Too much of a good thing.

Starting out this was a highly entertaining set of short stories. Great premise. Wonderful main character. Interesting secondary characters. Also masterfully performed by Kirby Heyborne.

Perhaps if one takes this in small doses it would be tolerable. It was too repetitive. The main character's constant reference to his foibles became tedious. Yes. He is not the cinema's ideal vampire. We got that the first time. And the second time. Third time. Etc.


"Hell is repetition." Andre Linoge. Storm of the Century by Steven King.

55 people found this helpful

Fun for a While

I was delighted with the opening story but wasn't happy to discover this is a compendium of linked stories rather than a novel. There is a bit of overall plot and character development through the book-- i.e. Fred discovers hidden talents-- but the same narrative arc repeats itself in each story to such an extent that they become predictable. The book was saved by a nice twist at the end, making it an overall fun experience but frustrating because it could have been better. The repetitive background explanations were not even edited out of each story.

91 people found this helpful

Stories are great, not crazy about the format

This book is deftly summed up by its title. The stories are pretty good. The premise is interesting, all the characters are great. There is also pretty good plot and character development despite one major flaw. This is essentially a collection of short stories in chronological order. This format is problematic because it interrupts the flow of the story. Additionally, you get a recap at the start of each story. This is the most annoying bit. Recaps are great when you waited a long time for the next installment to come out, but when you are listening to them consistently and consecutively, the recaps get a little tedious. Otherwise it's great. Despite this, I will probably pick up the next installment when it comes out on audible. It wasn't enough to turn me off completely. If the next one is like this, however, I may not continue. Kirby Heyborne is spot on in his narration, no problems there.

234 people found this helpful

Truth is in the title

It was a struggle to finish. The narration was almost monotone. The story is unremarkable. Not a lot to make it a very compelling recommendation.

16 people found this helpful

I Really Tried to Give It A Chance

What disappointed you about The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant?

The title of the book is not just meant in fun; it is entirely accurate. This book is boring and repetitive. Not only is it uneventful, but the author feels the need to constantly remind the reader of the boring storyline immediately after they finish reading something new. I guess he does this in case you drifted off in the last 2.5 minutes and needed a refresher when you woke up. When I had to repeat the excruciatingly dull details of the rules to a Dungeon and Dragons' type role playing game I was done. Reading mindless fiction shouldn't feel like toil and torture.

Has The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant turned you off from other books in this genre?

The poorly written attempts to fill space so I have enough pages to call it a book genre? Yes.

What three words best describe Kirby Heyborne’s voice?

Character appropriate.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant?

I would cut out all of the repetitive language. I don't need to know that Fred was reunited with an old high school friend at the reunion two paragraphs after I'm told that he was reunited with an old high school friend at the reunion. I felt like there was going to be a test later and I was being not so subtly reminded of the key points to study.

13 people found this helpful

Utterly Awesome!

I thought I had had just about enough of vampires. I've been doing the vampires thing since the early 90's with White Wolf games, and Ann Rice novels. I thought I had seen it all, and I was surely not going to be sucked in again. No, not me. No one else was going to beat that undead horse on my dime. Then Drew Hayes released a damn vampire book.

On the strength of his other titles, I eventually gave in and got it. It's not my favorite Drew Hayes novel, but it might be my favorite vampire novel.

Fred is a great character, easily fun enough to excuse his being a vampire, and his scooby gang of friends expands with each tale, and they are all really cool. Each of them shows off that Drew Hayes knew what he was doing, sucking us in with the most tired, cliche of the big ticket monsters and then blowing socks off with his interesting take on the rest of the supernatural zoo.

98 people found this helpful

Light and fluffy - a supernatural beach read

This is really rather light and fluffy - fun but unmemorable; a supernatural beach read. Fred is a vampire who maintains the milquetoast, nerdy personality he had in life, even though his physical self has changed (he still wears glasses - not because his vampire sight needs them, but because he's gotten used to them as a part of his personality). He encounters other "parahumans" to befriend (including a teenager zombie and a were-pony), gets a hot girlfriend (natch) who was a nerd like him in high school, and has various adventures with werewolves, dragons, and jousting competitions.

The format is a series of short stories or novelas that build on each other, but each begins with a small recap reintroducing some of the characters or events. Not that big a deal to me - kind of like the "last week on X" episode recaps on TV shows.

10 people found this helpful

Loved the title...but this was riveting...

I almost didn't get this book. I listened to NPCs and found it clever and fun and that brought this one on my radar. The title sounded amusing, but it also sounded like one of those stories that would lag after the initial idea wore thin (a Vampire Accountant). But the author did a good job of continually adding a colorful cast that kept it fresh. Plus Fred the vampire stays true to his mild mannered roots and never loses his appeal. The author stays away from the temptation of turning Freddy into a badass and making him like every other vampire anti hero out there. If you have a sense of humor you will enjoy.

96 people found this helpful

A light, humorous detour through the paranormal

Fred, the Vampire Accountant reads more like a collection of short stories, or perhaps it would be better compared to a television series. The characters are an interesting lovable bunch, and it plays like a series with everything wrapping up at the end of each tale, but with tidbits hinting at a long overarching story. I don't think it will ever win any awards for complexity, but Fred, the Vampire Accountant is a pleasant listen that will make you laugh. There seems to be plenty of set-up for a second volume, and I enjoyed this one enough to look forward to a sequel. As a final note, I will say Kirby Heyborne (the Narrator) seemed especially well suited for the main character.

25 people found this helpful

Liked the overall story but...

The repetition was killing me. "Not that I actually need to breathe" "not that my blood is really pumping" over and over and over again. It was annoying. Other than that pretty good stories as it seems it was just pieces together short stories.

4 people found this helpful