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christabel_daae) wrote2008-06-10 07:11 pm
christabel_daae) wrote2008-06-10 07:11 pm
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50bookchallenge: many a vampire;)
Strangely - for I didn't intend to - all the recent novels read by me turned out to be about vampires. However, they are all very diverse and regard the subject from various angles. Part of the entry are put under cut for length, not for spoilers (there may be some minor ones, but actually I do my best to avoid them)
#15
Author: Lucius Shepard
Title: The Golden
(read in Russian)
Genre: vampires, gothic novels
Rating: 7/10
Nick Gevers' Review - I cannot describe the book any better than that
My Thoughts: Well, 'a fever dream', 'general background of depravity and corruption' - that is all true. I quite agree that the book is well written and that it sets new standards in vampire fiction. Still, that was too noir for me. When I learnt from the backcover that this is a detective story about a young vampire investigating the murder of the girl with sweetest blood in the world, I expected it to be really a whodunit set in my favourite 19th century and featuring vampires. However, it was too metaphoric - dark poetry in prose. Not a 'cosy' novel at all. 19th century? - ha-ha... that's much closer to poisonous intrigues of Italian Renaissance or even to the horrors and dirt of the Middle Ages. The worl described in the book is compelling, but it's not for me. I am very glad that I'm taking the book back to the library.
#16
Author: Barbara Hambly
Title: Those Who Hunt the Night
(read in Russian)
Genre: vampires, mystery
Rating: 10/10
Plot Synopsis from Wikipedia:
The 20th century is just under way, and somebody is killing the vampires of London. Against the wishes of his fellow undead, Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, seeks the assistance of Oxford professor James Asher, former spy for the British government. Ysidro gains Asher's cooperation by threatening the life of his beautiful young wife, Lydia.
Unbeknownst to Ysidro, Asher enlists the help of Lydia, a physician with a keenly analytical mind. Asher prowls the streets and crypts of London with Ysidro, entering the dark underworld of the undead, as Lydia combs property records and medical journals for clues as to who might have the means and the motive to carry out the slaughter.
Asher's theory is that the killer must be a vampire himself, one able to remain awake and active in the daytime. Lydia develops a theory as to how such a vampire might come to be. Together Asher and Ysidro travel to Paris to seek out the mythical eldest of all vampires, who might be either the killer himself, or the key to the killer's undoing.
But what they discover shocks them all -- a horrifying threat to the living as well as the undead.
My Thoughts: That was great. Just what I need. I should recommend this to anyone, even to my friends who usually dislike vampires. Edwardian England is vividly depicted, as well as the characters, from the main to the most minor ones. The characters are real, not pasteboard supermen - including the vampires, whose abilities are here limited, though still impressing. Lydia, the woman physician was a real treat for me))) While reading about her I had before my eyes my own first 'fresh corpse' to perform a tracheotomy on... (yeah, I study to become a physician). Her scientific approach to everything - and her usual neglecting of glasses for the sake of coquetry - were also well understood by me.
And, last but not least, the mystery in the book is really captivating.
#17
Author: Carrie, Arona, T'Alien, Banshee
Title: Dead travel (sequel to 'Dark Prague')
(read in Russian - as it is written in Russian, naturally:)
Genre: vampires. And, I'd say, kinda 'psychological fiction'.
Rating: 9/10
About the Novel: The story's composed by a company of my LJ friends - and it is really worthy to be published, more than a great amount of what usually appear out of press. This is a sequel to 'Dark Prague', a detective story about vampires set in late 19th century Prague. That story wasn't an ordinary whodunit, for we knew well the murderer - and the main character - countess Anna Warvick. Still, it was mostly absorbing to read how Prague police tried to investigate that strange case. I couldn't tell to the very end whether Anna and her spouse, Edward would be caught by the police - or by a fierce vampire hunter, who had a great grudge against Edward.
Here the vampires, joined by a newly-turned girl, Victoria, decide to leave Europe. During the major part of the book they are crossing the Atlantic. Anna is jealous because of Victoria, Victoria hates Anna, Edward tries to be diplomatic, for he loves and needs both women. The latter also tries to keep to a diet (rather foolish, isn't it? Or didn't he remember that a similar diet made Anna kill a dear person against her will in the previous part?) Uh-huh, fighting inner demons is our second name, that's right...
There are also some mortals, attracted by the vampires. Maria, half-Bohemian and a Spanish aristocrat feels that there's something wrong about the Warvick family and wishes to warn Edward and help him out (Sancta simplicitas!). And Randall (if not Rendall, I'm not completely sure here), the ship doctor falls in love with mysterious Anna. The doctor, just out of university, Pasteur's worshipper became my love from first glance.
