I’ve got a terrible revue backlog, so the time has come to do some quickies. Coincidentally, most of what we have here today are sequels and second novels.
As it follows pretty much the same central characters as Anno Dracula, but occurs 30 years later, there are a lot of similarities between Anno and Bloody Red Baron. The book is very readable. Set in an alt-historical World War I being fought with Dracula himself goading the Kaiser, a parade of real historical figures and fictional luminaries make cameos or serve as main characters. Included in the bunch are Edgar Allan Poe (here eschewing his middle name and living the unfortunate life of a Kafka character), the Mata Hari, Count Orlok, Manfred von Richthofen, and the Baron’s brother, Lothar. There is no Genevieve Dieudonne, sadly. As with Anno Dracula, the plot is meandering and sometimes seems headed nowhere. In Anno, this meandering supplied more delicious background. In Bloody Red Baron, this meandering led your undeserving servant to distraction and annoyance. I find myself hesitant to read the next and last in this series.
Bloody Red Baron by Kim Newman – Carroll & Graf – 1995
Bloody Red Baron on Amazon
After having read The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and love love loving it, imagine my delight in finding that Bullington had published another book this very year. The Enterprise of Death is a parable on how tricky it can be to rise above the circumstances from which we emerge. In the case of our heroine, Awa, those circumstances are rather dire. Awa is a former slave who, along with her mistress, is waylaid by a cruel necromancer shopping for a rather rare sort of successor. The kind of successor who, if they learned their true fate, would not go willingly. The good news, if it could be called good, is that Awa learns how to be a passable necromancer. We witness her horrific training, and follow her later adventures. As in the Brothers, the violence is hyper-photographically brutal, the sexy bits are graphic and never kink-free, and the main characters are caught in machinations that remain mostly beyond their ken. There is a scene late in the book where Awa is magically granted greater intelligence and she is stunned to look back and see how stupid she’s been. For years. My gripes: The ending does not ring true to these ears, and the Bullington’s carefully measured language is suddenly peppered with frank explicit sexual vocabulary starting at about one third of the way through the book, and I found it distracting. Still, The Enterprise of Death is an entertaining read. Those who are not entertained will be offended, and the Hyena wins my award for the most horrific monster of the year.
The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington – Orbit Books – 2011.
The Enterprise of Death on Amazon
Ha ha ho ho hee hee is it awkward explaining to all my friends that I’m not just reading these thinly veiled vampire/werewolf romance novels, but that I think they’re fantastic. See my review of the first, here. Yes. Yes I’ve read all of them now. They are in order, after Soulless: Changeless, Blameless, and Heartless. Another, Timeless, is due March 2012. Gail Carriger continues the fascinating adventures of Alexia Tarabotti as she thwarts enemies, spouts wry observations, and dodges multiple assassination attempts by various nefarious 19th Century organizations, all while keeping appearances and providing proper guidance on manners. I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and found one nit to pick with these books: The covers are not getting better, and they really need to get somebody working on that. Everything else is grand. The books are an easy read and hard to put down. New York Times Bestselling. Still not ready to take the plunge? Just repeat after me: Low-brow is high-brow. Low-brow is high-brow. Low-brow is high-brow. There’s no place like home.
Changeless, Blameless, and Heartless by Gail Carriger – 2010, 2010, 2011 – Orbit Books
Check it out! The first 3 books available CHEAP for the Kindle.
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