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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Massive exposition dumps happen a lot. That and useless food descriptions, but that's not really a bad thing. It's GRRM, that's all that people need to know.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Vampires and steamboats is a weird combo but George RR Martin went all in. It’s as if he read Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice and Life on the Mississippi and tried to combine them.
This is a pretty solid vampire novel, although Martin lacks the genius of his later writing and leans into some of his worse instincts (exploitation as a form of exposition, an excess of detail). The pacing is a bit off - too slow in the beginning and too fast at the end.
I think the time and place are interesting. Martin connects vampirism with American slavery in a way that’s really interesting, although I think giving the black characters a bit more agency and screen-time would have helped. And the 19th century is an age of scientific discovery and transition - the steamboat, foremost, but also a scientific concoctionthat saves the vampires from having to drink blood.
Where this novel succeeds more than anything is in its lore. Joshua’s history lessons are by far the most interesting passages and George tweaks the vampire mythos in ways I’ve never seen.
This is a pretty solid vampire novel, although Martin lacks the genius of his later writing and leans into some of his worse instincts (exploitation as a form of exposition, an excess of detail). The pacing is a bit off - too slow in the beginning and too fast at the end.
I think the time and place are interesting. Martin connects vampirism with American slavery in a way that’s really interesting, although I think giving the black characters a bit more agency and screen-time would have helped. And the 19th century is an age of scientific discovery and transition - the steamboat, foremost, but also a scientific concoction
Where this novel succeeds more than anything is in its lore. Joshua’s history lessons are by far the most interesting passages and George tweaks the vampire mythos in ways I’ve never seen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Cannibalism
This takes place in the pre-Civil War American south so there is some truly awful treatment of slaves by villain characters and some ambivalence by protagonists.
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
medium-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Did not realise this was about vampires but once over that little hurdle, a good novel with good tension and a satisfying end
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF after the first chapter.
Not for me, I don't vibe with the writing style. Like at all.
Shame, because I like historical fiction, ships and vampires.
Not for me, I don't vibe with the writing style. Like at all.
Shame, because I like historical fiction, ships and vampires.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Leer un cuento de vampiros a la antigua usanza siempre es un placer. Y si el que lo escribe es George R. R. Martin mas todavía, este hombre nunca defrauda.
Como toda su obra, con una ambientación exquisita y evocadora, la novela está imbuida de un romanticismo melancólico y único, mas cercana a La muerte de la luz en espíritu, la historia nos traslada a esa época, antes de la guerra de secesión norteamericana, donde los grandes vapores surcaban los ríos, y los hombres buscaban la libertad por si mismos, con un optimismo que no podía durar.
Narra la increíble amistad entre un capitán de barco Abner Marsh, para siempre enamorado de la vida en el río, y un ser inmortal, Joshua York, capaz de retar los límites de su propia raza y ver mas allá de la Sed Roja que lo apresa.
Escenas terroríficas de sangre y ansia, se mezclan con atardeceres bellamente descritos, sobre la cubierta del vapor, legendario y a la vez desconocido Sueño del Fevre.
Y qué acertado el nombre, porque nuestros protagonistas no son mas que dos soñadores, imaginando un futuro en que nadie es esclavo, ni de su raza ni de sus impulsos, ¡qué bonita nuestra existencia si fuera como pasear por un río!
¡Qué bonito ha sido leer esta novela!
Como toda su obra, con una ambientación exquisita y evocadora, la novela está imbuida de un romanticismo melancólico y único, mas cercana a La muerte de la luz en espíritu, la historia nos traslada a esa época, antes de la guerra de secesión norteamericana, donde los grandes vapores surcaban los ríos, y los hombres buscaban la libertad por si mismos, con un optimismo que no podía durar.
Narra la increíble amistad entre un capitán de barco Abner Marsh, para siempre enamorado de la vida en el río, y un ser inmortal, Joshua York, capaz de retar los límites de su propia raza y ver mas allá de la Sed Roja que lo apresa.
Escenas terroríficas de sangre y ansia, se mezclan con atardeceres bellamente descritos, sobre la cubierta del vapor, legendario y a la vez desconocido Sueño del Fevre.
Y qué acertado el nombre, porque nuestros protagonistas no son mas que dos soñadores, imaginando un futuro en que nadie es esclavo, ni de su raza ni de sus impulsos, ¡qué bonita nuestra existencia si fuera como pasear por un río!
¡Qué bonito ha sido leer esta novela!
I think one of my favorite things was that although there was blood and violence, it never descended into using gore in place of scary stuff and then calling it horror. This had some truly creepy and terrifying moments but it was done more with the tension and the dynamics of the people involved rather than by making it as much of a bloodbath as possible. It was very well done.
The story starts with Captain Marsh being hired by a man named Joseph York. Marsh has recently lost everything on the Mississippi, and since his trade is transporting goods on a steamboat, that means he is a man without a boat. York approaches him with a wish to hire him and he dangles the ultimate bait - the finest steamboat on the Mississippi. Marsh takes him up on the offer and soon they're paddling their merry way down river. Marsh begins to suspect that York isn't sharing everything with him and sets out to find what's going on. I enjoyed the story of the relationship between these two men, as well as the way that things were changed when Damon Julian came into the picture. I think it's fair to say that this is also a story of friends and enemies, and that was the strongest element of this particular book.
Plus, there's that whole Mississippi Steamboat thing, which was really quite a lot of fun. We got to see a lot about navigating the river, how the paddleboats signaled each other, and... yes, we got to see a couple of races, too. Good fun ;)
The story starts with Captain Marsh being hired by a man named Joseph York. Marsh has recently lost everything on the Mississippi, and since his trade is transporting goods on a steamboat, that means he is a man without a boat. York approaches him with a wish to hire him and he dangles the ultimate bait - the finest steamboat on the Mississippi. Marsh takes him up on the offer and soon they're paddling their merry way down river. Marsh begins to suspect that York isn't sharing everything with him and sets out to find what's going on. I enjoyed the story of the relationship between these two men, as well as the way that things were changed when Damon Julian came into the picture. I think it's fair to say that this is also a story of friends and enemies, and that was the strongest element of this particular book.
Plus, there's that whole Mississippi Steamboat thing, which was really quite a lot of fun. We got to see a lot about navigating the river, how the paddleboats signaled each other, and... yes, we got to see a couple of races, too. Good fun ;)