Customer Reviews

Wounds

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If Voice of the Blood was Jemiah Jefferson's Interview with the Vampire, then Wounds is most assuredly her Queen of the Dead. But where Voice of the Blood showed weaknesses typical of any first novel, Wounds showcases a writer who has matured, a writer confident in her talent and skills, unafraid to offend or shock.

Wounds picks up a few months after the conclusion of Voice, focusing on Daniel Blum, a supporting character from that novel. Nearly a century old, the vampire has never matured mentally or physically beyond his early twenties. Jaded, bored and depressed, Daniel spends most of his time seeking new distractions, a pastime which is becoming more futile by the day.

Such is his state of mind then when he encounters Sybil, an erotic dancer unique in that the vampire can neither penetrate her thoughts nor influence her actions. Entranced, Daniel begins a relentless and eventually successful romantic pursuit of the woman, who, although human, is far more vicious and perverse than he, exhorting Daniel to levels of violence excessive even by his standards. Such is Daniel's infatuation, however, that he consistently does her bidding, even when it endangers his life.

It was something of a surprise to pick up Wounds and discover that Jefferson had chosen to focus on Daniel, rather than Ariane, the heroine of Voice of the Blood. Arguably, Ariane's complex personality and personal conflicts would have provided more fictional fodder for the sequel. For instance, Jefferson could have leveraged Ariane's strained relationship with her vampire husband or her efforts to understand vampirism through scientific research to fashion her follow-up. But Jefferson forsakes the easy path--Ariane remains in the background here, together with Ricari, the vampire who also played a prominent role in Voice of the Blood. Their individual cameos, however, are quite effective.

Jefferson's focus on the relationship of these mismatched misfits allows her to explore some interesting terrain, such as the very human craving to be loved, and the ways in which love can be perverted. Daniel, an immortal monster, has become so desperate for intimacy that he literally bears his throat to the depraved megalomaniac Sybil. Jefferson so effectively chronicles Daniel's surrender of self that readers may grow angry with the character, wondering what could possibly make him so desperate. But it's this desperation that powers the novel, compelling readers to turn the next page and see just how bad it's going to get. This desperation is likely to polarize readers, dividing them into two groups, those that find the relationship ridiculous, and those that can't help watching in sick fascination as the book lumbers towards its stunning, but in hindsight inevitable, climax.

Shocking, intense, and sexually charged, Jefferson's sophomore effort is as commendable as it is twisted, a worthy effort that should win her an even larger readership. Although it could have been pared down a little, it's a first rate piece of writing, one which most devotees of vampire fiction should enjoy.

This book "Wounds" Is Outstanding! Jemiah's writing is still as refreshing and addictive as it ever was. If you enjoyed "Voice of the Blood" And have not yet read "Wounds" then I would highly advise checking it out. In this Book Jemiah, Yet again Brings to life your favorite characters from 'VOTB'In a Brand new City with a brand new story. It's a very well datailed novel that will be just as hard to put down as her other book. In this story Jemiah brings to life a new character "Sybil" She,Being the only Person who's mind Daniel Could not read, Becomes His new infatuation and ultimiatley his demise. I would HIGHLY recomend this novel to anyone with an open mind,who has the time to sit and read this book for a few hours.

After reading Wounds one has the urge to go into the street and see if there really are pale, glamorous, at times androgynous people wandering around whispering things and hidden desires into our minds... Jemiah Jefferson's book gives hope to those disillusioned by other tamer works. The book revolves around the twisted yet understandable relationship of Daniel...While favorites from the past book popup for guest appearances, Sybil, one of the truly most captivating characters I've ever read, leaps to the spotlight of the story. Scarred and extremely psychotic Sybil brings the inhuman side to humanity alive, a perfect compliment to Daniel's conflicting and struggling emotions. The engaging, sometimes shocking scenes add a layer of intensity and an overall chilling effect throughout. Along with rich descriptions, wonderful dialogue and fantastic narration Wounds is a joy to read not only for fans of Voice of the Blood or vampire stories but also for fans of well-written literature everywhere.

