This is the kind of book we here in the Dark can really sink our teeth into. Ah HA HA HA HA ha! Imagine this: A one-eyed mentally unstable nurse, a doctor who accidentally marries a statue, some bizarre medical operations, several 19th century European poets, an oppressive regime ruled by a vampire master, a secret society of blood drinkers, Percy Shelley’s heart, and an 800 year old man with a stone figure sewn into him. It does not get much more AWESOMER than this, girls and boys!
The bats want me to make more sense, so here’s the set-up: Unfortunately for his fiancee, Michael Crawford, the hero of this story, unwittingly marries a monster on the day before his scheduled wedding to a flesh-and-blood woman. He is then forced to flee into a dark underworld filled with vampires, those who serve them, those who wish to serve them, and those who are victimized by them. He and his fellow-suffering famous poets Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats work to free themselves from the curse.
Award-winning author Tim Powers turns out a straight-up horror novel. This is a real cabinet of curiosities. If I had a complaint it might be that the story is a little over-long, and the sex scenes a little less-than-erotic. Historical, mythological, and as weird as any Powers novel I’ve read, The Stress of Her Regard might be the most dark and gory. This is a nice, unsettling read, guaranteed to keep you up at night!
Creepy Factor: 4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 2 out of 5
Final result: Tim Powers is currently one of my favorite authors. While this is not his best book, I still heartily recommend it. (His best books are The Anubis Gates and Three Days to Never.)
Wait! Here is where I use my handy vampire classification system this book.
- Good Looking: Yes
- Superhuman strength: Yes
- Changeling: Yes
- Sparkles: No
- Erotic neck biting: Yes!
- Drink blood: Yes
- Can turn victims into more vampires: Yes
- Must be killed by decapitation or stake through the heart: Yes
- Reflection in mirrors: ?
- Scared of crosses and/or garlic: ?
- Burn in sunlight: No
- Goth nightclub visit: No
- Mind control: Yes
Ah! I love classifying vampires.
The Stress of Her Regard – Tim Powers – Tachyon Publications – 1989
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