To sum up. The novel is really well-written. The characters and their development, the plot, the time, the place... The novel also seems original and fresh - I can't think of anything it could be imitating. So I shall join those who wish this book to be published one day.
#18
Author: Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
Title: The Execution
(read in Russian - the original language)
Genre: fantasy (rather untypical, though)
Rating: 9/10
My Thoughts with a Short Synopsis: Irena Khmel is asked by some secret service to go into and investigate the world, created by her ex-husband, Andrzej. Or, actually, to get Andrzej out of it. The 'artificially created world' turns out to be too real. Irena is accused in murders she didn't commit and condemned to death. And - here we are! - the death penalty here lies in giving people to 'haemoglobin-dependent citizen'. *ha-ha-ha-ha!* The vampire who's chosen her, a prosperous lawyer, as it turns out, wants her only as a mother with good herdity (he knows well about her innocence) to bore his heir. But Irena still wants to find her ex... for she needs to get out of all this... However, all she can do is getting with the father of her child to yet another world, an eerie one...
Well, if the vampire turned out to be her husband - or if, at least, the authors could present them happiness, I'd be much more satisfied than with the actual ending. The vampire is presumably dead (hope is very faint), as well as the young knight we meet in the 'inner world' - and all this only to show us how much a badass Irena's ex is and how better and more human his creations are. And it was still unclear what happened in the end. Irena did give birth to her child and seemingly bring him up by herself - but in which of the worlds? And what about the husband? And why, oh why did they "kill" the vampire... He and Irena finally almost loved each other, same as the Beauty and the Beast...
#19
Author: Jennifer Rardin
Title: Another One Bites the Dust
(read in English, finally:)
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 6/10
My Thoughts: For me that was much worse than the first part. Hardly any of Jaz and Vayl's relations were shown in this book. And all those others in their team, always being around and giving them no privacy.. and Jaz, the stupid ass, refusing Vayl's love... and new soul-eating monsters (I hate them)... When in the first book there were only two of the characters, Jaz and Vayl, it was so much nicer! So, all in all, I think many people might enjoy the book and all those things which were not for me. Rardin's development of Bergman, Cole, Cassandra is really nice. I might have loved them myself - if they didn't distract us from Vayl. Anyway, I am reading the next part - still in hope that there WILL be some Jaz/Vayl romance.
Currently reading: Rereading 'Those Who Hunt the Night'))))
#15
Author: Lucius Shepard
Title: The Golden
(read in Russian)
Genre: vampires, gothic novels
Rating: 7/10
Nick Gevers' Review - I cannot describe the book any better than that
My Thoughts: Well, 'a fever dream', 'general background of depravity and corruption' - that is all true. I quite agree that the book is well written and that it sets new standards in vampire fiction. Still, that was too noir for me. When I learnt from the backcover that this is a detective story about a young vampire investigating the murder of the girl with sweetest blood in the world, I expected it to be really a whodunit set in my favourite 19th century and featuring vampires. However, it was too metaphoric - dark poetry in prose. Not a 'cosy' novel at all. 19th century? - ha-ha... that's much closer to poisonous intrigues of Italian Renaissance or even to the horrors and dirt of the Middle Ages. The worl described in the book is compelling, but it's not for me. I am very glad that I'm taking the book back to the library.
#16
Author: Barbara Hambly
Title: Those Who Hunt the Night
(read in Russian)
Genre: vampires, mystery
Rating: 10/10
Plot Synopsis from Wikipedia:
The 20th century is just under way, and somebody is killing the vampires of London. Against the wishes of his fellow undead, Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, seeks the assistance of Oxford professor James Asher, former spy for the British government. Ysidro gains Asher's cooperation by threatening the life of his beautiful young wife, Lydia.
Unbeknownst to Ysidro, Asher enlists the help of Lydia, a physician with a keenly analytical mind. Asher prowls the streets and crypts of London with Ysidro, entering the dark underworld of the undead, as Lydia combs property records and medical journals for clues as to who might have the means and the motive to carry out the slaughter.
Asher's theory is that the killer must be a vampire himself, one able to remain awake and active in the daytime. Lydia develops a theory as to how such a vampire might come to be. Together Asher and Ysidro travel to Paris to seek out the mythical eldest of all vampires, who might be either the killer himself, or the key to the killer's undoing.
But what they discover shocks them all -- a horrifying threat to the living as well as the undead.
