A harder-edged story than its predecessor in this diverting series.
A young man slowly turns into a vampire while a woman flees a blood cult and its barbaric leader in the second of Robinson’s (Silently Comes the Night, 2013) supernatural series.
Thomas Kline and his vampire (here called “vampyr”) girlfriend, Majken, barely survived a murderous vamp’s attack, but in the process, Thomas’ blood was mixed with Majken’s. He’s gradually experiencing The Change as his body adapts to a blood-only diet. Fearing he may harm his parents or baby sis, Kimberly, Thomas flees from his South Carolina family home and eventually meets fellow vampyr Jeanine. Jeanine has escaped from a blood cult with 7-year-old Alecia, cult-leader Nolan’s daughter, whom he’d planned to sacrifice. Nolan’s just behind them, however, ready to grab Alecia and anyone else in the way. It’s up to Majken and aspiring journalist Kimberly to find—and possibly save—Thomas. The author establishes his contemporary vampyrs right away. They may not be human, but they aren’t undead, and blood isn’t consumed for pleasure but rather sustenance. They likewise aren’t bloodsuckers, opting for knives or needles to procure their nourishment. While Thomas was the preceding novel’s protagonist, this time Robinson wisely shifts the focus to multiple characters. The engaging Jeanine is a mother to Alecia, whom she’s practically raised, and faces real-world concerns, like trying to find a job. Nolan, too, is terrifying, less because he’s a bloodsucker then because he’s an abusive, unhinged man. Thomas has evolved; once skeptical that Majken was a vampyr, he does a few horrific deeds in the course of changing, including attacking Kimberly. Robinson’s vampyrs may be missing fangs, but other traits are more conventional, such as an aversion to sunlight, heightened senses, and prolonged youth—Majken looks college age but is pushing 300. Descriptions are sometimes too vague, like Jeanine’s unwitting blood donor who’s “kinda passed out” or Thomas’ “hard to describe” sickness. But Robinson develops his characters with skill; they’re more or less typical people caught in exacting circumstances.
A harder-edged story than its predecessor in this diverting series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492387077
Page Count: 466
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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