Night Blooming [Hardcover]

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2002

At the forced invitation of 8th century Germanic king Karl-lo-Magne (Charlemagne), Hiermon Ragoczy de Santus Germainius, a dark and strange man rumored to have traveled to many far places, makes the dangerous journey to France. He is called to validate the authenticity of the king's newly purchased maps, but unbeknownst to Karl-lo-Magne, Ragoczy's knowledge stems from centuries of being chased from these countries, rather than traveling through them. Despite his longing for peace, he yields to Karl-lo-Magne. What he does not expect, though, is to meet the albino woman, Gynethe Mehaut, who shares his curse of solitude. Showing signs of stigmata, she seeks peace from the church. But when she is taken to Rome, accusations of witchcraft fly, and she is left with a difficult choice-one that even Ragoczy cannot deny.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific Yarbro (Hotel Transylvania, etc.) flawlessly weaves a meticulous historical milieu and enthralling characters with the fantastic in her 15th volume to feature compassionate vampire Ragoczy, Count Saint-Germain. Here known as Hiernom Rakoczy, he travels in A.D. 796 to Tours and later Aachen to advise the Frankish king, Karl-lo-Magne (Charlemagne), who's closely allied with Pope Leo III. Meanwhile, saintly albino Gynethe Mehaut struggles within a church that can't decide whether her stigmatic wounds denote holiness or blasphemy. The white woman and the dark count, still recovering from an ill-fated encounter in Come Twilight (2000), eventually cross paths in Rome, where their passions ignite, though those expecting the high eroticism of Laurell K. Hamilton will be disappointed. The melancholy count regains some joie de vivre when he's reunited with his old friend, the always remarkable Atta Olivia Clemens. Richly rewarding for longtime readers, the novel also provides a good entry point for new recruits with its subtly supplied back story. The eighth century European setting is more accessible than the 14th century India-Asia setting of the previous book in the series, A Feast in Exile (2001). In Yarbro's saga the vampires are honorable, civilized and heroic it's humankind that's horrific. Current popular vampire fiction reflects her influence more than that of the better known Anne Rice, and her noble vampire deserves comparable sales.and Stoker awards.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

More vampires, this time in the 15th novel in the series featuring Le Comte de Saint-Germain. A sinister stranger in the court of Karl-lo-Magne (that's Charlemagne) has an amazing knowledge of maps perhaps because he's traveled all over the map for centuries.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Aspect; First Edition edition (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446529818
• ISBN-13: 978-0446529815
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,151,292 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vampires and Stigmata, November 8, 2004

By 

Stephen Richmond "Librarian/Teacher/Reader an... (Newton, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Blooming (Hardcover)

This series never fails to enthrall with its fastidious attention to historical detail and its equally charming vampire hero. It's really quite amazing how subtly and so casually author Yarbro deals with the mundanities of vampirism, which never gets in the way of the plot or the history. Saint-Germain himself just gets better all the time. What a fabulous character, created from a bit of history himself! The supporting cast -- his manservant, his former-lover-turned-best-vamp-bud, and her charming and witty ghoul amanuensis --- are so well developed throughout the series, they now seem like old friends. Admittedly, Anne Rice and her Lestat, worthy of praise and adultation, tend to overshadow the more quiet seduction of Yarbro and S-G; that seems a bit unfair, but then this kind of historical fiction does not appeal to everyone. If you love Rice, you should though at least give Yarbro a try. The same is true for fans of Laurell Hamilton, whom this writer finds to be an acquired taste which just hasn't happened for him yet, if ever. NIGHT BLOOMING is a superb additon to the S-G chronicles.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fifteenth in the "Saint Germain" series., March 5, 2004

By 

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

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This review is from: Night Blooming (Hardcover)

Or sixteenth, if you count "Out of the House of Life", a spinoff novel mostly about Madeline de Montalia, Saint Germain's lover from the first novel in the series, "Hotel Transylvania", by the time of "House" a vampire in her own right.

Or nineteenth, if you count "A Flame In Byzantium", "Crusader's Torch", and "A Candle For D'artagnan", all centering on the life of Olivia Atta Clemens, his lover from "Blood Games", third in the series, likewise a vampire herself in these stories.

As in all of the books in this series, Saint Germain is an unmitigated hero, gentle, kind, suave, cultured, generous, intelligent, wise. Some readers of vampire fiction don't want their vampires to be good guys; at best, they want engaging bad boys like Anne Rice's "Lestat". At worst, they want ravening demons. If you fall into this category, don't read this book (or any book in this series). You won't get what you're looking for here. In Yarbro's books, the bad guys are generally the political and religious powers that be in the historical periods that she writes about.

Which brings us to one of the most fascinating things about this series: the historical settings. Saint Germain is a vampire who has lived for 4000 years; as such, each novel sets him in a different time period; this one sets him in the court of Charlemagne, circa 800 CE. Don't read these books as vampire fiction; read them as historical romances.

One of the few negative aspects to this series is that regular readers know from earlier-written books set in later historical periods that most of the romances are doomed to tragic endings; if they weren't, the romantic interests would have become vampires, and we'd have seen them or heard them referred to in later-period books. This gets a bit depressing after a while, but is hardly enough to keep the series from being worthwhile.

I would put this book about on a par with "Blood Roses" or "Darker Jewels", not as good as "Writ In Blood" or "Better In The Dark", but better than most of the series.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Saint-Germain is our vampire-embedded-in-History, December 13, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Night Blooming (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read every one of CQY's vampire novels. Yes, they are slightly formulaic, yes they are historical--but what do you think the life of a putative vampire who is thousands of years old would be? Most tellingly, Saint-Germain, despite his several long-lived friends, suffers boredom and loneliness, and struggles against cynicism. The beauty of these novels is their portrayal of history without the rose-colored glasses present in most history books. Partially epistolary in form, these novels allow us to see history not through the rose-colored glasses of distance, but through the eyes of those living it as their present, and then supplies "commentary" in the form of Saint-Germain, whose 4,000 years of life have allowed him the time to develop modern sensibilities, as we see them. If you're looking for a horror story, you'll be disappointed; Saint-Germain is much more. If you expect institutions such as the Church and various historical figures to come out smelling like roses because the simplistic history you learned at school or even in your church suggests that it is so, you'll be disappointed as well. The reality and politics of the dark ages, say, or religion is often much nastier than we want to suppose, though it takes looking at primary sources--rather than TV and movies--to understand this. I am grateful that CQY does do this research, and then writes these novels, so the rest of us can see history--and humanity--with new eyes. A little fresh blood never hurt anybody, so to speak.