My Thoughts: That was great. Just what I need. I should recommend this to anyone, even to my friends who usually dislike vampires. Edwardian England is vividly depicted, as well as the characters, from the main to the most minor ones. The characters are real, not pasteboard supermen - including the vampires, whose abilities are here limited, though still impressing. Lydia, the woman physician was a real treat for me))) While reading about her I had before my eyes my own first 'fresh corpse' to perform a tracheotomy on... (yeah, I study to become a physician). Her scientific approach to everything - and her usual neglecting of glasses for the sake of coquetry - were also well understood by me.
And, last but not least, the mystery in the book is really captivating.
#17
Author: Carrie, Arona, T'Alien, Banshee
Title: Dead travel (sequel to 'Dark Prague')
(read in Russian - as it is written in Russian, naturally:)
Genre: vampires. And, I'd say, kinda 'psychological fiction'.
Rating: 9/10
About the Novel: The story's composed by a company of my LJ friends - and it is really worthy to be published, more than a great amount of what usually appear out of press. This is a sequel to 'Dark Prague', a detective story about vampires set in late 19th century Prague. That story wasn't an ordinary whodunit, for we knew well the murderer - and the main character - countess Anna Warvick. Still, it was mostly absorbing to read how Prague police tried to investigate that strange case. I couldn't tell to the very end whether Anna and her spouse, Edward would be caught by the police - or by a fierce vampire hunter, who had a great grudge against Edward.
Here the vampires, joined by a newly-turned girl, Victoria, decide to leave Europe. During the major part of the book they are crossing the Atlantic. Anna is jealous because of Victoria, Victoria hates Anna, Edward tries to be diplomatic, for he loves and needs both women. The latter also tries to keep to a diet (rather foolish, isn't it? Or didn't he remember that a similar diet made Anna kill a dear person against her will in the previous part?) Uh-huh, fighting inner demons is our second name, that's right...
There are also some mortals, attracted by the vampires. Maria, half-Bohemian and a Spanish aristocrat feels that there's something wrong about the Warvick family and wishes to warn Edward and help him out (Sancta simplicitas!). And Randall (if not Rendall, I'm not completely sure here), the ship doctor falls in love with mysterious Anna. The doctor, just out of university, Pasteur's worshipper became my love from first glance.
To sum up. The novel is really well-written. The characters and their development, the plot, the time, the place... The novel also seems original and fresh - I can't think of anything it could be imitating. So I shall join those who wish this book to be published one day.
#18
Author: Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
Title: The Execution
(read in Russian - the original language)
Genre: fantasy (rather untypical, though)
Rating: 9/10
My Thoughts with a Short Synopsis: Irena Khmel is asked by some secret service to go into and investigate the world, created by her ex-husband, Andrzej. Or, actually, to get Andrzej out of it. The 'artificially created world' turns out to be too real. Irena is accused in murders she didn't commit and condemned to death. And - here we are! - the death penalty here lies in giving people to 'haemoglobin-dependent citizen'. *ha-ha-ha-ha!* The vampire who's chosen her, a prosperous lawyer, as it turns out, wants her only as a mother with good herdity (he knows well about her innocence) to bore his heir. But Irena still wants to find her ex... for she needs to get out of all this... However, all she can do is getting with the father of her child to yet another world, an eerie one...
Well, if the vampire turned out to be her husband - or if, at least, the authors could present them happiness, I'd be much more satisfied than with the actual ending. The vampire is presumably dead (hope is very faint), as well as the young knight we meet in the 'inner world' - and all this only to show us how much a badass Irena's ex is and how better and more human his creations are. And it was still unclear what happened in the end. Irena did give birth to her child and seemingly bring him up by herself - but in which of the worlds? And what about the husband? And why, oh why did they "kill" the vampire... He and Irena finally almost loved each other, same as the Beauty and the Beast...
#19
Author: Jennifer Rardin
Title: Another One Bites the Dust
(read in English, finally:)
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 6/10
My Thoughts: For me that was much worse than the first part. Hardly any of Jaz and Vayl's relations were shown in this book. And all those others in their team, always being around and giving them no privacy.. and Jaz, the stupid ass, refusing Vayl's love... and new soul-eating monsters (I hate them)... When in the first book there were only two of the characters, Jaz and Vayl, it was so much nicer! So, all in all, I think many people might enjoy the book and all those things which were not for me. Rardin's development of Bergman, Cole, Cassandra is really nice. I might have loved them myself - if they didn't distract us from Vayl. Anyway, I am reading the next part - still in hope that there WILL be some Jaz/Vayl romance.
