Customer Reviews

Come Twilight (St. Germain)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As of Dec. 2000, this is the newest book in the series about the almost-immortal vampire St. Germain. 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 to have some ways to categorize these novels. Thus: BunRab's Standard Vampire Classification Guide. 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, and unusual wisdom, and is an "alchemist" but there are no other overt magic powers. In most of the series, he has an occupation of being an aristocrat, inasmuch as that was a full-time occupation through most of history; in some books he has another "job" as well. St. Germain does not usually literally drink blood; he feeds on emotions, usually during erotic experiences, but sex is nonetheless only a minor plot element, rare and very discreet. Drinking blood is a substitute for when he can't get the emotional nourishment he prefers. 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 (this book, however, is the exception). 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.

Come Twilight breaks somewhat from the pattern of the series by covering a span of several hundred years, from about 650 CE to 1117 CE (AD) in four leaps. The book is set in Spain, before it was Spain; the periods covered include the Visigothic (when many of the natives still worshipped older religions, and Catholicism had scarcely made a dent); the Moorish, which lasted for hundreds of years, and finally, the beginnings of the Catholic re-taking of Spain and the emergence of Spain as the beginning of a unified <i>pais</i>. Since the Moslem Moors are a much stronger power than the Catholics, they get to be the "bad guys" through much of the book. Yarbro's distaste for the Roman Catholic church in some of the series is more accurately a distaste for religions with too much worldly power and corruption. In this period, Islam was more powerful, and more corrupt, than Christianity, so it gets more criticism. (The Jews, always something of a wild card in history, play a small but significant role in this book.) Other reviews will tell you about the plot; let me point out the strong themes that Yarbro brings out here that have not been as prominent as in earlier books: the uses of actual blood; the part emotional nourishment plays in the development of any whole person, alive or undead, and the horrible effects of a lack of emotional bonds - you may compare this to some of the studies of children or monkeys deprived of emotional and physical contact with their mothers, and how stunted they are as adults. And a strong ecological message, where the deforestation of early Spain in order to build pieces of technology (ships, in this case) and to graze food animals, may serve as a warning for what is happening now in South America and other fading forest areas. Pardon the pun, but: this book provides much food for thought!

Early in the seventh century, a religious upheaval in his part of Hispania compels Sanct' Germain (Saint-Germain), accompanied by his loyal servant Rogerian, to flee to the nearby mountains. The nasty wintry weather forces the two undead to take shelter in Mont Calcius, a village with one occupant. Apparently, the villagers abandoned their homes leaving behind a pregnant Csimenae. Feeling sorry for the young woman, Sanct' Germain helps her give birth to a son. When a boar fatally injures Csimenae, he ignores his instincts and ironically saves her life by converting her into a vampire.

Over the ensuing centuries, Sanct' Germain learns one of history's more painful lessons that no good deed goes unpunished. Defying all of Sanct' Germain's warnings on survival, Csimenae becomes a mother to a vampire horde that heeds her every word as if she were a goddess. Realizing the danger to his kind, Sanct' Germain knows he must stop Csimenae before she exposes the existence of vampires to the fundamentally religious right and the supernaturally fearful masses.

COME TWILIGHT, the latest Germain tale, is quite insightful when it provides a rapid but scintillating look at Spain between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Sanct' Germain retains his charm when he enables the audience to focus on the upheavals in Spain. Csimenae is a spry character who enhances Sanct' Germain's personality during their mentor-student relationship. However, when conflict enters the story line, the tale seems to lose some of its momentum. Sanct' Germain fans will bite into this well written novel in one sitting, but other readers will believe that long running vampire series seem to need some blood donations.

