![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7){kind=small}
Anyhow, vampire novels. I’ll be honest, I love vampires. I love vampire novels, and I’ve been known to read utter trash if there’s a vampire in it (I read sixteen books of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, and am now compelled to gravely doubt my own sanity whenever I recall that fact). I even read Twilight, but shhhh, we shall not talk of Twilight. Fun as a good trashy urban fantasy novel of the read-and-throw type can be, at the end of the day most of them are, well, read-and-throw. It’s hard to find a vampire novel that actually has brains (and no, that’s not a zombie joke). Which makes these two books a pleasurable find.
-
1) The Vampire Tapestry, by Suzy McKee Charnas
There are few things I enjoy more than a new re-interpretation of the vampire myth. I’ve read a good many, and have noticed that, recently, many fans seem to be moving away from the idea of the vampire as a reanimated corpse, and moving, instead, towards one of the vampire as a living species and biological predator – one notch higher in the food chain than homo sapiens, as it were – who live, and feed, and reproduce just like any other animal, humans included.
And this is more or less what you’ll find in The Vampire Tapestry, with some exceptions; the vampire in question is the only one of his kind, and indeed, as far as he knows, doesn’t have a ‘kind’ at all. It’s an unusual but thoroughly interestings novel that sets to explore the alien mindset of a predator and a member of a different species, emphasizing, above all, their basic non-humanity (which is quite different from inhumanity). A large chunk of the book involves the vampire protagonist having sessions with a psychiatrist; the result is quite delightful.
“They’re not needed for reproduction, I suppose, because people who die of vampire bites become vampires themselves.”
He said testily, “Nonsense. I am not a communicable disease.”
He said testily, “Nonsense. I am not a communicable disease.”
There is a plot, of sorts, but it's a leisurely one. The novel is more a stream of consciousness that sets out to examine what it means to be a vampire - this particular novel's version of a vampire, that is. What is it like to be the only one of your kind, alone and adrift among what to all intents and purposes is your food? Is killing to eat evil - can we fault a living creature for exercising every living creature's natural instinct to seek the sustenance its body needs? Factor in a remarkable protagonist, and, my non-existent reviewing skills notwithstanding, this book is definitely a must-read.
-
2) The Children of the Night, by Dan Simmons
Strictly speaking, this isn’t fantasy at all. If anything, it’s sci-fi. In The Children of the Night, what we know as ‘vampirism’ is a genetic disorder. I tend to get glazy-eyed and skip pages when faced with too much science-talk, so I’ll give you the layman’s version; individuals with this rare double recessive gene have a) a cripplingly intense version of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, b) a inherent retrovirus that lets them break down blood ingested from another human (through the cell-rich stomach lining), extract the elements their own body cannot metabolize, and then rebuild their own immune system from scratch. Obviously, the process is cyclical; if they go without blood, their own immune system begins to flag, and they sicken and die. When given fresh blood, it spontaneously regenerates.
Much of the story hinges around the discovery of a Romanian infant with this disorder, and the realization that the retrovirus, and its ability to reconstruct a flagging immune system from scratch could be the key to a cure for AIDS, cancer, and other diseases that have plagued mankind for generations; the Rosetta Stone of genetic science (I promise the book's science is more convincing than mine). That’s not the only interesting thing, however; people with the disorder can live for centuries, as their body can revitalize itself indefinitely with access to fresh blood. As a result, the protagonists have to contend with not only the original and still-living Vlad Tepes, the first person to be born with this rare disorder, but also several generations of his family, to whom he has passed down that disorder – and who are determined to keep their secret. The book starts out very strong, with some chilling moments, though it flags a bit towards the end, particularly with the introduction of a Token Romance. Revolution-torn Romania and Transylvannia are powerful, vividly evoked, however, and the chapters in Vlad Tepes’ pov chill one’s blood.
((I never did quite understand the whole concept of the Prince, however, or how there could have been more than one in the past, or what need there was to dub a random infant the Prince instead of following some kind of law of succession. If anyone else has read/goes on to read this novel, do share your thoughts.))
December 30 2011, 19:32:32 UTC 4 months ago
The book attempts to give a scientific explanation for vampires - why they drink blood and how they hate mirrors and even the sign of the cross (though vampires aren't the main focus).