Reviews

Le Sang d'immortalité suivi de Voyage avec les morts by Barbara Hambly

captlychee's review against another edition

4.0

It's a delight to read a vampire not totally wraped up in the Freudian symbolism, post-mortem psychobabble and tortured eroticisim that has polluted the genre since Anne Rice came along. The plot isn't the most logical but it is exciting with moments of good tension, and characters that are enjoyable to read about.

silkymoonshine's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

turtle_puff95's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

Vampire hires mortal to track vampire killer. Pretty slow read until about half way through when it really picked up pace. Hit me with a fun twist I did not see coming. Absolutely loved Ysidro 🥰
I would t say this was a terribly interesting book as it was rather slow, but I still kind of liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

sphbrd's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jennihowell's review against another edition

Enjoyed this book. Trippy and fantastic to not read the same glittering sexy vamps.

sparks_fitz's review against another edition

4.0

Banger!!! Loved this!!! I pulled this off the shelf randomly because I was like "oh vampire mystery with a spy, sounds neat," expecting it to be cheesy and not that good, but I was totally wrong! This is a great depiction of vampires, both original and playing off tropes. They are emotionally complex and extremely intriguing, with some things that even reminded me of Vampire the Masquerade despite coming out before it (perhaps this was even a possible inspiration?). I loved the characters and Asher and Ysidro's growing friendship, some moments drove me crazy. And the early 1900s setting was great, clearly researched and pulling in a lot of lovely small details (and weaving in the setting to the themes, it's not just empty set dressing). Totally recommended, underrated as heck I should be seeing this recced on vampire lists more. And when I found out it was a SERIES?!? I audibly gasped. I'm going to pace myself but I have to read all of these now. Thank you Barbara Hambly for this great book!!!!

thekeytotheancientlore's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

pvbobrien's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

carriethis's review against another edition

4.0

James Asher and Lydia Asher and Don Simon, HUZZAH!!! If you want an excellent vampire novel, what are you doing reading this review? Read Hambly's books now.

hank's review against another edition

3.0

Really a 3.5 star book. The writing was good, the story was good. Everything tangible in the book seemed only lightly touched on. I would have loved to get a bit more about the Paris vampires. Don Ysidro was developed well but always came across a bit waxy (vampire pun intended). Asher was given the most pages in development but outside of knowing he did a bunch of "bad" deeds, I never got the full impact on his psyche.

Lydia and the brother vampire felt the most 3d and they were somewhat non-major characters. Satisfied but underwhelmed.