1.5 stars. 
 There was just so much about this that didn't work for me. Which is too bad because I absolutely loved Sedgwick's Midwinterblood. 
 This could've been really something, especially with the way Sedgwick goes to tie in all these historical perspectives on blood--but even though they're fascinating, ultimately it just missed the mark. 
 The plot is paper thin and tired at that. And so much of the beginning of it relies on the protagonist being super creepy about women. (view spoiler)[And like I get that it's sort of the point, especially with the way things go down at the end of the novel, (hide spoiler)] but at the beginning he's supposed to be your average guy and no. No no no no. He stalks a woman and instead of doing something reasonable like staying the hell away from him she lets him buy her and drink and chat her up. Nope sorry. Especially because later she gets fridged for the plot and he's known her for 10 minutes, so of course he's obsessed and in love with her and... barf. 
 And Charles as a protagonist is so incredibly dull. Like, the most interesting parts for him as a character was the stuff about his work as a doctor--and you're not really supposed to find that stuff interesting. (view spoiler)[And again, I get it. The whole hemophilia = lover of blood and the irony behind his profession and how the book ends. But it wasn't particularly subtle. The book hits you over the head with it several times, even going so far as to have one of the character conjugate the Latin in dialogue. (hide spoiler)] But even when the "thrilling" parts of the book were happening to him, I just didn't care. He makes incredibly poor decisions with absurd motivations and his spiral into relative madness wasn't even particularly interesting. 
 (view spoiler)[I don't even mind the whole "not really a vampire" thing. Because I get what the book is trying to do. And that's make commentary on horrific actions. I didn't even mind the "twist" at the end, because you could definitely see it coming. (hide spoiler)] But the book as a whole was just decidedly lackluster and I expected more from Sedgwick, I guess. I'm going to have to be cautious picking up something else by him after this because it was such a disappointment.