No-one would have expected Van Helsing’s legendary Ring Of Power to fall into the hands of a bumbling idiot.Least of all said idiot – Brian Trelawney, six-foot-seven, socially inept car salesman, now turned vampire hunter.Chosen by the fickle hand of fate to be the latest in the illustrious line of vampire hunters, Brian finds himself thrust way outside of his comfort zone. After a brief spell of … brief spell of training under the Masters of the Helsing Order, Brian is shoved out the door and off into a world of vampires, werewolves and various other Beasties that go Bump In The Night.
Armed with all the gear, but absolutely no idea, this cowardly lamp-post of a man must tackle his first mission; to placate a Banshee whose incessant wailing is keeping awake the poor denizens of Bodmin.
++This book contains harsh language and intense stupidity, right from the off. So if you don’t enjoy that kind of thing, well, best not read it. Otherwise, enjoy!++
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Unusual, read for my book club. Loved it. Quirky characters.
GREAT concept of the Vampire Slayer being a held office. This is the same kind of concept like the Tim Allen Movie – “The Santa Clause”…if you are there when Santa buys the farm, and you put on his coat – you become Santa. In this case Helsing #13 is a hapless, hopeless geek crossed with Indiana Jones. It’s laugh out loud funny in parts and interesting all the way thru.
Fun read, very pleasant, and even uplifting. The hero is reluctant, lazy and prone to over-indulge at the worst possible times, but, he is very likable, trying to overcome a lifetime of being the awkward underdog. I really enjoyed it.
I thoroughly enjoyed riding along with Brian as Gertie and Heimlich and the rest turn him into the next Helsing. Definitely a fun trip, and worth the ride.
This is such a fun read, you’ve never met a more hapless hero.
Brian is normal, down to earth, awkward and anxious but all of this makes him very likeable as he reluctantly stumbles into the role of protecting the world from the paranormal entities that would reek havoc on it.
I loved Brian and look forward to seeing how he copes on his next mission.
A decent, entertaining read full of dry humor.
Many monster hunter style series are built around a sort of chosen one—a hero in the making who will protect the world from nefarious supernatural creatures. Pengelly’s Brian Helsing series is just this sort of book with one major twist—Brain Helsing has no traditionally heroic qualities and apparently no aptitude for learning them. While geeky and not-unintelligent, he hasn’t an athletic bone in his body and he doesn’t have the mindset that one traditionally associates with the sort of person who would go seek out monsters threatening civilization. In fact, he’s so not the hero that the good guys have to physically coerce him into training and going on missions.
So it’s an unusual sort of book and it takes too long for the story to develop, but Pengelly does manage to weave Brian’s unheroic nature and past into a solution for the ultimate problem in the novel in a convincing and frankly touching way. Everyone who’s watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or read anything in this genre has wondered what they would do if they were chosen as the slayer. This book offers a more plausibly realistic answer to that question than many of us would wish was true. It’s a fun read with a lot of potential to be even more so as the series progresses.
Very funny. I have already read it again.
Fun and different. A new way to look at Helsings and their quest. VERY British in humor, colloquialisms and sentence structure.
Great starter for a series.
The main character is too wimpy.
This book is a fun and funny British fantasy comedy, and definitely a new and worthwhile take on the loser turned chosen one trope. You won’t regret your visit to the world of Brian Helsing, reluctant vampire hunter.
I do not know if I like it or not
After reading all the good reviews, I wanted to try this book. I do not agree with others that it is funny. I think the language and the kind of conversations are odd and even the masters seem not to be serious about the tasks. I remember one funny thought from Helsing not more. Furthermore, the end of the book was too fast. I will give the second book a try, because I already installed it, otherwise I would not read more.