Customer Reviews

The Salem Branch (Dark Shadows)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A great read from Angelique herself. Lara Parker is becoming a stronger novelist in this her second novel. While at times her pacing and chronology seem a tad awkward and clunky, her prose is vivid, alive with all the passion and eroticism you'd expect from the woman who played Angelique in her various incarnations. The use of the early '70s Love Children is so fun and so right for this milieu. Barnabas the Human is still as charming; in fact, moreso as he struggles to deal with human limitations. The maturing of David Collins is also handled with sensitivity and humor, minding all that he's been through at so young an age. It's just a delight to encounter all these beloved characters again. This book could serve as an introduction to the world of DS including the DVD collections of the shows, all the Marilyn Ross novels, the comics, Lara Parker's first novel, ANGELIQUE'S DESCENT, and Rainey and Massie's DREAMS OF THE DARK. Fans of course, already know all that and this will just be a new pleasure.

Barnabas dropping acid and getting high from pot laden brownies, come on! I am a hugh DS fan but this was just too off character for me.

For it's time, the daytime gothic soap "Dark Shadows" was quite a phenomenon, spawning comic books, comic strips, spin-off movies, joke books, and over thirty original paperback novels by Marilyn (W. E. D.) Ross...and, later, a prime-time series, web sites, retrospective memoirs, and even more original novels. It wasn't above lifting storylines from Stoker, Shelley, Lovecraft, Poe, Henry James, and Oscar Wilde; and it wasn't above using time travel, parallel realities, flashbacks, flashback-within-flashbacks, actors that played multiple characters, and extended dream/hallucinationary fugue states. Keep your flow charts nearby. "Dark Shadows" however mostly dealt with the trials and tribulations of vampire Barnabas Collins as he protected his ancestral home and family.

Lara Parker played multiple characters on "Dark Shadows"; her most famous being Angelique, and has written several "Dark Shadows" novels with "The Salem Branch" being a direct sequel to "Angelique's Descent" I think. Here, Barnabas is taking treatments to cure his vampirism (which was caused by a curse from Angelique)from long time character and doctor, Julia, and it is this transition that is causing him problems.

His rocky road acquires more bumps in a typical "Dark Shadows" manner when a woman who seems to be Angelique but is now called Antoinette moves into the Old House and begins to restore the burned out husk. Soon, a new vampire is loose, a band of cultish hippies are camping out in a nearby woods; and a there's a deadman that won't stay dead. So while Barnabas tries to protect the Collins family; find out who the new killer is, and what Antoinette/Angelique is up to, he ends up time traveling, getting high (!), and having to unravel the mystery behind Jacqueline, who may or may not be an even older witch than Angelique.

The problem is that most of these plotlines are never really developed to their needed extent, we flit from one to the other; Antoinette is never really developed--seeming to wander in and out of the novel providing angst for Barnabas--and while the rest of the "Dark Shadows" cast makes cameos, nothing is ever really done with any of them, excepting David, and to some extent, Julia; and the ending will certainly bring many fans up short.

On the positive, Barnabas is well delineated, and about half of "The Salem Branch" takes place in 1692 Salem (as two parallel stories are woven together) and it is here that Parker really shines. The 17th century scenes, concerning the trial, persecution, and execution of a witch, could have been a novel on their own, as this storyline seems to inspire Parker the most, allowing Parker to make some contemporary social commentary.

This is not an extreme or graphic horror novel, it's a mild paranormal romance with a sixties flavor with even the vampirism seemingly more of a sub-plot than anything else. And, yes, this novel has some inconsistancies with the old tv series, and yes it is cluttered with too many unneeded characters from the tv series, but...if you are a "Dark Shadows" fan, this fan fiction novel is for you, and you will probably raise the rating a star or two. If you're not a "Dark Shadows" fan however, "The Salem Branch" will be of no interest.

An earlier and slightly different version on this review appeared in "Cemetery Dance" #59. Thanx Bob.

While I am a huge Dark Shadows (both old and revival) and Lara Parker fan I had a tough time getting through this novel. Her writing style is often poetic and splendid (no denying her vast talent), but for someone who lived the show I found the portrayal of Barnabas and the other denizens of Collinsport markedly skewed. The entire plotline seemed weak compared to some of the excellent arcs on the show and her previous DS novel. A big diappointment for me. But taste is subjective, so other DS fans may enjoy it more.

The Salem Branch is the second novel in Lara Parker's Dark Shadows series and is a direct sequel to her 1998 novel Angelique's Descent and takes places roughly six months after the former ended. The re-construction of the old house which had previously burned down and the land sold to Antoinette Harpignies, who bears more than a resemblance to Angelique, is nearly completed.

Barnabus is both shocked and amazed at the accuracy of the reconstruction of the old house and become suspicious of Antoinette and her motivations. Weakened by the cure which Dr. Julia Hoffman continues to administer in hopes of ridding him of his vampirism, Barnabus fears that Antoinette is the reincarnation of Angelique and has come to destroy not only him but his family as well.

Making matters worse, Barnabus learns that in his absence another vampire has entered his domain and is making a play for control of Collinsport. Out of a sense of nobility, or guilt, Barnabus puts his own life in danger to protect his extended family members whom has grown to love, as well as a group of hippies which Antoinette has allowed to set up camp in the woods on her property.

