The Lady of Serpents (Vampyricon) [Hardcover]

Douglas Clegg (Author)

Book Description

Series: Vampyricon | Publication Date: September 5, 2006

Hailed as the prophesied messiah of the vampyre, Aleric seemed destined for glory-until, like many of his brethren, he was captured by the sorceress Enora. Imprisoned, he is now forced to fight in the arena for her amusement.

To end Enora's reign of terror, Aleric must escape and find the alchemist behind her power, though that may mean unleashing Pythia, the Lady of Serpents-Aleric's old enemy, the seductress who ended his mortal life. For she alone may hold the key to the survival not only of the vampyres, but also all of humankind.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This second installment in Clegg's unfolding Vampyricon epic brims with the same dazzling invention and creative mythography as its predecessor, The Priest of Blood (2005). Aleric, the Breton falconer, returns as heir apparent to the vampire throne, but in a world vastly different since he breached the Veil separating the ordinary world from the world of the vampire myth stream. The "lost century" he finds himself in after years of imprisonment in a silver-sealed well is a cruel, plague-ridden time where he and his un-dead companion, Ewen, are forced to fight gladiatorial battles against human and animal opponents. Old friends and enemies appear in new guises, and unforeseeable plot twists abound. Clegg's rich descriptions, ingenious variations on vampire lore and intriguing speculations on a secret history underlying our own make this an exuberantly imagined dark fantasy. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Vampyricon, Clegg's alternate history interweaving nations of vampires and humans, resumes the adventures of medieval peasant-turned-vampire Aleric (see The Priest of Blood, 2005, for backstory). Now in brutal captivity and forced to fight in the sorceress Enora's arena, Aleric must find the alchemist who gave Enora her power. The resulting quest leads him to the ancient home of all vampires and the discovery that the only way to destroy Enora is to unleash the power that ended his own life as a human--the lady Pythia. Well-drawn characters and a reasonably original alternate world boost the page-turning capacity for dark fantasy fans. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ace Hardcover; First Edition edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441014380
• ISBN-13: 978-0441014385
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,188,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

For all kinds of treats, subscribe to my free newsletter at:

DouglasClegg.com

When you subscribe, you'll get updates and extras from me (including excerpts, short stories, screensavers, ebooks, and more).

I'm a novelist living on the New England coast. My first novel, Goat Dance, came out in 1989, and since then, more than 20 of my novels have been published.

I'd recommend: Neverland, Isis, Afterlife, The Words, Purity, or The Priest of Blood (and the entire vampire trilogy, The Vampyricon) if you're new to my fiction.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant, memorable and creepy, November 7, 2006

By 

Mark (James Axler) Ellis - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady of Serpents (Vampyricon) (Hardcover)

There's nothing so skin-prickling as a horror novel that presents the horrors in lyrical, elegant prose. Too often, that approach comes off as flat and unconvincing.

Lady of the Serpents is one of the exceptions. Mr. Clegg's prose and vivid descriptions of this shadowy world of bat-wings and swords is memorable and exciting.

This second book in the Vampyricon series showcases a very original take on vampires, blending elements of Roger Zelazny and Anne Rice, but creating a unique entry in the modern horror genre.

The characters are compelling and complex, the plot multi-layered, presenting a shadow version of human history.

Highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second in Series Sizzles as Serpent Siren Seduces ... Umm - well, I liked it a LOT! :-), February 6, 2008

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lady of Serpents (Vampyricon) (Hardcover)

My title got a little silly there toward the end, sorry about that! But this was a great second book in the series, as we watch Aleric the Falconer desperately try to set right the terrible events that were set in motion when he foolishly took the Nahhashim staff and went seeking Alienora, the woman he loved as a mortal and with whom he had a child. Unknown to him, she had already been taken over by the Myrryd Shadows and she had him captured and thrown into the Well - from which he himself had brought up a vampyre when he was a child - while taking the staff for herself.

As Aleric is forced to fight in the games put on for the amusement for Baroness Enora and her people, he searches for a way to make his escape so he can stop the destruction of the world. He has an unlikely ally in Calyx, the changeling child of Mere Morwenna he knew as a youngster. She tells him that he must get back not only the Nahhashim staff, but also the Gorgon mask stolen by Pythia before she fled, in order to do a ritual to stop the unmaking of the world.

Richly imagined, multi-layered and beautifully written, this second volume of the Vampyricon is everything anyone could ever want in a medieval vampyre novel. Of course, since this is a ground-breaking for a new genre, one really doesn't know what to expect, which makes it a good thing that a master storyteller like Doug Clegg is responsible for creating this new world. A definite must-have for anyone who enjoys gothic tales, vampyres, and/or tales of medieval fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars My kind of vampire novel - dark and gritty!!!, December 29, 2009

By 

J. Resnick (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Lady of Serpents (Vampyricon) (Hardcover)

I had read Book 1 of the Vampyricon the day the book came out and devoured it in a couple nights. For some reason I purchased Books 2 and 3 but moved on to other books. Watching the movie trailer for Daybreakers reminded me of this series and I just gobbled up Book 2. Great series. I don't want to spoil anything, but I love the really dark and gritty aspects of this novel. The picture in my head of Ixta and the island of Atlanteum (spelling?) is engrained in my head. And the character of Artephius as well!! Nasty!!!! I'm loving Aleric's journey and can't wait to find out what happens to him, Pythia and the rest in Book 3. Highly recommended.