic novel. Mignola is as the top of his form with Baltimore.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-29 12:19:58.
(Language: English)
One of the greatest pulp novels ever written; a mad combination of Chaucer, Hans Christian Anderson, F. Paul Wiislon, and Manly Wade Wellman. Werebears, Aztec demons, living puppet gods, and vampires that are actually the things of horrific folklore, not hollywood romance.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-16 11:45:40.
(Language: English)
Great Vampire story and great illustrations.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-03 11:14:34.
(Language: English)
I took a course in my undergraduate literary studies called "Fantastic Literature". The reading list for this course included Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Bram Stoker's Dracula, H.P. Lovecraft's Dunwich Horror, and a long list of gothic tales, magic realism, and horror. It remains my favorite course taken. Ever. Reading Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire, a gift I found in my stocking Christmas morning brought back memories of that class. It is the story of Captain Henry Baltimore, who grapples with a vampire on the field of battle during World War I, an encounter which costs him his leg, and ultimately, everything he holds dear. His quest to destroy the vampire is the story, but it is the way in which it is told which makes the book brilliant. I can't say original ; it's more a hybrid homage, a pastiche of Victor Frankenstein's obsessive pursuit of his creation, of the vampire hunters who stalk Dracula, and Lovecraft's Shadow over Innsmouth, with poetic prose references to Andersen's fairy tale. It is told almost entirely in the first person, a key element of most fantastic literature, since it hinges on what Todorov calls "the moment of hesitation," or the idea that the story might not have happened, save in the twisted minds of the characters inhabiting the narrative. The book has been marketed as a graphic novel, which it is not. It is an illustrated novel; Author/Illustrator Mike Mignola's images are only occasionally direct representations of the action happening in the narrative. Most of the time they are primarily evocative of a mood both Mignola and his co-writer Christopher Golden want to sustain throughout. The pictures help, but unlike Mignola's work on Hellboy, they are a pale reflection of the text, which is brilliant. The opening scenes upon the battlefield are juxtaposed with Baltimore's fevered recollections of playing with his tin soldiers as a boy; instead of resorting to lurid gory detail describing the massacre of Baltimore's platoon, Mignola and Golden utilize Andersen's fairy tale imagery to connote the deaths. The bodies piled in the trenches are compared to the soldiers being returned to the box. If you are a fan of any of the books I have already mentioned, this book is a must read for you. And for the record, I've decided that if I ever teach a course in "Fantastic Literature", Baltimore will be on the required reading list.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-08 06:30:35.
(Language: English)
Gothic style and fine prose blended with imaginative lore and the monstrous nature of man.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-10-15 09:24:30.
(Language: English)
This book struck me as kind of a early-horror-meets-Canterbury-Tales sort of thing. I picked it up on a whim from the library, and pretty much couldn't put it down.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-02-05 09:29:29.
(Language: English)
A really excellent novel with an excellent twist on the classic vampire story. The shared stories of evil that make up the body of this work are imaginative and oozing with old school dread. The characters are great, and the assembled portrait of the title character is deeply moving. The style of the writing is great, conveying the true horror of the events without going overboard in the gothic details. Mignola's illustrations are great, setting the atmosphere and, in some cases, really capturing the horror of a given moment. When I'd finished, I wanted there to be more adventures of Lord Baltimore, because I really couldn't get enough. A great read for any horror fan.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-03-30 08:27:29.
(Language: English)
I actually didn't finish this book but I really dug what it was trying to do.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-11-08 08:28:22.
(Language: English)
Loved this as much for the narrative as for the dark, gothic panels. Highly recommended.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-22 08:42:52.
(Language: English)
A wonderful and sad tale of war and the repercussions of war on a man and the world. It is a wonderful tale of horror and superstition. Baltimore inadvertently begins a war between the vampires who had previously only fed on the dead and dying when he wounds a vampire about to fee on him. In their fury the vampire and his breed spread a plague throughout Europe and the world, but when he brings the battle home to Baltimore he finds that he has created a monster of his own--a man who will not give up until all of the vampires are dead. A great, fast read.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-01-26 11:02:14.
(Language: English)
A fantastic read and a unique vampire story set during WW I. If you dig vampires, love your history, and know who Mike Mignola is, you'll love this book. the only issue I had with it was the ending, but to each their own.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-26 12:01:12.
(Language: English)
In the tradition of Gothic literature, this Poe-inspired, Stoker-inspired story is the best vampire book I have read so far, even though I have not read very many. It is well-written, and even though it takes a little while to get to the end, it holds you. It is nice to see vampires in their traditional villainous role and not as the romantic interest of silly young woman. The basic plot is a plague that has spread over all of Europe and much of the world. It starts on the battlefields of World War I, where the last remaining soldier of his team unintentionally awakens a vampire, causing himself to be a marked man and the vampires to start wreaking their havoc all over the world. Some years later he summons three men to an inn for an undisclosed purpose. There, these three men share their stories of how they knew Baltimore and why they believe his story, and together try to figure out why they were sent for...
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-12-12 03:00:08.
(Language: English)
One of the best fiction novels I have read... Extremely well written chapters!! The pictures from the magic pen of Mike Mignola add extra details in the whole...
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| Reviews of Baltimore: Or, the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire - Page 1 of 2 |
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