Customer Reviews

Of Saints and Shadows

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one of the best vampire books I've read. What makes it so great is that there is a very original twist to it. The relationship between church and the vampires in this book is very original. The writing style is very easy to follow and the story is very good. It really made me want to get the other books in the series.

The characters in this book are very interesting as well. They are rather well developed and aren't your standard, cookie cutter characters that you find in a lot of novels.

Briefly, this book is about a vampire who realizes that all of the restrictions that vampires face are only there because the church has brainwashed them into believing them. By focusing on believing, for example, that sunlight is not dangerous, the vampires can be in the sun with no ill effects. The church, on the other hand, wants the vampires destroyed and has squads of assassins to work towards this end. This has the potential to be an excellent series. I very strongly recommend this book to any lover of vampire lore.

I found this book quite by accident and immediately fell in love. This is a completely different take on vampires and is actually my favorite novel - beating out Tanya Huff's series and even the Anita Blake series.

If you like vampire or horror novels you will love this book.
Our hero is Peter Octavian, a vampire called a "defiant one", and definitely one of the good guys. He is a private investigator investigating a missing persons case for a friend of his.

What makes Peter so likeable is that he is a great guy, but he is also all alone. He left his fellow vampires because he did not believe in their beliefs, and struck out on his own. He knows secrets about vampires that could help his vampire family, but no one believes him. They think of him as an outcast.

When you read about Peter, and realize what a good person he is, and how caring he is of humans, his fellow vampires and even the world in general, you really grow to like him. Also he is such a good strong guy, and you empathize with him because he is all alone without anyone to call family or friend.

Peter gets pulled into a missing persons case that will lead him to a conspiracy involving his "family" of vampires, the church, other "evil" vampire clans and a variety of very interesting characters.

This is an excellent excellent story. I highly recommend to all. You will not be disappointed. If you want to read the entire series, it is called the Shadow Saga and book 1 is Of Saints and Shadows (2) Angel Souls and Devil Hearts (3) Of Masques and Martyrs and (4) The Gathering Dark. I enjoyed this series as much as I enjoyed the first four anita blake novels and more than the tanya huff series. I highly highly recommend.

Christopher Golden is probably best known as the author of several Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, but he has also earned recognition for The Shadow Saga, a series of books built around vampirism. I enjoyed Of Saints and Shadows, the first book in the saga, and it offers one particularly nifty reconstruction of the vampire legend, but this novel failed to bowl me over for a number of reasons. This is a novel of good and evil, only it is difficult to consider either of the two opposing sides good in the traditional sense. On the one hand, you have the world's vampires, hiding out from mankind yet taking their sustenance from the veins of human beings; on the other hand, you have a sect of heretical Roman Catholic sorcerer priests going way beyond their necessary duties. I should point out that this novel is in no way critical of the Roman Catholic Church or of the pope, for the work done by priest sorcerers such as Liam Mulkerrin is unsanctioned and secret, just as it has been, we learn, since the time of Christ.

The novel's hero, Peter Octavian, is no ordinary vampire, having left his coven a century earlier. This outcast from his own kind now works as a private investigator, and the case of a missing young lady leads him into the biggest investigation of his life; he uncovers nothing less than a sinister plot by the religious army of the church to destroy all of the Defiant Ones (vampires) left on earth. At the center of events stands an ancient book called The Gospel of Shadows; held secretly inside the Vatican, this book offers much in the way of explaining the nature of vampires in the world. When the book is stolen, Father Liam Mulkerrin is sent to retrieve it; the high degree of sorcery he already knows cannot be imparted completely among his acolytes and students without the book on hand to guide him. Mulkerrin enjoys his vampire extermination work far too much, caring nothing about who gets hurt in the process, and his true motive for finding the book is to gain control over demons, destroy the only creatures left that he and the church cannot fully control, and basically take over and reform the Roman Catholic Church himself. Peter and his fellow vampires just want to live in peace and secrecy, yet Peter quickly realizes that his band of brothers and sisters must soon fight for their very survival.

