The Time of Feasting [Hardcover]

Mick Farren (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1996

A colony of vampires lives unrevealed in New York City. But now the Time of Feasting is at hand, when they must make the warm kill and drink living blood. Renquist, the centuries-old colony Master is beset from within by the young ones who, contemptuous of humanity, are tired of living in hiding, and from without by a drunken ex-priest and a tenacious city cop, who are beginning to suspect the truth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If Don Corleone and his Family sported fangs they'd fit right into this tale of a New York-based vampire clan whose members are embattled by both outside authorities and one another. For centuries, Victor Renquist has instructed his nosferatu in the discreet art of living inconspicuously among humans and of camouflaging their intervals of Feasting as the handiwork of serial killers or the atrocities of war. In the brood's current Lower East Side enclave, known as the Residence, Renquist's authority is challenged by brash Kurt Carfax, spokesman for the young generation of vampires, whose reckless impatience with the patriarch's cautious tactics has drawn the attention of both the police and Gideon Kelly, a defrocked priest who recognizes the clan as a force for evil. Farren invests his undead with pulsating life, endowing them with primal energies and volatile emotions that can overwhelm the civilized personas they cultivate. His mortals, by contrast, are lifeless and underdeveloped: his cops are predictably inflexible nonbelievers in the supernatural, and Kelly is a cliche who sees his one-man fight against evil as his only hope for personal redemption. Wisely, Farren limits their roles to serving as catalysts for pyrotechnical scenes of vampire death and destruction. The result is an uncommonly brisk dark fantasy that cannily exploits both our tolerance of alternative lifestyles and our anxieties about the folks next door.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Farren's (Back from Hell, Tor, 1993) creations live somewhere between Stoker's Dracula, where everything from garlic to crosses deters vampires, and Rice's vampires, where only sunlight kills them. Nosferatu, the politically correct terminology for vampires, are not satanic in the manner of Dracula, and not as sophisticated as Lestat. Renquist, a 1000-year-old nosferatus, is the new leader of a New York City-based vampire colony. Every seven years, during the time of feasting, nosferatu go on feeding frenzies. In the meantime, the colony survives on stolen hospital blood and the occasional discreet kill. Carfax, the youngest member, shuns tradition and, like a juvenile delinquent, goes on a killing binge that endangers the entire colony. A fallen priest, Kelly, discovers their lair and true nature. He is joined by a police officer, McGuire, as well as a group of Voodoo practitioners. Meanwhile, Renquist races to stop Carfax. A thoroughly enjoyable macabre thriller; recommended for most public libraries.?Georgia Panos, Johnson Cty. Lib. System, Kan.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (October 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031286213X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312862138
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,620,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great tale of modern urban vampires, June 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Myles Griffin) (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Time of Feasting (Hardcover)

'The Time of Feasting' by Mick Ferran was a great vampire novel that did not use the same elements of many other vampire novels. For one thing, it took place in the center of a modern urban city, wheras many (I'm not saying all) take place a few centries ago in some little village. I'm not critisizing the ones that do, though. Ferran included historical background in the novel, which gave it a fantastic effect. The detail and imagery that he used was great. Feran created terrific characters and and plot, and wrote it so well, you didn't want to stop. He kept in mind that the story took place in the city, but gave some of the older characters that same century old feel. All of this and more, and still managed to make this urban vampire tale have a semi-gothic feel. Excellent read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a great vampire read? Keep looking., January 31, 2001

By 

Nathan Sims (Silver Spring, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Time of Feasting (Mass Market Paperback)

It is obvious that Farren's work in the film/television industry greatly aided him in creating a plot that was fast-paced and full of action, as well as crisis. The need to feed after a seven-year fast; as well as a upstart vying for the control of a coven of vampires from its thousand-year-old master; as well as two female nosferatu wishing to "bond" with said master--all these events do push the characters toward action. In the midst of this, a defrocked-priest running around with stakes, trying to kill the members of the coven does attest that Farren definitely knows how to turn up the heat on an experience.

Unfortunately, that's about all the book offers. Characters are left flat and underdeveloped (once again like most pulp film and television today). We come away not really knowing whom we should root for or whom we should boo--or even really caring. Unfortunately, Farren missed the basic rule of fiction (in whatever genre or medium): we must care about the characters before we get involved in the plot.

The other true weakness in the book was the u.f.o. origin of vampire on earth. It gives a completely absurd take on what continues to be one of our most interesting and long-lasting folk tales. In the midst of attempting to create a mood of sensuality, history and class, Farren gave the book an Ed Wood twist that doesn't aid it at all, but kept me groaning and rolling my eyes each time it was mentioned.

So, if you're looking for great vampire reading, keep looking. If you need a book to fill some empty days or nights, it's worth that much--if you can get past all the typo's, editorial mistakes and missing words riddled throughout the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sorry, September 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Time of Feasting (Mass Market Paperback)

While I read the book, and honestly tried to enjoy it, I found the story to be poorly written and full of cliches. It wasn't the fresh, new look at vampire fiction I'd been lead to believe it was.