Anime Vampire Hunter D - The Novels

There's no category for VH: D, and this is NOT a manga, and it's related to an anime, hence that's why it's in the anime section.

I'm sure a lot of us have seen the movies by now; yet until recently the novels have not been available in English. Translation efforts have finished the first novel, which I picked up today. I haven't read much but it's already better than the first movie (which was based on this novel). Has anyone else gotten a chance to go through this yet?