An intriguing but messy vampire tale.
In this novel, an author discovers the forgotten vampire goddess who created humanity.
Brigette Monroe, the granddaughter of Marilyn Monroe and the star reporter for a Hollywood tabloid, has been assigned to go to Texas to cover the story of a man who claims to be a real vampire. Melvin, a wealthy, older author, says that, while he doesn’t drink blood or turn into a bat, he has unlocked the secret to immortality. Brigette happens to be a vampire as well, using sex to suck the life out of unsuspecting lovers. In fact, several people who work at the tabloid are vampires. Melvin has recently found out that God has a wife, the Goddess Shekhinah, who is the real creator of humankind. On the morning after Brigette and her film crew’s arrival, Melvin experiences a demonic episode and ends up with tattoos all over his body. As Melvin gets more and more insights into the real history of the universe—insights that he reveals to Brigette and her crew in the form of lectures—the world’s original religion comes into greater focus. In between the chapters, Melvin’s poems on vampirism and other subjects serve as interstitials. Abercrombie delivers an imaginative premise with rich, thought-provoking details about Shekhinah and theology. The ambitious book’s format is an idiosyncratic one, and not only because the main character has the same name as the author (and has written the author’s other books). The story is told as if it were being pitched for the screen, with camera directions given at the beginning of each chapter. These are made more confusing by the fact that there is a camera crew in the tale as well. Due to these metafictional layers (as well as the frequent text errors), the prose is often difficult to read: “Ocean front mansion, walking on the beach, the sexy voice continues’ His wife, Kay, loves to walk with them on the beach she has her shorts on, loose blouse and towel around her waist, big straw hat and sunglasses and camera zooms in on all of them including brigitte wearing her little bitty bikini.” Much of the book is simply the content of Melvin’s lectures, which are dry and do not advance the plot. The fact that nearly all of the characters are vampires (sometimes spelled vampyres) adds further murkiness to the mix.
An intriguing but messy vampire tale.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-69-236670-2
Page Count: 115
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.
After the events of Book of Night (2022), Charlie Hall is forced to hunt down the perpetrator of a terrible massacre.
Charlie Hall is the Hierophant: It’s her job to be tethered to a powerful, independent shadow—a “Blight”— and hunt down other Blights for the Cabals, the heads of their respective shadow-magic specialties. The Cabals use the difficult job of Hierophant as a punishment, but Charlie agreed to take it on so she could be the person tethered to Vince, aka Red, the Blight who posed as a human and ended up dating and falling in love with Charlie. The Cabal leaders used magic to steal the part of Red’s memory that contained his relationship with Charlie, and so Charlie is determined to steal Red’s memories back. And she needs to move fast, because if Red doesn’t remember loving her, he just might be OK with Charlie being killed if it means his own freedom. Meanwhile, Mr. Punch, a terrifying Cabal leader who specializes in using shadow magic to possess other people’s bodies, has a job for Charlie: He wants her to find the culprit behind a terrible massacre that was attributed to a cult. He suspects that the people were actually killed by a Blight, and he doesn’t want the Cabals to face the blowback if the truth becomes public. Mr. Punch could do terrible things to Charlie if she fails, but if she succeeds, he’ll help Charlie and Red be free of the Cabals for good. The sophomore novel in a series is always tough, but this sequel proves that the second book can be even better than the first. Black turns the screws on the magical world she set up in Book 1, creating complicated political motives between Charlie and the Cabal leaders and making the question of what it means for a shadow, like Red, to have their own consciousness more interesting. Veteran con artist Charlie makes some truly brilliant moves, especially toward the end, where the last few chapters have one terrific surprise after the other.
A smart and highly original work of modern fantasy.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250812223
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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