Like the previous novel, The Salem Branch moves back and forth between the present (1971) and the distant past of the 17th century (circa 1692). The second story involves the fate of Miranda Duval, a woman living in Salem Massachusetts during the time of the Salem Witch Hunts. It is revealed that Miranda was born with special gifts and had been kidnapped by Indians during a raid of her village when she was very young, resulting in the death of her parents. Living among the natives, Miranda's gifts were allowed to blossom and flourish...until she was rescued and brought back to Salem village. Here she became an indentured servant to a branch of the Collins family where she must hide her gifts or be branded a witch.

In The Salem Branch, Lara Parker shows that she has definitely grown as a writer since her first novel and has a talent for turning of phrases which are at times very poetic. She does an excellent job of faithfully portraying the characters we know from the Dark Shadows series without making them seem stale and two dimensional. Whereas some readers criticize Barnabus' drug use in this novel, they fail to point out that both times this occurs he was naively tricked into ingesting them. The scenes describing the fear and ignorance of the Salem Witch trials were fairly accurate in my opinion.

As stated before, the story moves back and forth between the 17th and the 19th centuries and I often found myself wondering when the two storylines would intersect. When the connection between the past and the present finally presented itself, it seemed rather confusing as well as when the identity of the vampire was revealed.

I felt that the ending needed to be cleaned up a bit to sort out the events which transpired and the motivations of the people involved. There were also a few plot points that went unexplained, such as who stole Quentin's painting and why? Is Antoinette, whose surname is the same as that of Angelique's mother, a descendent of Angelique or her reincarnation?

All in all, I The Salem Branch was a pleasant read despite a few rather confusing points and I would recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the show and who felt the urge to re-visit these characters one more time.

Barnabas Collins was THE vampire of the late 1960s to early 1970s & he is still my favorite. I'm glad to see that Lara Parker is keeping him "alive".

The latest installment of the Dark Shadows saga tells how Barnabas Collins, the vampire hero of the series, becomes a Human and falls in Love with a mysterious woman that looks just like Angelique, the woman who made him a vampire many years ago.

A Funny fact is that Lara Parker, the Author, played the role of Angelique on Dark Shadows original TV show.

A must read if you like vampire stories, and of course if you are a fan of Dark Shadows.

I really liked this story and, if you are a DS fan, you probably will too.
This is the first DS novel I've ever read. I was a kid when the show ran originally and I can remember watching it with my Grandmother.
As a kid, I never really noticed the sometimes mature nature of the program, I was interested in catching a glimpse of Barnabas, the vampire.

Obviously a lot of thought went into this story. The whole thing is completely unpredictable. There is a scene involving a beaver's den (of all things) which is really intense.
For me, anyway, the novel captures the flavor of the original soap opera.
I usually judge a book by whether or not I would be inclined to re read it and this one is definitely a future re read!


I picked my copy up at Lara Parker's website and it was well worth the effort.

:)

Art revision quirks aside, this book is not so much a novelty read as it is a reason to celebrate and extend the cultural timelessness of classic television. And so it can't help but leave its Dark Shadows fan base yearning for more. When your main cast tends to be immortal, storyline conflict is forever and the end is but an anti-climactic new beginning.

For those who forget the grist behind The Salem Branch in Lara Parker's DS witch Angelique, it was a career defining role deeply played to the hilt. You could see it in her big blue eyes dilated by scene stealing emotion with which she made TV viewers believe a beautiful sexy woman could be a witch and do romantic evil all in the name of love or lust.

As a novelist in this her second DS companion effort, she builds on a gothic eroticism only hinted at in the horror soap. Her literary talents are not realized too late in life for self reinvention, for she exhibits a knack for the sensually ethereal that not only extends the DS legend, but makes her still relevant as a TV icon and gives her pen shelf life.

The concept of a Barnabas tricked into humanity is the flip side of what drew fans to the show, the irony of a immortality of evil as pitted against finite goodness. But it works here because Collins as a human is finally forced to choose one eternal love instead of traveling through parallel time as a monsterous womanizer who shuns a witch's devotion.

In this updated continuation, he's wooed by a modern Angelique lookalike who may be a vampiress so that the old unrequieted love tables are turned anew. All at once the intertwined web she weaves is a Dickensian horror fest with twists and turns that easily do serial literary justice to original DS love angles, fly by night, tri by flight and/or otherwise.

In fits and starts, Parker's prose reads like a mistress of romantic conflict in the league of a harder edged Danielle Steel. In it she makes over the consequences of misplaced or doomed love that was a DS plot device staple in the first place. As indeed, love missed, lost or never realized is often the most idealized in stage, screen, drama or real life.

If Parker succeeds as a post DS novelist it is because she accepted a role in a show that has stood the test of time, never jumped the shark and captured the imagination of generations of fans without ever finding a gap. Her passion for writing is a testament to the power of a program that shall go down in history as the greatest soap opera of all time.

Be that as it may, for her talent to spread its wings she doesn't have to rely on the DS legacy, since her best writing lies in a certain fictional short story which reads like an autobio exerpt if you notice her career credits. So there can be no denying this charismatic actress turned novelist. And perhaps her best branching out is still yet to come.

Very interesting account of Miranda/Angelique and how it all started. A must read for all true Dark Shadows Fans!