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
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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