The Palace: An Historical Horror Novel [Hardcover]

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1979

The anticipated paperback release of the second title in Yarbro's long-running Saint-Germain series featuring immortal vampire Francesco Ragoczy da San Germano. Secluded in his Renaissance Florence palace, he falls for a beautiful courtesan and loses all desire for isolation.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 408 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; First Edition edition (January 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312594747
• ISBN-13: 978-0312594749
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,885,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars second in a series, and one of the best, January 9, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Palace: An Historical Horror Novel (Hardcover)

The Palace is a historical novel featuring a vampire hero. It's the second one in a series written about this character. 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 if we have some ways to categorize these novels. Thus: BunRab's Standard Vampire Elements. 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; unusual wisdom; and is an "alchemist" but there are no 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.

The Palace is set in Fiorenza (Florence) in the time of the Medicis, and with a Borgia Pope in Rome. So the characters include some of the most famous people of the Italian Renaissance. Although this is only the second book written in the series, Yarbro is clearly setting up more background on St. Germain, for future novels. In this historical period, it's easy to make the Roman Catholic church a villain; the infamous Savonarola is in Florence, setting up his Bonfire of the Vanities. Warning: some torture scenes. On the other hand, there is at least a partly happy ending. One disappointment to me is that St. Germain turns a woman into a vampire in this book, and yet, as far as I can tell, she never again appears in the series, unlike Olivia Clemens. Once someone is "of his blood" I would expect to see them turn up as a recurring character. We can also, after all the harm he causes, count it a happy ending when Savonarola is executed. The bit players in this novel include Leonardo da Vinci - that's the kind of period it was! Good read, gorgeous descriptions of art and architecture, a lot more fun than studying the Renaissance in your Western Civ class!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second of the Saint-Germain series., June 13, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: Palace (Hardcover)

For those already familiar with the series, I will only say that this second book improved slightly on a very good first book, "Hotel Transylvania". I'm not entirely sure why I liked it better; perhaps the villain was ever so slightly less cardboard (A medieval religious fanatic, rather than a diabolist) or perhaps the romantic angle was slightly less like a Gothic romance; it seemed more plausible that Saint-Germain's romantic interest was more than a bit nervous about the whole vampire concept, instead of embracing it as whole-heartedly as Madeline did in the first book. But whatever the reason, I enjoyed this book somewhat more than I did "Hotel Transylvania".

For those not yet familiar with the series, an introduction is in order: "The Palace" is the second of on the order of a dozen (so far) novels of Saint-Germain, who is a vampire. He is one of the first of the modern "good guy" vampires, an unequivocal hero rather than an antihero or a sympathetic villain, the more traditional roles for a vampire. At least in these first two books, there is definitely more than a taste of the "historical romance" to the books, so if you enjoy that genre, you should certainly enjoy these (unless you just don't care for vampires, and even then, I'd suggest giving them a try.) Each book is set in a different historical period, and they don't progress in any sort of historical order; the first is set in mid-1700s France; this one, technically a prequel, is set in late 1400s Italy. The history seems to this only moderately informed reader to be extremely good, but it wouldn't take much to fool my knowledge of the period, so I can't say how accurate they actually are. And the writing is quite good, even if I still don't much care for the artifice of beginning and ending of each chapter with a piece of correspondence.

If you are a fan of traditional vampire fiction, you may possibly find yourself disappointed with this series; there are many elements generally found in the vampire genre that are missing from these books: while not without angst, Saint-Germain is remarkably well-adjusted for someone who has seen all the suffering that he has, who has been as alienated as he presumably has been for as long as he has been. There are only a passing few mild "sex/blood drinking" scenes, and less of the mysterious than is usually found in the genre. But if you like historical romance, or even historical fiction generally, and don't object to the concept of a heroic vampire protagonist, you should find this book, and probably most of this series, quite enjoyable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous!, March 7, 2001

By 

Michele Patterson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Palace (Paperback)

I've often thought that the power organized Christian religion has in this world can be terrifying. THE PALACE explores this with a most fearsome antagonist, a monk named Savonarola. Set in 15th Century Italy, this second of the Saint-Germain novels focuses on the horrors one man can cause in the name of religion. Featuring historical figures such as the de Medici's and the artist Botticelli, THE PALACE is ripe with Yarbro's beautiful, poetic prose, her incredible imagery and fabulous characterization. It's sensual, riveting. A novel that both horror and historical fiction fans can appreciate and since it's available in hardback from Stealth Press, Yarbro fans can fall in love with it all over again.