Vampire Hunter D Volume 6: Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane

Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane is Vampire Hunter D in the OLD West. Bandits, a cruel desert and an unknown enemy against a band of people trying to survive. People who don't really like each other. People who each have their own reason for crossing the desert, their own back story, their own skills and weapons. Sounds like a western to me! While it may seem that D is too powerful to kill I can say, as I am now on volume 7, that he does run into more and more powerful enemies. In other words, in the future his sword will NOT kill with the first swing. In other words, the novels do build on each other. By showing us D as an almost perfect Vampire Hunter in the earlier novels THEN giving him enemies who can counter act some of his attacks, the author is twisting the rules a tad, showing us that D DOES have to be wary. In other words, he is now rewarding those who have gotten this far. Keep going! The desert is almost at a end!

I love this series. Its not flashy or obvious like western novels and styles of writing. In this book we get to experience yet another side of D. I enjoyed the fact the tale was different from the others. Here D is escorting 4 people across a desert and the foe they face is fascinating and sad at the same time. I loved the fact the girl in this book wasn't after D but had her own troubles to contend with. She had been captured 8 years ago and was a servant serving in a nobel house. It is hinted at that D's father was either a visitor or lived at the same house and that there was contact between the two. I loved that fact that this book fits in with others in the series, namely book 2 in looking at the obsession that D's father had with creating a superior being. A hybred between Nobel and man with all of the strengths and very few of the weaknesses. D was his only success. This book explores more of that side of the nobel history and where it stands at the present time this book is set. The treads running through all the novels a drawing together IMO. But there are still questions. Why does D hunt Nobels. Is it really because he isn't fit for anything else? Is it vengence on his father? Spoiler - we also find out in this novel that a dhampirs child will also be a dhampir which I didn't know before. Soooooo if D ever breaks down and sires a child on a woman it will be the same as he is and his fathers wish for creating a new race of super beings would be furfilled. Makes me think this is one of the main reasons D keeps his distance from the ladies. If a new race of beings like D were to spread with all of the strengths of the nobels and none of the weakness then the nobels would rise again. Or at least I think so. Im not sure where Hideyuki Kikuchi is going with this series but Im glad that at least with this novel we get to see a bit further into the mystery that is D.

I've been tearing through the D books for the past few weeks, enjoying them to varying degrees. This one breaks the mold of the previous books; there's no vampire to kill, no maiden to save, just a band of people attempting to cross a very dangerous desert. I wouldn't call this book character-driven, but the characters are much stronger than in the previous outing. D gets shows some emotion this time around, even if his demeanor rarely changes. However, the real star of the book is Granny Viper, by far the most complex character that Kikuchi's written. If you only get to buy one entry in the series, make it this one.

I can't get enough of the Vampire Hunter D Series! :) I have read almost all the books expect for 7. All the Vampire Hunter D books are wonderful. What can I say without spoiling the book too much??? This time our extermemly good looking dark hero D. As a Mission to go across the hot and deadly dessert to do whatever bussiness. In a bar he meets Granny Viper who is a people finder. And the two Bullow Brothers Bingo and Clay. At first it is unclear what D's Mission is. Granny pushes him to go along with her to the other side of the dessert to help her bring back a girl name Tae back to her family. The Bullow brothers and Granny follow D across the dessert. Further as one reads the dessert is not what it appears to be. And the plot is very twisten and it will surpise you at the very end. It was a wonderful read and I can't wait to read the next book. :)

In this installation of the ongoing Vampire Hunter D series Hideyuki seamlessly and beautifully blends his three favourite genres; Horror, Western, and Fantasy. After being greatly disappointed with the previous book, this one was a great save, filled with interesting characters and mind-boggling fantasy elements. But never fear, there is still plenty of blood and fang-baring including many references to "Him" or Dracula himself. All in all, this is my favourite Hideyuki novel so far.