Vlad: The Last Confession

I've read this before, but the last time (as I got it for a holiday years ago) I gave it to the library afterwards, so it wouldn't clutter my space. I want to start reading fiction again. I'm looking forward to re-reading it as the storyline is amazing and there are even pages of factual events of the time, that he writes as drama. For example an arrow hits Vlad's headboard (there was a story that happened in real life, but no one knows who did it, or if it was an enemy). In the book, it's written in as a warning from a friend. I cannot emphasize enough how good this book is. It has pages of word meanings too and a map at the beginning, so you can picture where the characters are.So far this is my favourite book of all time! It does take a while to get going because it starts in the present then you go back in time and come back to the present. I usually cannot start time jumps when reading, but it's written in a way that draws you in. Get past the first 3-4 chapters and the story really begins. It's so good and I love how it takes some things from real life and brings it to life.

This book took me by surprise Friends had spoken about it and having just finished Bram Stokers Dracula again, I decided to follow up with this book. The story is based on the historical wars between Eastern Europeans and the Turkish Empire. Crusades being waged, bribery.corruption and treason as well as sadistic torture. This book has it all. AS TO VLAD well you can make your own mind up, CRUSADER, WARLORD, SADISTIC MURDERER,or as believed to this day HERO.The explination of impailing is very graphic and also torture and revenge killings very novel. Battles also enjoyable.PLEASE READ THIS BOOK TO ENJOY THE STORY. If you want facts then there are plenty books out there about the Turkish Wars.

I don't read much fiction, usually opting for real history but I thought I would give this one a go and I am so pleased that I did. This novel exceeded my expectations in every way.The idea behind the book is that 3 people, all of whome knew Vlad throughout his life are brought together to retell his story in a trial that hopes to re-establish Vlad Dracula as a hero of Christendem and not a blood thirsty monster.Through these three narratives we are able to follow Vlad from his younger years (as a hostage in Turkey), into the prison where he learns the art of Impalement, onto his crowning as Voivoid of Wallachia and the war he raged with Turkey, and finally onto his final years as a fallen Prince feared and despised my most but still loved by some. Along the way we meet a cast of colouful characters that will stay with you even after you put the book down. Ion Tremblac his right hand man best friend and one of the few people Vlad trusts. Ilona Vlad,s love interest, the Sultans, Murad and Mehmet, Hamza Pasha Vlads mentor in his younger days and Radu Vlad's younger brother.I don't want to give anything away as it will spoil the read but I did find myself at 2.00am saying "Just one more chapter" "I've got to see what happens next" and this sums up the book for me. It's moving in places as Vlad's relationships with his closest "friends" change and is quite graphic in others (the impalement scenes leave nothing to the imagination) but in the end it's a great story well told and that in my opinion is what makes a book worth reading.The only negative thing I could find to say about this book is the chapters did jump ahead in time quite a lot (7 months later, 1 year later etc) but that's only because I wanted to know more, what happened in those 7 months? tell me more!Give this one a try, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed especially if you have an interest in the real Dracula. However, if you are looking for a book about Vampires this may not be the ideal book for you, but it's still a great read and worth a try.

A perfect blend of fact and fiction creating a good story

great fan of cch , really well written and with agonizing research but far too bloody and cruel. i was sorely tempted to lay down this book as it was sickening in places. please write more about the fabulous cpt. jack absolute

So this was kind of cool! We paid paperback price for a gently used book and received a hardcover that appears to have been signed by the author. Now I'm not sure if that's legit but I'm going to let myself believe it is!!

Absolutely great read from the first page to the last and all I wanted was for the story to continue

This book is beautifully imagined, researched, and written. What spoilt the book was the improbable ending. Otherwise, this book would have merited four stars.

Let's forget about vampires dressed as Victorian noblemen. The reality is that Vlad Draculea was a 15th C. warlord, in a very remote and very cruel part of Europe. But it doesn't begin here : he was a fairly decent youth, hostage at the Turkish Court : there, he was shown all possible perversions, and was himself submitted to a lot. He came back to his country totally transformed, and managed to gain an evil reputation even among his pairs : "tepes", the impaler, a person capable of dining among a forest of impaled ambassadors ( the most effeminate of whom was impaled higher, so that he could enjoy the fresh air ! ), capable of nailing an ambassador's head to a table, for laughs, and what not...With this, he was surrounded by traitors,cruel ambitious lords, and liars and hypocrits. He wanted to be a champion for Christianity. He was capable of falling in deep love for one woman only. A great sinner, but much sinned about. The final chapter brought tears to my eyes, though I would never have thought I would one day cry for Dracula ! a masterpiece.

If you're looking for another Dracula-flies-through-the-night-to-seduce-women-and-drink-their-blood book, this is not it. If you're looking for historical fiction about a medieval prince, this is a great book. It's full of battles, politics, and romance. There are Crusaders, castles, Turks and actual historical events. Romanians consider Dracula a patriot and a bit of a hero, and it's this Vlad, not Bram Stoker's Dracula, that they have in mind.The book is set in Poenari Castle five years after Dracula's death. Count Horvathy, a Hungarian, has assembled the three people who knew Vlad's story best: Ion Tremblac, Vlad's childhood friend and right-hand man; Ilona, Vlad's one true love; and Vlad's confessor. The Count, like Vlad a member of the Order of the Dragon, has brought Cardinal Grimaldi to hear the three of them tell their tales in hopes that exposing the Church to Vlad's true story (rather than the rumors and myths spread by his enemies) will restore the honor of the Order of the Dragon.We don't hear Vlad's story in three separate voices; it's a seamless narration, and the reader is left to guess which of the narrators supplied what details.As another reviewer mentioned, the author takes liberties with actual events in the service of his story. Still, the average reader will learn something of the real Vlad Tepes, from his adolescence as a hostage to the Turkish Sultan to his family troubles to his three separate reigns to the cruel practices he employed to consolidate his power and impose order in his realm. As Vlad tries to repel the Turks and retake Constantinople for Christianity, hugely outnumbered and waiting for aid from the King of Hungary (who received massive payments from the Pope for his Crusade but diverted the funds to other uses), the pace of the story becomes almost frantic. The reader can feel Vlad's fury, fear and desperation.Humphreys is not on a par with Sharon Kay Penman, but he understands the uses of fiction to help us understand true events. This is an exciting book.