61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Helpless, helpless..., August 7, 2004
For Eleisha life as a vampire has always been perplexing. She was made by a British lordling to care for William, who was turned in advanced senility and is now condemned to an eternity as a vampire with Alzheimer's. She and William are bundled of to America with little or no explanation, and only the good fortune of coming under the wing of Edward, another vampire enables them to survive. And then time passes...
Blood Memories opens 100 years later, when Edward, worn down by countless years of darkness, commits suicide. Suddenly Eleisha and William are cut loose again, and the spectacular death of Edward has drawn unwelcome attention. They are being hunted by humans, and wherever they flee, death follows. And in England, Julian, Eleisha's fearsome sire, becomes aware that all is not as it should be.
What makes this story is Eleisha's progress. Starting out as a vampire whose greatest power is the ability to appear helpless, she gradually comes into her own. In many ways, Barb Hendee cuts Eleisha free from the many ties that bind her, as she confronts each problem and learns from it. Blood Memories isn't a horror story; it is a vampire coming-of-age tale, if you can imagine such a thing. As such, there is as much focus on the personalities of the characters as there is on the action of the story.
As she does in the story itself, Eleisha at first attracts only sympathy from the reader. But gradually, as she develops, one becomes aware of her charm. Hendee, is the co-author of several other, more mainstream, vampire tales, starring a young dhampir. She has a knack for quickly building a character's presence, and so each of the cast stay in mind more than one would expect from a 'vampire tale.'
In the end I was caught up in the Eleisha's tragedies, mishaps, and mysteries, and elated by her victories. Coming from a small, independent publisher, and cursed with a rather lurid cover, this book exceeded my expectations in every way. If you are looking for a vampire story with more than one unusual twist, try this one out.
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glittering Tapestry Tale, April 2, 2003
I started with 'Dhampir' and then had to get anything else Barb Hendee wrote. Im only sorry that there are only two books so far. A bit different then your average vampire tale. These are neither the good vampires, nor the naughty vampires. Perhaps the lost vampire might become a new genre. In Dhampire we play the human side, mostly. Or at least, mostly human. But a glimpse of the undead there reveals a great variation in vampires and the sides are drawn not between good and evil but simply for survival. In this book we go full scale on the vampire side, through the eyes of vampires who are yet ignorant of themselves and what they are. While in some books one becomes somewhat emeshed with the characters, Barb Hendee has the ability to bring you totally codenpendent on them. As with some authors, BH can use detail and description to bring the characters and their emotions alive without distracting the reader. In this case I was not just disapointed when the book ended, but actually rather annoyed. It's only in the hope of more books that I can recommend these
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20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More like 3.5 stars, June 14, 2004
By A Customer
Barb Hendee said that this was her 'first novel and it shows' and well... it shows.
While this book handled some great, and scarcely used, things like vampire suicide and senile vampires it didnt work in other areas.
The main villain, Julian, was never really talked about throughout the novel and then in the last 20 pages we are given the reason why he is evil. It seemed overly rushed and i never got the feeling of 'wow, he is one mean guy.' Plus the name Julian? Come on, i have read 6 different vampire authors use that name. Find some other names for bad vampires!
Also, i didnt quite care for the telepathic and psychometry (huh?) humans. Vampires make it fantasy enough but all the 'special' humans made it seem sci-fi too.
There are also some pretty obvious and bad grammatical errors for a book of this size. And the cover and back make this book look like a comic graphic novel when it is surprisingly mature with some minor sexual scenes and graphic violence. Dont let the comic book cover and back fool you into thinking this is a childrens romp...
But in the end i read this book in one day and enjoyed it pretty well. It has a decent storyline and keeps you interested. And i loved that comment on vampires not using elevators, in case it gets stuck and theyre trapped until the sun rises. Very witty!
I also recommend Dhampir by the Hendee's as it is a wonderful read. But i must admit that Barb plucked many names and instances from Blood Memories for use in that book...
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