Traveling with the Dead [Mass Market Paperback]

Barbara Hambly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 1996

Down through the deathless centuries, the vampires had drunk human blood for sustenance and for sport. They preyed where they willed, for no mortal humans could resist their unclean powers. But now came the ultimate perversion, the unthinkable: someone was conscripting the vampires into the secret services of a foreign power.

No government agency or bureaucrat could control the Undead. The idea was absurd, as Dr. James Asher knew all too well.

Years in His Majesty's service had taught Asher the finer points of espionage. And he knew the secrets of the vampires--a familiarity hard-won in unwilling service to Don Simon Ysidro, oldest and most subtle of the hunters of the London night. What Asher didn't know was why one of England's established vampires would risk everything to travel across the European continent at the behest of a ruthless spymaster.

But he could see the terrifying potential of such an unholy alliance...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The vampire subculture of 19th-century Europe serves as a vehicle for ruminations on love and honor in Hambly's follow-up to Those Who Hunt the Night. The time is 1908, and biologist Lydia Asher is hot on the trail of her husband, James, a former spy and Oxford don who in turn is shadowing Charles Farren, the vampire Earl of Ernchester, and Farren's mortal traveling companion, the nefarious mercenary Ignace Karolyi. Lydia's pursuit of James parallels a similar trek made by Farren's wife, Anthea, who travels in James's company and is as passionately concerned about Farren's welfare as Lydia is about James's. International adventures take these characters from London to Vienna and ultimately to Constantinople, where they become enmeshed in the byzantine political power struggle that has lured Farren there against his will. Although Hambly invests these vampire and mortal personages with the traditional values being threatened by an evolving modern Europe, her vivid portraits allow them to emerge as memorable personalities distinct from the viewpoints they represent. Believable and sympathetic, pursuer and pursued carry the story over its occasional plot muddles and gothic contrivances to a spectacular finale. Hambly covers no ground that hasn't been explored in the historical vampire sagas of Anne Rice and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, but once again she uses familiar elements skillfully to tell an engrossing tale. 50,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA?Vampire fans looking for a fast-moving, well-plotted tale need look no further. Soon after his cousin's death, James Asher catches a glimpse of Ignace Karolyi quietly exchanging newspapers with an almost-ordinary looking figure. Years in the secret service make Asher aware of what average citizens might miss?Karolyi is in the company of a vampire, and they are headed for Paris. Asher follows them. When his wife receives the message of his whereabouts, she entreats an acquaintance vampire to assist her in tracking her husband, knowing that his life is in danger. Details of Europe at the turn of the century, including politics, manners of the wealthy, and vampire lore, are woven seamlessly into this tale. Well-developed characters, both mortal and immortal, span the range of human behavior. Some are mainly noble; some are definitely nasty. Good entertainment for teens ready to move on to literate, light adult fiction.?Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (September 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345407407
• ISBN-13: 978-0345407405
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,328,775 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Explorations in the nature of Love..., June 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Traveling with the Dead (Mass Market Paperback)

If the connecting thread in the previous "Those Who Hunt the Night" was the bond of friendship that can develop between extremely different people, then the underlying pattern in this sequel is the spirit of love that grows between hearts and souls. The story starts swiftly with James Asher (Oxford don and former British Intelligence agent) spotting a dangerous spymaster meeting with a known London vampire, Lord Charles, in a railway station. Immediately he's on their trail (with Anthea, the 200 year old vampire wife of the "traitor" vampire) to Paris, Vienna and onto Constantinople to prevent a disastrous alliance. Lydia, refusing to remain in London, courageously contacts the ancient vampire Don Simon Ysidro and forms an uneasy partnership with him as they, and a hastily acquired former governess, travel the same route. The story is convoluted and exciting as James narrowly escapes death by fire or vampires until he is captured by the "Deathless Lord" Master Vampire of Constantinople. Even imprisoned in the lair of the "Deathless Lord," James manages to investigate the dark reasons behind Charles' summoning to Constantinople, the power struggle between new vampires and old, and his adversary's manipulations. The draw of the story, however, is the emotional love between different characters: the unselfish/courageous love of Anthea for Charles (and James' admiration for Anthea) which drove her to choose the vampire life to remain with her husband, and then to leave the relative safety of London to follow him on his dangerous trip to Constantinople. The selfish love of the "Deathless Lord" is at the center of the mystery. Margaret's shallow, vampire-induced infatuation is ultimately selfish and hollow (on both her and Ysidro's part.) The impossible and unwanted web of love that weaves between Lydia and Ysidro is unbelievable yet undeniable to either of them. Even as Ysidro grows more vampire/alien in appearance (from a self-imposed "fast" for Lydia's sake)--their bond of reliance, protection, and a willingness to love what is impossible leads to a final heart-rending unselfish sacrifice for love.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dark temptations, December 14, 2000