Peter has figured some things out on his own, such as the fact that the sun cannot kill a vampire unless that vampire believes it will do so. The big twist to this saga can be found here, as the vampires of old were somehow brainwashed by the church into believing a number of myths throughout the years; it's never crystal clear how this was accomplished, although it did reportedly require sorcery of such a powerful sort as to change the very fabric of Hell. Convincing his fellow vampires that many of their beliefs are false is no easy task, but Octavian goes to Venice in order to warn his old brethren of the danger afoot and to enlist their help in fighting the renegade Vatican emissaries here and now.

Peter's most persistent question concerning the true nature of vampires is never answered in these pages, but the novel explanation for the existence of long-established yet patently false beliefs among vampire kind is quite interesting. The problems I have with the novel basically have to do with characterization and the ending. All vampires drink blood, of course (although Octavian refused to take his nourishment from live human beings after leaving his coven), and the vast majority of Peter's comrades, once he meets up with them again, see humans as little more than their personal blood supply pumps. A similarly ambiguous evil lurks in the hearts of the renegade priests of Rome, however, as Mulkerrin pursues his goals with a lust for power, giving little more than lip service to the religion he practices and serves. Going further, there is one important character in the novel, Meaghan, whom I could never really like, especially as she bore an undue influence on the culminating events of the story. That ending, as I have alluded to, is rather disappointing to me, conjuring up images in my head of semi-ludicrous Japanese monster movie conclusions. The epilogue does nothing to help bring the novel to a close, either, as much of the information detailed in those pages strikes me as extreme, unnecessary overkill of very unlikely proportions.

In the final analysis, though, Of Saints and Shadows does offer a tellingly new version of the vampire's history and future, and Golden keeps one's interests held quite firmly in his grip up until the beginning of the end. One must hope for and expect a better construction of the vampiric landscape in the succeeding novels in The Shadow Saga, for there are many unanswered questions left at the end of this first novel in the series. Those with a preternatural fondness for vampires would almost certainly enjoy Golden's handiwork though, even if one feels - as I do - that his quest for originality in a tried and true genre leads him slightly too far outside the beaten path.

Peter Octavian is a vampire. But vampires are not what we humans have been told they are, at least not in Christopher Golden's fascinating tale of intrigue. Of Saints and Shadows is the first in a series of novels entitled the Shadow Saga. It is a dark, fast action, at times gory, but completely in a cool way, poli-religious vampire adventure. Whew! Say that ten times fast.

Peter was brought over to live among the vampires or `shadows' as they call themselves, the Roman Catholic church calls them The Defiant Ones and believes they must be stopped...at all costs. Therefore, the church has an ultra secret group of sorcerers/mystics/wizards for lack of a better word. It is these people's jobs to control the dark forces in the universe. Peter, over the years, has become enlightened about the boundaries and lies placed on his race and chooses to step up to the plate and engage in an all or nothing battle for survival.

This is a fantastic series. There is romance, conventional and not in Of Saints And Shadows. Meaghan Gallagher lost her best friend and lover in one night and become closely acquainted with Peter. Knowing the things she does, she must choose where she stands and how much of this altered reality she can stand.

I was thrilled to see such ingenuity in a vampire series. This is definitely a different take on things. Strong characters, compassionate. Mr. Golden does a fantastic job of hooking the reader and sucking the reader into his world.

I must admit, I have read Christopher Golden's works before, and this is most definetely one of the best. The descriptions and writing were grand. The characters had personality and feeling which one does not normally find in many writings. The gore and "sex" scenes were also great and descriptive > : ) Overall, this was an excellent book, and I cannot wait to go out and buy the other two! Great job Chris!

Golden offers a really good read and a unique brand of vampires that battle a secret sect of the Catholic Church bent on their destruction. Characters are vivid and real, and the storyline is exciting as it moves toward an impending, explosive climax.

Peter Octavian is a bit of a loner in the vampire world. Having left his blood father and coven, he lives on his own working as a detective. We quickly find out that Octavian has made some realizations about vampire nature and the myths about them... crosses don't harm him, and he has even learned to walk in daylight!