Harriet Klausner

Thinking about what makes a good book, one that qualifies for inclusion in what to take to the desert isle, but isn't pap, and doesn't get boring on a re-read, leads me to Yarbro's work. St. Germain is sometimes a hero, and sometimes an anti-hero, but here he reveals a really human side. He makes a mistake, in the name of compassion and loneliness. He makes Csismenae. And, in the modern world, she could very well be engineering the next hostile take over. She's headstrong, immediately independent of him, and makes all the mistakes a young person (mortal or immortal) makes, but thinks, because of her position and her immortality, that she will always do the right thing. I see a lot of myself in her; not always a comfortable thought.

The beauty of any of Yarbo's work is her commitment to research and history. Come Twilight is historical fiction. And it's not an "easy" read, in the sense that you put it down, say "gee, that was great", and walk away from it unchanged. Come Twilight is disturbing. It will make you think about the nature of humanity, the evolution of culture, and the ways in which the non-human (or better put, formerly human) vampires show more compassion, (and sometimes less) than their human counterparts, but, while they cast no reflection, truly reflect their times and their cultures.

They also reflect the ability of humanity to learn from experience, and to grow, and they reflect the refusal of some of us to do that.

Recommended highly by this anthropologist!

I enjoyed the fact that novel spanned several centuries, although in some ways I wish it had been split into two or three novels. I still want the details on how Saint-Germain ended up as a slave, and then had half the Islamic army after him.

Csimenae was an interesting character, very much an anti-hero to Saint-Germain's "hero". I also thought it was interesting that the prohibitions against leaving native earth and enduring sunlight were much worse for her get.

As far as Saint-Germain's decision in making her? We've all got to have a few truly spectacular screw-ups. Most of us just don't have our mistakes haunt us for centuries.

Even though the protagonist of this, Yarbro's latest in her Chronicles of Count Saint-Germain, is indeed a vampire and, like all of its companion titles, contains a pleasantly horrific tale of the undead, this work, again like its siblings, is much more. Ms. Yarbro's greatest skill, among considerable others, is her ability to accurately and believably set her bloodsuckers against richly and lavishly wrought historical settings. This one takes place in northern Spain near the French border and ranges in time from 7th to 12th centuries. The research is meticulous and superbly displayed. Of course, her characters, particularly the astounding and ancient Count himself, his servant-companion, and the deliciously vile female vampire he creates are vividly portrayed against the often bleak milieu. Yarbro is too often decried as a pale Anne Rice knockoff. This and her other works simply put the lie to any such criticism. Great vampire stories, most definitely; but finer historical fiction just is not being written.

If, like me, you've read all of the St. Germain Chronicles, you will want to read Come Twilight, but if you're just starting to read Yarbro's vampire books, I don't recommend you start with this one. Since the St. Germain books range through time from ancient Egypt to the outbreak of World War II, it is understandable that Yarbro has some difficulty in creating narrative tension concerning St.Germain, when she writes about his life during an earlier period of history. Nevertheless, there is less narrative tension here than in many of the books in the series. It is true, as mentioned in the review printed with this book, that Yarbro does not ascribe to historical persons 21st century attitudes. It is also true that this can be a weakness, as well as a strength, in her work. It can become tiresome to read about female characters with no scope for change in their lives, or people, such as Csimenae (the female vampire character in this book), who are incapable of learning or experiencing emotional growth and intellectual change. Even St. Germain and his relationship with Roger can
sometimes become just so much rote behavioral habit. Come Twilight made me long for the passion and fire and narrative drive of the earlier books in the series, such as Roman Blood, Path of the Eclipse, and Tempting Fate.

Since we know that St. Germain will survive into the 20th century, the narrative drive has to come largely through the supporting characters in the novels. The supporting characters in this particular novel, however, were just not sufficiently compelling to make me care about their survival.

I found this newest edition of the Saint Germain series ALL that is great from Ms. Yarbro. She makes me feel that I'm "THERE" in the time & places she is writting about. I enjoyed my latest visit with the Count & Roger. The history covered was exceptional. I am a FAN, & couldn't put this book down! I found it sad, scary & a wee bit sexy, certainly glad I live in these "enlighten" times. Blessed be, L

Or fourteenth, if you count "Out of the House of Life", a spinoff novel primarily about the character of Madeline de Montalia, a vampiric "childe" of Saint Germain, but also including some flashback scenes featuring an early Saint Germain.