Currently reading: Rereading 'Those Who Hunt the Night'))))
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And of course I'm so happy to read you like our Warwick family (and Randall, for sure!). What about Mirco? He's my favourite gipsy especially in the moment wihh holly water and a bit after, 'improving relationship' with Anna. He's really cute :)
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Yeah, Mirco is cute. His approach to foreign languages - Ah! (his English is in a way similar to my Hungarian) And that was funny that it had to be Anna to rescue him from starving Edward. Remembering about and using holy water shows us that he has a strong character. Mirco/Maria relation were also nice, I felt so sorry that the girl had to die. I don't mean there had to be a pairing. They could simply become good friends... for they were both so lonely
As for Maria, I think there was too little on her relations with Serjio. Did she really meet him only once? And did she expect (and why, if she did) to reunite with him in Brazil? For he is seemingly NOT her brother, is he?
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So, it's here:
http://nosferatu.ru/biblio/novels/hembli/putsm.html
I can also advice you two books: the original story written in the very begining of 20th century (don't know by whom, the's a version, that by come russian girls - according to the author's name б.Олшеври, that's sounds really nice): http://nosferatu.ru/biblio/novels/bolvry/bolvr.html It's very classish and vampirish.
And then the sequel, set in 40th Germany-Romanya and written by our girls from LJ
Not such a 'victorian' prose, there's some sex and violence, but it's nice, really.
His approach to foreign languages - Ah!
Aha, but his author - Frakir - is really great in English, so it was fun :)
And that was funny that it had to be Anna to rescue him from starving Edward.
Yeah, it was kinda to show she's not such a Big Bad with fangs, but something more. I like their relationship at the end - when Mirco wasn't so much afraid of Anna, and Anna didn't think of him only as 'a Happy-meal on legs' (c) Buffy.
I don't mean there had to be a pairing. They could simply become good friends... for they were both so lonely
Exactly the same said to me their authors: no love, but... but something that can be a bit more than friendship. Or can be not.
As for Maria, I think there was too little on her relations with Serjio. Did she really meet him only once?
*sniffle* I know, it was 'couse we haven't written a small part - their last meeting. There was an idea that vamp told her smth about how can a vampire become a human again (nevertheless it was only his theory, that, pitifuly, has nothing to do with reality - so there's no way to 'turn back').
I don't remember names - there's was a brother, she really went to Brazil for him to reunion, that's true. And that her vamp - he stayed in Spain or somewhere in Europe, that was another man.
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a Happy-meal on legs - that's LOL. I guess I should watch Buffy. Once ma meilleure copine was a great fan of her (though long, long ago...) - but I watched the telly so seldom that could only get a glimpse of the series. Probably I'll get it... but no sooner than I watch the collection of anime that was piles on my notebook... and finally get complete old 'Hellsing' series...
I didn't even think of Serjio as a vampire! He seemed but a 'brigand dans les montagnes d'Andalousie'. Now, this way it's so savoury! (You know, my crash is he-vamp/she-young girl)
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Но для тебя попробую ответить. Они соединяют в себе мой любимый 19 век (в основном) - ну и историческую перспективу в целом. История - это моя слабость, я горжусь тем, что более-менее ориентируюсь, что в том или том году там-то было. Вот ты знаешь, в каком году турки взяли Константинополь?)))) (почти цитата)
Затем, вампиры - во всяком случае, те, кто мне нравится - воплощают элегантность, утонченность, хороший вкус - в одежде, обстановке, музыке... Я обожаю оперу - а сейчас туда особо никто и не ходит. Разве что вампиры наверняка ходили бы. Из ностальгии)))
Ну и ум - опять-таки, мне вампиры нужны только умные. Наверное это как вариант моего принца на белом коне - ведь едва ли не главное мое условие к "Мистеру идеалу" - это быть умнее меня (ну во всяком случае, не глупее). Кто из парней поймет меня на всех моих языках, оценит мои постоянные вкрапленные цитаты из книг, опер, оперетт...
Ну и еще под конец можешь добавить чего-то из дедушки Фрейда, почитать которого у меня никак руки не доходят. В меру испорченности)
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в общем, в следующей подборке постараюсь без упырей обойтись..
Ан нет, тут не выйдет! Я же взяла сборник "Русская готика" (правильная, старинная - Толстой, Одоевский, Баратынский и те де)...
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Антураж там скорее "очень злобное и жестокое итальянское княжество эпохи Возрождения". Но меня больше всего даже не нуар раздражал, а этот психодел... Героям вроде тоже кошмары снятся, они попадают в такие места (и это в том же замке) и встречают странных жутких существ, которых так и не понимают (и автор так и не объясняет). Вообще там настолько жуткий и оккультный вампиризм, аж противно.