Fevre Dreamby George R. R. Martin
There are a plethora of vampire novels out there sitting on the shelves of bookstores and libraries, and it is a difficult task to distinguish between the humdrum and phenomenal. Lately I've been googling noteworthy vampire novels. I wanted to get past the the obvious great vampire novels like Stoker's Dracula, King's Salem's Lot, Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and Simmons' Carrion Comfort. After some searching, I discovered science fiction writer George R. R. Martin's vampire novel Fevre Dream.
Fevre Dream is an outstanding vampire novel. The story is unique and wonderfully written capturing the steamboat era's opulence, and abject imperceptibility in conjunction with slavery. From the first chapter Martin seizes my attention. There is no such thing as slow pace in this novel. The suspense is unbearable; I could not read fast enough!
Without revealing too much, the vampires in Fevre Dream are unique. They are an entirely different species. Martin explains the primordial history of the vampire, which makes reasonable sense. The book has a strong undertone theme of morality. The plot is found on an analogous correlation between master/slave and predator/prey. Simply, societies hierarchical system is questioned. Two powerful vampires struggle. Joshua wants to change the way his people live, and Damon sees nothing wrong with the old days even though the red thirst is conquered. Abner, a man of integrity is Joshua's only hope.
If you're a horror enthusiast, this should be on your list of "to read" books (on the top). I loved it so much, I bought the signature edition. To the left is the signature edition, which is limited to 448 copies.
3 comments:
I've been looking for some good scary Vampires for a while, but I haven't seen much since 30 days of night and there weren't alot more before that. I'm tired of the "victimized", over-dramatic vampires, I prefer the evil monstrous ones that lust for power and eviscerate those in their way without the melodrama. This book looks like more of the same, is it?
I think these kind of vampire books don't qualify as horror because they don't attempt to scare the reader. I think we need a genre called Vampire-Romance. As opposed to Vampire-Horror. Just because Vampires were born from the horror genre doesn't mean that books utilising them automatically qualify as such.
Interesting to note, however, the first "sympathetic" vampire came before Dracula. He was Varney the Vampire, but to call that Penny Dreadful Vampire-Romance would be a mistake.
Hi Proth,
Fevre Dream is not a Vampire-Romance. It has aspects of gruesomeness with depth to encompass social stratification.
You're right; a book that merely has a vampire should not be labeled in the horror genre. There should be consideration for underlining theme. For example, Charlaine Harris' Sookie series should not be considered a horror. Rather it should be considered a dark fantasy/ romance and possibly mystery. Nevertheless, I enjoy Harris' supernatural series.
Thank you for posting your comments.
Yeah I should've recognised the author. George R. R. Martin was famous for the Song of Ice and Fire books. I hadn't read any but I did read some excerpts from Feast of Crows.
Post a Comment