Or seventeenth, if you also include "A Flame In Byzantium", "Crusader's Torch", and "A Candle For d'Artagnan", a spinoff series about Olivia Atta Clemens, an earlier offspring.

Throughout the series, the best part of these novels is the character of the count Saint-Germain himself; he is an unmitigated hero, not the anti-hero that one usually sees in vampire novels, and that's a fascinating change of pace. He always explains that he wasn't always the urbane, elegant, even-tempered, kind and sensitive individual that he is now; four thousand years ago, when he became a vampire, he was a typical ravening beast, but he outgrew it. This is a marvellous and original perspective on vampirism, and a delightfully optimistic outlook on humanity: that given sufficient time, ANYBODY can grow up, even a bloodthirsty creature of the night.

As a result, what we have in this series is a series of historical novels, set at various points along the very long time-line of Saint Germain's life. We generally see very little of other vampires, other than occasionally seeing those who Saint Germain has made vampires in previous books. (Generally, we see even these only in their correspondence with Saint Germain; I cannot remember any book in which we see more of them than this except for "Tempting Fate", in which we see quite a bit of Madeline de Montalia, and one short story in the collection "The Chronicles of Saint Germain", in which we see the count in conflict with a more traditionally minded vampire.) This book is the exception to that rule, as well as the rule that each book covers a "point" on his time-line. This book is told in three sections, each a separate point of its own: one in the seventh century, one in the eighth, and one in the twelfth. This divergence from form is necessary in order to show the fact that interactions between vampires are by necessity very long-term things. The main conflict in this book is between Saint Germain and a woman who he makes into a vampire early in the book, and who refuses to accept him as a mentor on how to manage her new life and the powers that go with it.

This was an interesting change of pace, but resulted in a novel that was long on sub-plots, but had less primary plot than it might have. In addition, it made it difficult to see Saint Germain interacting with mortals as one normally would, because by definition, none of the mortals survived more than a third of the book. We did see interations, but there wasn't time to develop them as there normally would be, and that left them feeling rushed. Still, the loss of that aspect of the books was easily compensated for by the novelty of seeing other vampires, vampires who acted as vampires are expected to, for a change.

Not one of the best in the series, but far from the worst.

This series is terrific. I read some of them a while ago, and am re-reading them now (and now there are even more in the series, so there's no danger of running out any time soon!)

There's some moral preaching, and the series does tend to be repetitive; the people follow trends. [...]

(Ok, I'm off my soapbox now.)

That said, that's my only beef with it. The writing is lovely, the letters to and from the characters and the notes describing what happened to the letters - weather they made it or not - are wonderful. The history comes to life and seems like a place just around the corner; you can see the mountains, touch the trees. You feel the differnt colors of the story.

This book represents a break from the series' tradition of plot: St Germain sets himself up in a place, meets people, gets himself a few friends and a few enemies, meets a lovely woman and sometimes an icky woman, gets into trouble and has to leave under bad circumstances. In this case, he makes a vampire out of a woman... and ooooh boy was that a mistake. It's sort of three related novelettes, taking place over some time. It isn't resolved completely at the end, thus the title of this review: I smell a sequel....

I actually like this book all the more for it's breaking from the traditional plot of her others. It's nice to know that while history may repeat itself, Chelsea Quin Yarbro doesn't have to.

This one is different in several respects. Unfortunately, as usual, the story gets slowed down by the endless letters. Scan those and go back to read them later if you must. Without these interruptions, this newest Count book has some surprises and gives our beloved vampire the unusual opportunity to be himself in the company of other creatures of the night. Mostly, Yarbro's die-hard fans will be thrilled at this presentation of the Count using all his powers to combat the evil he inadverdently instigated.