Blood Roses: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (St. Germain) [Hardcover]

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Germain | Publication Date: August 15, 1998

The Comte de Saint-Germain is living in relative peace and prosperity in the village of Orgon in fourteenth-century France. He has won a grudging acceptance from the local populace, who are uneasy with his strange and foreign ways but appreciative of his generosity. But a new threat has upset the precarious balance: Plague has come to France, and the people's fear turns to xenophobia. To avoid the scrutiny that could reveal his true nature, Saint-Germain must flee. However, his travels drive him deeper into the heart of the Black Death--and danger.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's epic of the vampire Ragoczy, the Count Saint-Germain (including Mansions of Darkness, Darker Jewels, and Writ in Blood) has slowly gathered a dedicated readership, while each installment has garnered increasing critical praise. For new readers, Blood Roses is perhaps the most accessible in the series. In 14th-century France, Saint-Germain is caught amidst the devastation of the Black Plague. Though he is unaffected by the disease, his resistance draws the suspicion of each new town he visits--even as he uses ancient Egyptian healing techniques to save lives. Yarbro's impressive novel offers the flavor of the late Middle Ages while flawlessly integrating the elements of horror and the supernatural that mark this eloquent series. One wonders, for example, if the letters and documents that Yarbro integrates into the text are embellishments of the real. But, as with all the Saint-Germain novels, the most satisfying aspect of the narrative is the author's complex rendering of her central character. With the exception of Anne Rice, few writers have as effectively captured the wearied soul of a being living through the great expanse of human history. --Patrick O'Kelley

From Publishers Weekly

As an exiled foreigner living in the village of Orgon in the midst of 14th-century France, the 3000-year-old vampire Saint-Germain (Mansions of Darkness, etc.) has enough trouble at the best of times convincing the locals that his unusual habits and interests are no threat. It's bad enough to be a man of culture and learning during the Dark Ages without being thought a minion of Satan. Yet even the purest motives aren't enough to withstand the suspicion of the church when Saint-Germain uses his medical skills to heal the Vidame Saint Joachim of a wound no other healer has been able to diagnose. When the church accuses Saint-Germain of helping to spread the plague, the vampire is forced to flee as his lands and goods are seized. In the disguise of an itinerant jongleur, he finds himself attached to a noble house where his learning and sympathetic manner make him first confidant, then secret lover of the Lady Huegenet. Yarbro moves her story along swiftly, filling each page with the period detail for which her work has become known. As is also customary with her writings, the well-told tale is less about vampirism than about the texture of life during a pivotal moment in time long past. Agent, Donald Maass.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312865295
• ISBN-13: 978-0312865290
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vampires and the Black Plague- death battles death, January 1, 2001

By 

R. Kelly Wagner "[e-mail]" (MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Roses: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (St. Germain) (Hardcover)

This is one of the series of books about the Count St. Germain, an almost-immortal vampire. Those who already know that they like vampire novels, anything at all that features a vampire, can skip this review, and likewise, those who hate the whole idea of vampires can skip it. But for those trying to decide whether or not to read more of this genre, or whether the one vampire novel you've already read was a fluke, it may help to have some ways to categorize these novels. Thus: BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification Guide. First, most authors of vampire novels approach from one of the main genres of genre fiction; thus their background may be primarily in romance, or in science fiction/fantasy, or in murder mysteries, or in horror. Second, many vampire novels come in series; knowing whether this is one of a series, and where in the series it falls, may be helpful. Then we have some particular characteristics: - Is the vampire character (or characters) a "good guy" or a "bad guy"? Or are there some of each? - Are there continuing characters besides the vampire, through the series? - Are there other types of supernatural beings besides vampires? - Can the vampire stand daylight under some circumstances, or not stand daylight at all? - Does the vampire have a few other supernatural characteristics, many other supernatural characteristics, or none other than just being a vampire? (E.g., super strength, change into an animal, turn invisible) - Does the vampire have a regular job and place in society, or is being a vampire his or her entire raison d'etre? - Does the vampire literally drink blood, or is there some other (perhaps metaphorical) method of feeding? - Is sex a major plot element, a minor plot element, or nonexistent? - Is the entire vampire feeding act a metaphor for sex, part of a standard sex act, or unrelated to sex? - Is the story set in one historical period, more than one historical period, or entirely in the present day? - Does the story have elements of humor, or is it strictly serious? - Is the writing style good, or is the writing just there to manage to hold together the plot and characters?

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's series about the vampire St. Germain starts from the historical romance genre (although Yarbro is equally well known as a science fiction writer), and is a continuing series. St. Germain is definitely a good guy, using the knowledge he's gained in several thousand years of living to help others. There are a few characters that continue from book to book besides him: the women he turns into vampires, and his "servant," Roger, who is a ghoul. Ghouls are the only other supernatural characters who appear in these books. St. Germain can stand daylight with the right preparations. He has unusual strength, but not limitless, and unusual wisdom, and is an "alchemist" but there are no other overt magic powers. In most of the series, he has an occupation of being an aristocrat, insofar as that was a full-time occupation through most of history; in some books he has another "job" as well. St. Germain does not literally drink blood; he feeds on emotions, usually during erotic experiences, but sex is nonetheless only a minor plot element, rare and very discreet. The series covers 3000 years, from ancient Egypt to the modern day; each book is set in a span of a particular period, usually 20-30 years. The writing is serious, but not self-important; the writing quality is excellent, and Yarbro's abilities as an author qualify these books as literature rather than "merely" genre fiction.

