Instruct: Classify the given Amazon review as either positive or negative.
Query: near-great vampire novel

This novel was better than 90% of the vampire stuff out there, though it doesn't quite reach "classic" status (Stoker's DRACULA, Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, Codrescu's BLOOD COUNTESS, Matheson's I AM LEGEND). I would put it in the near-great category, along with Nancy Collins' IN THE BLOOD. Though Somtow is a good writer and does an admirable job of weaving a complex story, by the end, it all seems a bit hollow at the center. It doesn't help that the novel ends in a predictably bloody fashion. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that the vampire is stuck in the body of a 12-year-old boy and therefore, despite assertions to the contrary, cannot see things from an adult perspective and make full sense out of his 2000 years of experience. Worth reading, but not a keeper.