This is not an easy book to read. Think Naked Lunch as an easy version of this. Hard to follow and very surreal. Great if you like that, but be forewarned! Not an easy read. Very complex. Also, I was expecting something very different based on the title. I thought it would be like a cheesy 50s movie. It is not.

An experimental combo of poetry and literary prose, this is not a traditional, linear story; it reads more like a series of vignettes. Set in a distant future, this book opens as a horny ball of pulp horror erotica, a mix of sex and violence. This is not a criticism. It is far from, in fact. It is everything I've ever wanted, but didn't know I needed.

Through the romping haze set in the distant future, this book still feels rooted in the here and now; in something real, tangible. Against scenes of apocalyptic invasion, it is as if sex is a coping mechanism to avoid the war and death and decay peppered throughout the narrative; as well as a device for further destruction. It is as if the body is a map, and the author traverses its terrain between violently sexual moments to scenes riddled with grief and regret with nuance and care.

The voice/s within the narrative are not so strong, and I only picked up that there were multiple narrators when I was about a quarter of the way through. However, it seems that motifs and metaphors are the crux of this story, not the characterisation or plot. This further separates the book from traditional, linear stories and places it firmly in the avant-garde. In particular, the use of language, structure, and pace add layers to the story. Line breaks speed up the pacing, as if we are running alongside a train trying to glimpse into the carriages; whereas large paragraphs of prose slow it down, asking the reader to take stock at a larger picture. There are scenes where lines are held tightly together, making these moments feel quieter and more intimate; and other scenes where the lines are spaced out as if creating space for additional, unseen dialogue. The way certain words or lines hangs in the white abyss of the page is calculated; full of meaning and intent. Here, the narrative really is in the subtext.

For those unfamiliar with poetry or experimental fiction, this may feel abstract and inaccessible. Even those familiar with those mediums may feel displaced, especially with the erudite language used. However, I enjoyed the pauses this book gave me. I'd pause to re-read a line two or three times, finding something new with each read. I'd stumble on unfamiliar words and have to go and look them up. I'd read a scene and be reminded of something else, be in this book or another I'd read. Which leads me to me final point...

This book is in-dialogue with an expanded universe of philosophers, filmmakers and writers; most notably Immanuel Kant, Plato, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and James Joyce. I'm sure others who are more well-read than me will find further references and attributions, and I forsee that multiple reads of this story will allow further layers to be discovered. That said, as a poet myself, and as a lover of all things vampire: this was an exciting and unexpected read.

An interesting book for which I was not the target audience, unfortunately. I got drawn in by the promise of extraterrestrial vampires and queer sex, and definitely got that, but underestimated how much avant-garde the prose would be. This read like a poetic, horrific fever dream, which I would absolutely adore... if I had any idea what was going on.

I took the book page by page, because after 25 pages of not understanding an ounce of what I was reading, that was all I could do. There are surely people out there for whom this book would be a blast, and I'm honestly envious, but I have to admit this was a disappointment for me. Also expected much more horror than was delivered. The sex scenes (pretty much the only scenes I could wrap my head around) were delightful, though.

The "weird" grammatical and syntactic choices were interesting, if sometimes confusing. Turned my reading in an exercise of trying to make sense of each sentence, which was more fun than not. And I personally loved the choice to use "yr" instead of "your".

Some quotes that spoke to me, despite it all:
- 𝘈𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘩. (page 76)
- 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘰𝘥, 𝘢 𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘴. (page 142)
- 𝘠𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺'𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘹 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴-𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴. [...] 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 (page 142)

(2.5 stars rounded down to 2)

I regret to inform you that I was unable to read this book due to unclear grammar and writing. I have attempted to read it three times, but each time feels like I’m trying to solve a word puzzle. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to review it and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. I hope that when the book is eventually released and proofread , I will be able to read it thoroughly and provide a proper review. thank you.

sincerely,
Mira Ella Ludwig

Refrain from posting the review. NetGalley please see my notes regarding so. Due to NetGalley requirements this is just additional, unnecessary text in order to complete this review portion. Thank you for providing me a copy of the ebook, and to Clash Books, who also provided the physical copy, with bookmarks, author info print out, and blurbs from other authors for promos.

As a fan of vampires and someone who embraces the weird, I really wanted to love this book but unfortunately that just wasn't the case with this book. I found the highly unique writing style to be really challenging and I found myself lost with no real sense of the story that was trying to be told.

This is not the book the cover art suggests it is.

The description says <i>"Beyond the Planet of the Vampires</i> redefines avant-garde in a relentless, generation-defining voice." I would say it's affected and sophomoric. I'm sure there's an audience for this book (perhaps those who worship A24 films?), but I am not it.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this arc.
I DNF’d it after four chapters.

I was so confused for the four chapters I read. I know arcs are unrevised but this seems so off, idk I thought maybe it was me. I didn’t really understand much of what was happening. And some scenes seemed to not follow the flow of the story. I really tried to read it and I just couldn’t do it.

