Varney, the Vampyre Vol. 2


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.2 stars; 25 reviews)

Originally published as a penny dreadful from 1845 until 1847, when it first appeared in book form, Varney the Vampyre is a forerunner to vampire stories such as Dracula, which it heavily influenced.

Flora Bannersworth is attacked in her own room in the middle of the night, and although her attacker is seemingly shot dead, the body is nowhere to be found. The discovery of two small bite marks on Flora's neck leads Mr Marchdale, an old friend of the family, to the conclusion that she was bitten by a vampire. While Flora recovers, her brother Henry and Mr Marchdale begin their hunt for the vampire. Their suspicions soon fall on the mysterious Sir Francis Varney, who has just bought an old abbey near Bannersworth Hall, and who bears an uncanny resemblance to Marmaduke Bannersworth, a long-dead ancestor of the family. (Summary by Annika Feilbach)

Note that the original text had no chapters numbered 124 or 125. This project has preserved the original chapter numbers. (22 hr 45 min)

Chapters

Chapter 66 13:43 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 67 9:08 Read by Nichole Karl
Chapter 68 18:00 Read by Tom Powers
Chapter 69 19:08 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 70 24:00 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 71 19:09 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 72 34:50 Read by Channe
Chapter 73 31:25 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 74 12:51 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 75 10:38 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 76 17:12 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 77 22:35 Read by bodster
Chapter 78 16:53 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 79 6:23 Read by Nichole Karl
Chapter 80 20:01 Read by tornadogrrrl
Chapter 81 14:00 Read by tornadogrrrl
Chapter 82 part 1 22:13 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 82 part 2 27:45 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 83 16:57 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 84 8:38 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 85 22:03 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 86 25:08 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 87 29:11 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 88 part 1 20:13 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 88 part 2 7:38 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 88 part 3 23:43 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 88 part 4 12:57 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 88 part 5 23:46 Read by NickNumber
Chapter 89 15:16 Read by Roger Melin
Chapter 90 17:02 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 91 18:15 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 92 28:25 Read by Steve Smith
Chapter 93 14:07 Read by Lucy Perry
Chapter 94 22:55 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 95 23:37 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 96 part 1 25:21 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 96 part 2 20:32 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 97 18:23 Read by valli
Chapter 98 21:23 Read by valli
Chapter 99 27:46 Read by valli
Chapter 100 26:10 Read by valli
Chapter 101 12:40 Read by Jason Oakley
Chapter 102 16:02 Read by Bereni
Chapter 103 17:06 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 104 34:16 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 105 34:42 Read by Bereni
Chapter 106 31:07 Read by valli
Chapter 107 18:26 Read by valli
Chapter 108 18:14 Read by valli
Chapter 109 21:14 Read by valli
Chapter 110 11:13 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 111 11:09 Read by Nichole Karl
Chapter 112 8:52 Read by Nichole Karl
Chapter 113 17:16 Read by Bereni
Chapter 114 18:40 Read by Bereni
Chapter 115 33:39 Read by Collee McKinnon
Chapter 116 34:12 Read by Collee McKinnon
Chapter 117 14:28 Read by Collee McKinnon
Chapter 118 12:20 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 119 12:50 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 120 15:30 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 121 12:33 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 122 16:26 Read by Richard Wallis
Chapter 123 15:32 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 126 24:49 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 127 18:20 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 128 21:23 Read by Bereni
Chapter 129 17:05 Read by Bereni
Chapter 130 18:21 Read by TriciaG
Chapter 131 17:48 Read by TriciaG

Reviews

bad reader


(2.5 stars)

Yeah the reader who goes by the name Valle is horrible. You can tell English is not her first language. She doesn't read that well. I have stop listening to her starting at chapter 97 and I have decided to read those chapters that she is going to read for the book. It is really unfortunate because this is a very good story that I wish I could even buy from audible but you can't.

Second volume lost me!


(2 stars)

(This is the same review I wrote for the first volume of Varney) This is quite the conundrum. The first handful of chapters were great and kept me enthusiastically listening. Then, IMHO it started to drag. Being a "Penny Dreadful" the author is paid BY THE WORD and each chapter was printed, released, and sold individually in a serial form. I confess I listened to this months ago, but had decided at the time, I was going to do a review... My recollection isn't as sharp as it would be if I had done this in a timely manner... Being paid by the word, this really demonstrates why this is a poor way to pay a writer. There were chapters that seemed to have virtually no relation to the actual storyline of the main novel. The author had a novel way of using words as he saw fit, regardless of their actual meaning. You might notice other reviews mention 'mangling' the English language... In my opinion, assassinating might be more apropos! There were also some chapters that I would have to assume were written by an inferior hand or possibly by someone on a 'binge' of a mentally debilitating substance of one kind or another. I think the fact that there are supposedly no chapters 124 and 125 indicates that there was some 'bad filler'. I was intrigued by this novel and did a little research and there seemed to by some confusion as to who the actual author was. There was a writer, James Malcolm Rymer, who along with Prest, co-authored Sweeny Todd, the tale of the 'demon barber', and it is now thought that Rymer might have penned "Varney". "Varney the Vampire" is published as three separate volumes. I got to about the middle of the second volume when I couldn't bear it any more! If we look at the numbers, we see that 18,000 plus downloads for the first volume. 5,300 plus downloads for the second volume, and 1,800 downloads for the third and final volume, which roughly translates into two-thirds of the audience being lost at each succeeding volume. The hard part comes as to how to rate the first volume. I guess since the majority of the first volume kept my interest I guess I'll give it five stars, though I am tempted to vote four stars because the quality did start to deteriorate after the majority of the content was finished. I'm going to post this on the second volume also, since all of this applies. My rating for the second volume is going to be two stars since I lost interest and quit listening before the end. My advice is this: Download and enjoy the first volume. Pass on the rest, though I know many will want to continue. If you disagree, please write a review and straighten me out!

Worth the listen!


(5 stars)

Don't let the comments about any of the readers sway you from giving this title a go. It's an honorable task to read, ans we as listeners can learn more than just the content of a book by opening our ears to hear a diverse group of readers reading a great story like this.

masterpiece ... buuut.


(3 stars)

the woman who reads chapters 106,107 and many more named valle or some shit ... should stick to listening. ... sick and tired of guessing what shes saying ... to my great disappointment i have to stop listening because of it..

Hard to understand


(2 stars)

I appreciate the volunteers I really do but does anyone proof listen these recording? There are more than a few sections I could not bear and skipped, even three in a row.