Customer Reviews

Blood Society

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't mind my 4 stars. I'm weird like that, reserving 5 stars for classic lit that I really love, or children's novels that really strike me.

So, I suppose my 4-star is a 5-star for me in the world of modern horror. BLOOD SOCIETY is a cool, cool novel. I knew I was in for a literary treat of modern vamp horror when the prologue was preceded by quotes from a saint and a medieval poet of hell. Then I got sucked in by the prologue, set in the catacombs of the Capuchin monks of Sicily, and I thought "Oh, we're really going IN." And in we did go, the author pulling me along side-by-side with the protagonist who'd been there before, and then through it all again as a boy seeing his grandfather's resting place there for the first time. I won't talk of the tour of the catacombs, just go in and experience it for yourself, it's, well, COOL. Part One next, 1950's Capone-era Chicago, SWEET. Capone's even a character in the book, nice. Get ready for page-turning shoot-outs and an even deeper dive into our lead vampire's psyche and horrors of his bodily physics & blood needs. Jump ahead yet again, and follow our freakish, badass yet eloquent vampire along to the 1990s and run-ins with international Asian gangs, heh. I bet Thomas had huge fun writing this book - it's violent, artistic, classy, bitterly romantic & sexy horror, wonderfully researched and you'll like the characters, there are more than what I mentioned here, and they are all beauts.

Blood Society is not a novel about vampires. But it also kind of is. Jeffrey Thomas (Punktown, Unholy Dimensions) gives us a unique view of the Vampire Mythos (or the Undead/Ghoul Mythos) by creating a world where undead creatures are a lot more realistic and horrific than the pansy reiterations we've been going through as a culture lately.

A timely and much needed entry into "vampire genre" that also doubles as a historical novel (I'll get to that in a minute), Blood Society gets here just in time to save us from sparkling vegan vampires. Again, 'vampire' may not be an appropriate word. The novel features supernatural ghoul like creatures that follow some of the basic vampire rules, and abandon others; resulting a thankfully potent fusion of old and new. The creatures here have a more animal like appearance when they transform (something that also has some cool original flair to it) reminiscent of Bram Stokers Dracula, where we see Gary Oldman as a wolf-bat like creature. Blood Society takes that concept and cranks it up to 11.

What we also have here, is a nice historical novel. The major centerpiece of the book, from a time period perspective (several decades are spanned in the book) is the 1920's Al Capone Gangster Era. Thomas has his command of Historical Knowledge on full display here, we have realistic times, places, and details that converge with the realistic tone of the story and the resulting story is full of interesting layers. It is also an accomplishment just having blended the two genres (historical/horror) so entertainingly; we get an accurate glimpse into the 1920's but we still get gun battles. It delivers a pace that doesn't disappoint.

Another place that Blood Society succeeds is in 'satisfying' the reader. What could have been a short story or novella (a brief story with just the Al Capone stuff) is expanded into a tale that spans from Italy in the early 1900's to the 1990's, giving the reader a complete end, and perhaps even a bulkier beginning (a short story may have not featured as much initial set up). Strong themes of death and immortality are strewn throughout, giving the reader the satisfaction of having to dig past the words on the paper and giving them the opportunity to interpret a greater message. Jeffrey Thomas is a seasoned writer and a will reward the thoughtful and insightful reader.

If you're tired of average stories of the undead, and want something new and brilliantly rendered by a master artist, give Blood Society a shot.