Unique and complex novel. This story contains solid prose and endearing characters. I highly recommend it for all readers.

I started reading this but at 100 pages I was still feeling really lost when it came to the story.
Reading the reviews I realised that this is part of a series, which wasn't mentioned when I requested it from netgalley.

The writing is very different as well, not easy to understand. But that's a me problem.

If you're into avant garde sort of books and like a bit of spice this book might be right for you. For me unfortunately was a dnf.

Thank you to Netgalley and Clash books for providing me and ARC copy of this book for my honest review.

This is the first time I DNF an arc read. I made it 30% and it took me a week to get there. I wanted to love this book, I really genuinely did but instead I'm sitting here not being able to read another page.

The description of the book made me incredibly intrigued and drawn in, not to mention the cover art is gorgeous... But that's about all the good reviews I can give on it.

First and foremost "yr" is used instead of the word "your". The way it's written made me genuinely feel like either chat gpt gone rogue or the author wanted to use as many pretentious words as possible in what I can only describe as "word stew" as it seemed jumbled and thrown together last minute.

I came to read other reviews just to see if this was just me and seeing others feel the same makes me feel less horrible about it.

I even waited to read this as one of my pride month reads and as someone in the community I hate that I have to be so harsh and put this in writing but I promised and honest review and honesty is the best policy in this case.

Again I thank y'all for the ARC read and I'm truly sorry that this was a hard no for me. I will state these are my opinions and if you enjoy the book that's fantastic! I however am left disappointed with a book that I was so excited about.

while reading i got very confused with the prose and i felt as if I had been missing something and reread it. this might not be a standalone so that could be why I was confused or just the way it was written. I did like the passion and longing in some stories but it didn't mean much to me.

thank you to Netgalley and Clash Books for this eArc

Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for an ARC of Beyond the Planet of the Vampires in exchange for an honest review.

i gave this book 2 stars because unfortunately i didn’t connect with it very much. Based on the cover and description i thought i would love it and had high expectations for it but it honestly just kinda fell flat for me. This book definitely has its lovers out there but it’s just not me sadly

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that erotic vampire element that I was hoping for and enjoyed from this type of book. The concept was so well written and was invested from the first page. Ulrich Baer was able to weave a strong story and that the characters worked overall in this universe. It had that horror element that I was looking for and was engaged with how everything worked in the concept.

Thanks to NetGalley and CLASH Books for an ARC of Beyond the Planet of the Vampires in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 2/5

Unfortunately, this one didn't quite work for me. I had high hopes based on both the cover and the description. While I wanted to get lost in the story, I found it a bit challenging to fully immerse myself. Additionally, the use of "yr" instead of "your" took me out of the experience.

Honestly hard to follow and just didn't pull me in like I thought it would. From the spelling of your as yr to a plot and premise that seems to fall short this just wasn't a book that kept my attention.

This might be the fastest I've ever DNF'd a book -- I think I made it maybe 5-6 pages before calling it quits. The writing is shooting for esoteric and artistic but ends up being stuffy, overblown, and entirely convinced of its own genius. If you thought Skinamarink was a work of art, you'll probably like this.

This book had so much potential for me with the cover and the blurb being so captivating, yet it didn't deliver much hope in that regard. It is a book that's described to be an "erotic vampiric nightmare that reads like a Jodrowsky film playing in a 50s drive in theatre" but comes off like a pretentious cinephile's phone-notes-poetry art project. But I should say, delivers on the avant-garde nightmare department very well.

Beyond the Planet of Vampires had initially captivated me with its poetic approach and visual language yet lost me as quickly as it had captivated through the same poetic nature. The language got stale in my eyes faster than I thought and made me realise why having an overly flowery tongue in writing can tire the reader. There is an image that's kept strong by the language, which was what kept me reading, but the hustle and bustle of the overwhelming language kept the mental tone of it down. Some sentences and the choice of words felt out of place in the somewhat "sophisticated" structure of the narration. It's both current, old, and futuristic at once and not in positive regard.

The format is very interesting, and coupled with the premise that gives the image of an avant-garde nightmare, I was very excited when I started the book. It was completely shadowed by the effort of the language and the loss of intent in the titles and the structures. After a while, it was hard to see the intention behind the titles and the positioning of text and the story that's supposed to move behind.

It wasn't an enjoyable experience.

What's worse is that when I logged in to make my review on Goodreads, I came to learn that supposedly this was a third in a trilogy when there's no other books listed under the author's name nor stated in the blurb of the book itself.

Needless to say, to close this off, I am very disappointed by this read.

This was definitely unique and at times the prose was beautiful but unfortunately it just didn’t work for me and I DNF’d

A bizarre little book that’s determined to get under your skin, BEYOND THE PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES blues boundaries and genres to create something unique.