Jemiah outdoes 'Voice of the Blood' with 'Wounds.' In her second novel, we're treated to vampire Daniel Blum, who was sex and swagger in her first novel, but here his character is more fleshed out and more facets of his personality and emotions are explored. Daniel is a mastermind of getting into someone's head and detecting their thoughts, but when he meets former stripper Sybil, he cannot do that with her. I commend Jemiah for making Sybil a vampire's love interest who isn't your typical woman, but instead, tall and voluptuous, with a crazy sense of style. She's got many demons of her own, namely her relationship with her now-dead friend Sonic Ruth, and even though she claims to have murdered her, it's strictly from Sybil's dialogue, which makes it even more of a mystery. Daniel and Sybil utilize art as a means of shaking up the general masses and end up in a love-hate relationship where it's a constant power struggle, trying to see who could hurt each other more - and god, does it build up. Jemiah's prose is simultaneously lush and razor sharp, and just like 'Voice of the Blood', ...

I would like to see Voices of the Blood and Wounds bound together in one big fat hardback volume. Voices is just a warm-up for what happens in Wounds. Every time I thought I could outguess Jemiah, she got there first. Hmmm, I thought, vampire-human sex. What about vampire-vampire sex? Boom! Then what about vampire-vampire HATE? Boom again. And could you please give Daniel a dominatrix? I think he needs one. Oh, yes, thank you. Sybil is absolutely awful -- that's why I love her. At last, someone that Daniel can't manipulate. Really, don't we need more women like that? And I loved it that Jemiah combined terrorism and art in the same universe. Awful, nasty stuff. My nose is turning up even as I type. That's how I know what a good book this is. Anything less, and I would not have reacted so strongly. Jemiah called the shots all the way through, and bringing Ricari back in at the end was wonderful, especially since he did spook the unspookable Sybil. I think Jemiah had lots of great fun making fun of the too-cool-to-care subculture, including poor Daniel, moving his scented bedlinens into that nasty abandoned warehouse. And the image of the German orgy, with vampires nipping away at Nazi necks, was -- sadly -- too good to be true.

Jemiah Jefferson, Wounds (Leisure Books, 2002)

I was recommended Jefferson a number of years ago by no less a horror authority than Poppy Brite, though she did add the codicil that she'd heard Jefferson was one of the big new things in horror, rather than having firsthand experience. When I went looking, I found that her books were out of print, which seemed odd given that they'd been published so recently. Took me a while to hunt one down, and when I did, I discovered it was actually a sequel. I briefly considered the idea of waiting till I'd got my hands on the first. Then I realized I'd been trying to get one for four years and jettisoned that idea, digging in. It turned out to be... not what I had hoped (I kept putting it down to concentrate on other things, and as a result it took me a touch under five months to make it through the book), but in the end, it's not awful, it's just not great.

Wounds focuses on Daniel Blum, a supporting character in Voice of the Blood, and his relationship with Sibyl, a regular human who is seemingly immune to Daniel's vampire powers. The novel traces their relationship, the power struggles therein, the ways Daniel's friends react to Sibyl, etc. There are a couple of extended scenes thrown in that seem to be there for the sole purpose of appeasing Voice of the Blood fans (I'm inferring from some of the language that the characters in these scenes were central characters in that book, while Daniel was more minor). The whole thing builds to an unnecessary, gratuitous climax, but in this case let's remember that "gratuitous" sounds an awful lot like "gratifying." Especially given the three hundred-odd pages that have come before it.

One of the other reviews I scanned recently compared the book to eighties fiction, and when I read that, a lot of things about the novel that left me feeling restless clicked into place; this is very much an eighties novel along the lines of Tama Janowitz, Bret Easton Ellis, etc. I don't know why I didn't see that before. Now that I consider it from that angle, there are a whole host of parallels I want to draw to books like Glenn Savan's White Palace and Jay McInerney's Ransom, but Jefferson, at least in this book, is not the writer they are. (A few other reviews mentioned that Voice of the Blood is a much better-written book than this, so maybe she is and I just can't see it from Wounds.) That said, I'm actually tempted to up my review half a star now that someone's made that connection for me, because as an eighties-fiction novel, it makes so much more sense than it does as a horror novel (which it ain't). It wants to tread that line between horror and existential angst that Koja treads so well in Skin, and now that I think about it that's another parallel I should have caught before (and now my head is flying off into comparisons between Koja and eighties fiction, which never came to me before--and I've been a diehard Koja fan for two decades), but the ending art installation in Skin just works so much better than it does here. Not to say the ending art installation in Wounds is bad, it's actually the best part of the book. But I'm not sure it justifies the price of admission.

