Definitely one of my favourite reads of 2010. 
 The scene setting is amazingly well done. I love that it's set in Russia as I don't know all that much about the country's history, having not read the Russian classics, and I've only learnt about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia from a French point of view. 
 The vampires were very refreshing. They were primitive beasts that lived from one day to the next, from one meal to the next, and weren't the glamorized lovers that they seem to have increasingly become cast as over recent years. The protagonist was a breath of fresh air. He was very life-like with fortes and flaws, loves and fears. The narration was, at times, a little too heavy but I still loved the whole story and I'm looking forward to the paperback release of Thirteen Years Later!