Writ In Blood: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain [Paperback]

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1998

Ambitious in its scope and provocative in its content, the saga of the undying Count Saint-Germain is a monumental feat of the imagination.

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's novels have powerfully captured Saint-Germain throughout his long existence, from the temples of Ancient Egypt to our present century.

Now, on the verge of the First World War, Saint-Germain accepts a top-secret assignment from Czar Nicholas of Russia to deliver one last proposal for peace to the crowned heads of Europe. But powerful men plot against Saint-Germain--and may use his love for a talented young artist against him.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This is Yarbro's eighth novel centering on her vampire, Count Ragoczy Saint-Germain (see, for instance, Charity, Colorado, LJ 2/15/94). He has been in many places throughout his long unlife and has usually held an influential station owing to his terrific wealth, intelligence, and diplomatic skills. The setting for this book is Europe between the years 1910 and 1912. War seems imminent, but Russian Czar Nicholas II has a plan that could bring peace. He asks Saint-Germain to visit his uncle Edward VII of Great Britain and his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany to propose an agreement that would reduce arms production. Saint-Germain agrees. Although he knows success is unlikely, he has always worked for the cause of peace. He is, after all, a vampire with a conscience. Much is happening on the European stage at this time, and Yarbro does a credible job of making sense of the often Byzantine intrigues. Recommended for public libraries.?Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The vampire Count Saint-Germain undoubtedly founded his creator's fortunes, and Yarbro is now an expert at giving the count's fans what they expect. By no means, however, is she writing the same book again and again. In this one, set in 1912, Saint-Germain is on an ultrasecret diplomatic mission to establish an arms agreement among Russia, England, and Germany. He encounters incredulous politicians, arms dealers, spies, counterspies, and just plain enemies (not all of them human). There is enough intrigue to fill a book half again as long--certainly enough to defeat Saint-Germain, despite his best efforts and the solaces of a young Englishwoman and a Russian countess. However often defeated, Saint-Germain yet slogs grimly on across the pages of history. As long as Yarbro's scholarship and craftsmanship are up to their usual standards, readers will follow. Roland Green --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312864809
• ISBN-13: 978-0312864804
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,685,875 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not her best effort., October 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Writ in Blood: A Novel of Saint-Germain (Hardcover)

I'm a great fan of St. Germain and am delightedly reading my way thru his history. However, this book set in the years prior to the outbreak of World War I and the Russian Revolution, took several weeks and sittings to read. The Count, as always, is a fascinating, enigmatic, lonely and compelling figure, but the convoluted political intrigue, back-stabbings (literally and figuratively) and arms control machinations slowed down the plot. For a dedicated St. Germain fan, however, the book was an interesting addition because it is set just a few years prior to the much better "Tempting Fate." Several of the peripheral characters and subjects (Russian revolution, the effect of war on children, political changes in Europe) are introduced in "Writ in Blood" and continued in the later book. All in all interesting, but slow.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget Anne Rice!, January 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Writ in Blood: A Novel of Saint-Germain (Hardcover)

What a joy! Ms. Yarbo gets better and better. This is my favorite St. Germain novel to date. The Baron Von Wolfgast is as nasty a villain as I've seen. When Anne Rice has lost her skill, Ms. Yarbro surpasses it on every outting. The Count St. Germain is a thrilling hero and when you figure in that the man was a real historical figure who it was supposed was immortal ... well ... I don't care if I ever read Lestat again as long as I always have the Count. Go buy this book and then go buy the other 13(?) sequels/prequels. Let's hope that the publisher re-releases all the out-of-print books. There's at least one that I've never read and it kills me. THESE ARE FANTASTIC!! The historical aspects, the pace, the characters, the story .... <sigh> Burn my library, but leave me these books. Writ in Blood? You bet!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tenth in the Saint-Germain series., April 4, 2003

By 

James Yanni (Bellefontaine Neighbors, Mo. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writ In Blood: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (Paperback)

Or eleventh, if you count "Out of the House of Life", which is primarily a spinoff novel about Madeline de Montalia (former lover and vampiric "childe" of Saint-Germain), but which does include some flashback scenes to some of Saint-Germain's early history.

Or fourteenth, if you also count "A Flame In Byzantium", "Crusader's Torch", and "A Candle For d'Artagnan", the spinoff series about Atta Olivia Clemens, an earlier lover and vampiric "childe".

This book is set in the years leading up to the first world war, roughly 1910-1913. As such, it ends only a few years prior to the events in the fifth book in the series, "Tempting Fate". It is one of the most enjoyable books in the series to read; the early books (Hotel Transylvania", "The Palace", and "Blood Games") were not as well written as most of the later ones, being more historical-romance bodice rippers than serious literary efforts, but they had the advantage of being enjoyable reading, with stories in which the hero succeeds in rescuing the damsel in distress. Starting with the fourth book in the series, "Path of the Eclipse", we have had a long run of stories in which Saint Germain has had relatively little success in that regard, and the stories, while frequently very powerful, were something of a downer to read. Finally in this book, we see what Yarbro can do with the action hero plot now that she's grown as a writer; the plot is much more similar in tone to her early efforts, but far better written. For one thing, her villains are far more three dimensional and far less cardboard cutouts than they were in those books, particularly the first.

If you're a fan of traditional vampire fiction, you may or may not be disappointed in these stories; there is none of the struggle with the evil "inherent in the vampiric nature" that one finds in most vampiric fiction, notably the Anne Rice vampires. Saint-Germain is an unabashed hero, neither a sympathetic villain nor an anti-hero. He has lived 4000 years, and outgrew that silliness in the time of ancient Egypt. (Bits of this were seen in the aforementioned "Out of the House of Life".) The villains in this book (and in most of the books in this series) are mortals, and they are responsible for whatever "horror" elements that there are in the plot.

If, on the other hand, you enjoy historical romance, and don't automatically reject the concept of a vampire as the hero and main character, you should truly enjoy this entire series, and particularly this book.