Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron (abridged audiobook) by Tom Holland

Lord Byron as a vampire

Performed by Richard E. Grant
Duration: 3 hours

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

I picked up this audiobook version of Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron because I very much enjoyed Holland's non-fiction book about the end of the Roman Republic, Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic. I am not particularly a fan of vampire books nor of Lord Byron (who I can believe was a vampire considering the level of his debauchery and self-absorption) but I decided to give Tom Holland another try and trust that he would make it interesting.

The abridgment of the book contributed to my enjoyment, I am sure. There were many long stretches that were so bloated by flowery speeches, especially in the first hour or so of the audiobook, that I probably would have bailed on an unabridged version of the book. However, the last two hours were so interesting and so well-performed by Richard E. Grant that I had to bump the score up to 4 stars.

The running time of the abridged audiobook is about 3 hours and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Lord of the Dead: The Secret History of Byron.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on May 9, 2008.