Worth picking up if you were a fan of midlist eighties fiction. Otherwise, you can probably skip it. ** ½

...you make a reader loathe someone. And I mean loathe and hate and want to climb into the book to kill the character. That is how I felt reading about Sybil. Criminy, why couldn't some stray character just cut her jugular at page 140? I'm not fond of the male lead vampire, Daniel, so Jefferson had me absolutely cheering (and I mean cheering) during Ariane and John's cameo appearances that (and I'll try not to give any spoilers here) had Daniel "in danger," but when the 100-year-old vamp survived their coordinated attack and went back to Sybil, I wanted to send Jefferson an e-mail asking if she was purposefully irritating readers just to get us to send hate-mail. The lazy stripper is lewd, disgusting, stinky, barbaric, and has a more perverse desire to kill than Daniel does. Jefferson has created a monster from a simple human without transforming her into an actual physical vampire. No, Sybil gets to be monstrous all in her own little mind...

While the book could have portrayed the struggle for acceptance and intimacy that Daniel goes through with his friends, with his employees, with his insane, sociopathic stripper girlfriend, etc., in fewer pages, it does portray this struggle completely. Despite my dislike for Daniel, I started to feel sorry for him. The words "pathetic loser" went through my mind more than once. And when a writer can make you feel that much animosity for a character, you know she's a good writer.

As with Voice of the Blood, this novel is not meant for younger readers. It clearly depicts sexual and violent acts in both shocking and passionate scenes. Readers already familiar with Daniel's delight in over-the-top mayhem will find it again in the male lead and his raunchy "love interest". Everything is, again, so well-written that little is left to the imagination. Blood splatters are easily seen and the scent of Sybil's sweat and uncleanliness will gag you more than once. It's amazing the way Jefferson can weave the words into your senses; I'm hoping to experience gentler characters in Fiend. But with a name like that...

From Sandy Lender, "Some days, I just want the dragon to win."

What a disappointment. This novel apparently couldn't care less about plot or character consistency. If you insist on buying this book, skip the entire Seattle episode because it has nothing to do with anything else. In fact, read the first two or three chapters and the last one and save an extraordinary amount of time (in others words, don't spend more than twenty minutes on it).

I didn't read the first novel and, sorry, I shouldn't have to. It's insulting to a reader to just throw in some characters from a previous novel for no reason other than to make it appear you're writing a grand multi-book epic. Three-quarters of the way through the novel, the point of view shifts to second person several times (that's so eighties)...

Jefferson has good writing skills. She needs to learn how to apply them to the novel form. This book reads like a first draft that never got revised. I stayed with it because it was on recommend and I kept thinking it would actually get better. Alas, no.

I did not read the first novel by this author, and don't think I will bother to. Maybe because I'm not a major Anne Rice fan, or maybe because I got bored way too many times.

Here you have an elegant vampire, one who loves fine wine, the best clothes, and 5 star hotels. And he is really willing to give all that up to be with a deranged, sociopathic, sadistic, homicidal, pathological lying teenager with a vocabulary like a sewer! And all this because he can't read her mind? Give me a break! Lestat would have done away with this broad on day one!

I can read a good book in 3 or 4 hours, undisturbed, if it is interesting. This one took me over a week because I would get so bored with the plot. I wanted to just scream at the 2 main characters "Get to the point already!".

Also, like another reviewer, I don't know how it actually ended, even though I read the last 4 pages several times. If there is a third book, I don't care to find out either.

I read "Interview With A Vampire" years ago, and greatly enjoyed it, but Daniel is definately no Lestat! But if you want to read a book where one of the main characters has about every mental disorder in the book, and a couple who takes disfunctional relationships to a whole new level, this book is for you!

I usually keep all my books, reading the good ones over and over. This one I will have NO problem giving to some poor unsuspecting reader...

I loved "Voice of the Blood" (1st of the set) and (#2) "Wounds" was equally good. I had originally bought these as vampire novels to give to my neice. I always read books before passing them along to her and I discovered way more sexual activity than her parents would approve of. However, I loved them for myself. They're well written, the vampires are in the modern world (which I like), and the author brings a fresh view to the vampire myth. I can't wait to read more.