By 

Christina Dunigan (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveling with the Dead (Mass Market Paperback)

I picked up Barbara Hambly's vampire novels in a fit of boredom, and was unable to put them down. They are dark and rich as a Black Forest cake. The characters, human and inhuman, are enticingly complex and fascinating.

Once again, professor and ex-spy James Asher and his obsessively scholarly bride are swept into the intrigues of the vampires. Dark secrets unfold as Asher tracks the ruthless agent Karolyi and the world-weary vampire Earl of Ernchester -- not realizing that his wife has enlisted the aid of the oldest and most dangerous of the London vampires to rescue him from the trap into which he is stumbling unaware.

Alliances shift among the living and the dead, and through this tangle Lydia Asher and her inhuman companion must weave their way and find their peace. And as James draws closer to the secret of the Deathless Lord, he finds his only way out is through the deadliest path of all.

Try, if you can, to read each novel in one sitting -- alone.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Old favourite, June 27, 2002

By 

kallan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveling with the Dead (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of my "junk reads", the old favourites I pull out to read one more time when I've run out of everything new.
James Asher is a former spy who has retired into the sedate life of an Oxford don, but finds the habits of his old life hard to break. When he spots the vampire Earl of Ernchester in company with Ignace Karolyi, a man Asher knows full well is a spy for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his sense of responsibility leads him to chase them across Europe. For Asher knows only too well the power of vampires, and the thought of them in the service of any intelligence service is just too horrible to contemplate. Asher leaves a message with Lydia, his young doctor wife, telling her where to seek news of him in Vienna - but Lydia, following up a remembered reference in a medical journal, realises that her husband is going to seek help of a double agent. And so she sets off after her husband. She is joined in Paris by the vampire Don Simon Ysidro, to whom she had appealed for help, and Margaret Potton, a foolish ex-governess whom Ysidro has beguiled into loving him in order to have a suitable chaperone for Lydia - Ysidro being an Spanish lord of the Tudor era who is very concerned with appearances. Eventually, all roads lead to Istanbul, and we learn the reasons behind Ernchester's involvement with Karolyi, and what is really at stake in the worlds of vampires and Europe of the early twentieth century.
This is a lush book, full of description. I can't speak for the accuracy of the period detail, and I do think Hambly overdoes it sometimes, but the book is certainly atmospheric. The pace lags somewhat after it leaves Vienna, and the goings-on amongst the vampires of Istanbul were rather hollow. I did find it a pity that the resolution of the Ernchester storyline came with such a let-down, followed by bloody melodrama.
However, the characters are really what makes this story worth reading. Even those who appear only briefly are very well drawn; for example, Halliwell, the spy posted in Vienna, and the British ambassador's wife in Istanbul. There are also personal journeys for each of the three main characters: Asher, Lydia, and Ysidro. Asher finds himself caught up in a life he wanted to leave behind, recalling the terrible choices he made that led to him abandon his spying career. He has changed, but that makes the task ahead of him harder still. Lydia finds herself drawn to Ysidro, repellent though she finds his vampiric nature; and Ysidro is drawn to Lydia, despite knowing how she feels about him. The real end of this book only comes with the resolution of the situation between Ysidro, Lydia, and the jealous Margaret. Ysidro makes a hard choice that Asher applauds, recognising what Ysidro has done and why - because he once did the same thing himself. It is a moving end to the book.