Blood Roses is one of the most recently written in the St. Germain series; chronologically in history, it is in the middle, set in the late Dark Ages, France in the 14th century, during one of the several waves of the Black Plague that went around Europe during that century. The Catholic Church has contributed much toward keeping the populace ignorant and downtrodden, a recurrent theme in the series. At this period of history, there is not yet a full-blown Inquisition as there will be a couple of centuries later. Part of the conflict in the story is due to the schism in the Catholic Church, where a second Pope has been set up in France, in Avignon. Letters between St. Germain and his fellow immortal, Olivia, every few chapters, help set the changing scenes. There is a helpful character in the form of a persecuted Spanish Jew; this novel also has a relatively happy ending, in that there is not a huge final bloodbath featuring war, torture, etc. - perhaps, in the face of the Plague, we do not need further human tortures to keep things active. The female love interest lives a full and happy life even after St. Germain leaves. St. Germain leaves the area having passed along some literacy in spite of the church; we can get the sense that the Dark Ages are going to end soon, as things are changing.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical fiction, February 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood Roses: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (St. Germain) (Hardcover)

I am a Saint-Germain junkie.

So perhaps I am not as objective as I could be. Nevertheless, I loved this book.

In Blood Roses, CQY recaptures the style that made me like her older works -- the Palace, Blood Games, and Tempting Fate. The interplay between Our Favorite Count and Roger is back up to speed in this book. Ms Yarbro managed to avoid the pitfalls of her recent works -- relying too heavily on Saint-Germain's insider jokes about "my ...life" and "those of my blood". Instead, this is a fresh book, with sparkling women characters and a long historical perspective. Her research is excellent.

If only we could get those fabulous oldies back into print -- I would pay for at least two hardcover editions of Tempting Fate -- one to keep, one to lend. And Hotel Transylvania... well, I was able to stumble across that in a used bookstore, and it is certainly good enough for re-release. And how about the Palace -- oh, what a story!

Thanks, CQY, for keeping us in Saint-Germain novels. I can't wait for the next one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eleventh in the Saint-Germain series., April 23, 2003

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood Roses: A Novel of Saint-Germain (Paperback)

Or twelfth, if you count "Out of the House of Life", which is primarily a spinoff novel about Madeline de Montalia (former lover and vampiric "childe" of Saint-Germain), but which does include some flashback scenes from some of Saint-Germain's early history.

Or fifteenth, if you also count "A Flame in Byzantium", "Crusader's Torch", and "A Candle For d'Artagnan", the spinoff series about Atta Olivia Clemens, an earlier lover and vampiric "childe".

This book is set in the mid-1300s at the time of the first wave of the Black Plague to sweep through Europe. The romantic interest doesn't even appear until nearly two-thirds of the way through the book, which makes for an interesting variation on a theme, as does the way that romantic interest plays out. The setting reminded me somewhat of "Narcissus and Goldmund", by Herman Hesse, a book which made an impact on me long enough ago that I'd rather not think about how long it's been; perhaps I should re-read it, as I remember very little of the details of that book.

Unlike some other reviewers, I feel that on balance, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's writing has been steadily improving as she's progressed through this series; I enjoyed the early books ("Hotel Transylvania", "The Palace", "Blood Games", "Path of the Eclipse", and "Tempting Fate", in that order, are the first five books in the series) but found the writing to be significantly less developed than they have been starting with "Darker Jewels". This book fits the same pattern, although I don't find it QUITE as enjoyable as its predecessor, "Writ In Blood".

The series is not written in chronological order; from earliest to latest historically, the series to this point would be:

1. "Out of the House of Life" (if you base it on the flashbacks to Saint-Germain's early years; set in Ancient Egypt)

2. "Blood Games", set in Rome at the time of the Emperor Nero

3. "A Flame in Byzantium", set in the time of Justinian, mid 500s.

4. "Better In The Dark", set in the mid-900s in Saxony.

5. "Crusader's Torch", set in the late 1000s and early 1100s, Europe and Middle East.

6. "Path of the Eclipse", early 1200s China, India, and other eastern areas.

7. "Blood Roses", 1300s France.

8. "The Palace", 1400s Italy.

9. Darker Jewels: Late 1500s Russia

10 & 11: virtually simultaneous, "A Candle For d'Artagnan" and "Mansions of Darkness", early 1600s France and the New World (mostly Peru) respectively.

12. "Hotel Transylvania", later 1600s France

13. The "current" part of the plot in "Out of the House of Life", early 1800s Egypt.

14. "The Chronicles of Sant-Germain", a collection of short stories that extend temporally from 1890s to 1980s, which time period overlaps both #15 and #16.

15. "Writ In Blood", 1910-1914, Russia, England, Germany, and Finland.

16. "Tempting Fate", Germany 1920-1930s.

These novels are all variations on the genre of "Romantic/heroic/historical fiction", with the part of the extremely heroic hero being played by a vampire. If this concept intrigues you, you definitely want to read these books. If you enjoy historical romance, but find the concept of the vampiric hero unsettling or weird, you may want to give them a try anyway; if either none of these concepts grab you, or if you insist on your vampires being more traditionally minded, this series is not for you.