As grisly murders occur in his hometown, he is drawn into a mystery surrounding a powerful book stolen from a secret chamber of a Vatican library and an ominous secret society in the Church desperate to have it back. It may very well be the key to magic, sorcery, and the vampires themselves.

So exciting... I just started the second book, Angel Souls and Devil Hearts. Loving it, too!

Where to begin with out giving away the end?

Golden took a stab at the age old vampire tale, and took all of us along for the ride. Though there are times where it is a little too vivid and descriptive, it is enough to pull you into the world of the shadows and let you know you are not going any where any time soon.

Peter Octavian steps from the shadows and captivates the reader like watching Cooper in black and white. The ageless detective trying to do what is right while hiding one of the biggest secrets ever. As the story unfolds you want him to fall for her, but you don't want her to be pulled into the shadows with him.

Then there is the fight in Venice. with out saying too much, I will let you know this is the best fight sequence I have read.

In the end everything you though you learned from Bram Stokers is not all it seems. Though I have read several (hundred) books that tried to make you like the Vampire and hate the hunters, this is one of the few that hits it hard and does not let up.

You can do little but watch as the story unfolds in directions you know are coming, but cannot figure out how he will pull it off.

Excellent read, the series is top notch.

Of Saints and Shadows is a dark, gory novel of vampires, sex and blood. There's graphic violence, death, and orgies liberally scattered throughout the story. If the darkest of vampire novels draws you, you'll like this one. It's a bit too heavy on the violence/pornography for some people, but if that doesn't bother you, go ahead & read it. The action and suspense, drama and emotional tangles will appeal to all fans of dark fantasy. The characters are intriguing, and they fight a battle unnoticed by the majority of mankind.

I recommend this book highly to fans of vampires, hard action, and dark fantasy.

First, I loved this book. Actually I love the whole trilogy. I have never before read any book by author Christopher Golden. But I have read a lot of adult Vampire novels. Most were interesting enough. But, basicaly that old cliche applied to them,you know the one.. same thing different day. So, when I read this series I was very pleased. When I was younger, highschool age, maybe a little older, I read the Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith. And I fell in love with those books. The characters, the plot, everything about them. The books were written in such a way that I found myself wishing it were true!..:) I know it sounds crazy. But everyone who loves to read has come across a book or two that sparks those feelings in them. Well.. now in my late 20's, this series gives me the same feelings. I read 5-6 chapters at a time, and I find myself lost in the story and wishing it were true. I do have to admit that there are some parts of the story that I don't care for, such as the hard gore, and some of the sex scenes they describe. But hey, I feel that way about some of the things in the real world. This series really has the ability to pull you into the fantansy world of the story. So if you are looking for an adult vampire novel this is the series for you. Book 2 Angel souls and devil hearts. Book 3 of masques and martyrs. You should really check these three books out.

What if vampires weren't necessarily evil--they've only been brainwashed to think they are? And what if all their traditional weaknesses: sunlight, holy water, crosses, aren't actually weaknesses at all, but also the result of brainwashing? What if they're even more powerful than they realize, but the Church has used superstition to keep these Defiant Ones under control? That's the premise of Of Saints and Shadows, as it follows renegade vampire Peter Octavian on his search for the truth and his efforts to save his fellow vampires on the eve of the Blessed Event, when the Vatican's secret army intends to wipe out the Defiant Ones once and for all.

The good:
The premise. It's fresh and intriguing, and even applies to ordinary everyday life: question your assumptions.
The characters. They're varied, complex individuals. No cardboard cut-outs. I was particularly pleased with the character of Meaghan, who reacted the way I'd guess a lot of us readers of fantasy fiction might--with fascination after the initial shock and fear.
The writing style. It grabbed me from the first page and pulled me into the story in an instant. That doesn't often happen, so it's notable for me when it does.

The bad:
The climax. So much was happening that it verged on confusion, and several things were left unexplained.
The epilogue. While I did appreciate the tying up of loose ends, it didn't tie up everything, and a lot of the details in it were superfluous.

The verdict:
Excellent story. I highly recommend it. It feels like a complete story to me, and I'm not sure where the series could go that would be an improvement on the single book, but I can't resist finding out.