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A review by yak_attak
Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
4.0
Hotel Transylvania seems to have been, along with contemporary Interview with a Vampire, on the bleeding edge of 'sympathetic vampire as hero' technology, and comparing it to its famous cousin reveals some interesting differences. Yarbro's book(s) seem to be much pulpier, campier, and dare I say fun, as we see dashing Edmund Dantes-esque master of all situations Saint-Germain worm his way into the hearts of Parisian society, woo and romance the ladies with his particular charms, and battle the vile Satan cult brewing in the subterrain.
In some ways this almost approaches flat wish-fulfullment, but, let's be honest, who doesn't deserve that at times? All the men in this book (barring the dashing hero) are venal, petty, wretched monsters who would abuse a woman at the drop of a hate. All the women are charming, intelligent, spunky, daring, and unfortunately put upon by the patriarchal hierarchy keeping them in place - Yarbro smartly uses Saint-Germain as a lens upon this time period (and our own), examining gendered prejudices and matters of control and expectation of women. Not bad for an otherwise tawdry scene-chewer.
In another smart move, Yarbro takes the vampiric traditions and turns *some* of them on their head, keeping enough to give her hero a sense of mystery, of otherness and of sensuality, but then applying said traits to other characters instead, building out her world. Saint-German can hold crosses because he is a good christian, it's instead the Satanic cult who cannot stand their sight. Etc. It's all very clever and works in her world. Prop all this up with quite a well researched (or enough so that I can't tell) history, rife with all sorts of textual detail...
Lastly, it's punctuated all over with spots of the most amazing violence, the villains realized in about as evil detail as you could want. It is to some degree a book I would even warn people against - rapes and sexual violence abound, and even with the otherwise light tone, there's an underlying threat and hint of consequence. The one thing that doesn't work too well is how closely homosexuality, sodomy, and violence are tied together here. I choose to think Yarbro does better later in the series, but this book is... pretty direct about the tie.
All in all, a great read - a charming pulpy historical horror romance with all the scenes and characters you'd expect, with just enough depth and detail to really bring it all to life.
In some ways this almost approaches flat wish-fulfullment, but, let's be honest, who doesn't deserve that at times? All the men in this book (barring the dashing hero) are venal, petty, wretched monsters who would abuse a woman at the drop of a hate. All the women are charming, intelligent, spunky, daring, and unfortunately put upon by the patriarchal hierarchy keeping them in place - Yarbro smartly uses Saint-Germain as a lens upon this time period (and our own), examining gendered prejudices and matters of control and expectation of women. Not bad for an otherwise tawdry scene-chewer.
In another smart move, Yarbro takes the vampiric traditions and turns *some* of them on their head, keeping enough to give her hero a sense of mystery, of otherness and of sensuality, but then applying said traits to other characters instead, building out her world. Saint-German can hold crosses because he is a good christian, it's instead the Satanic cult who cannot stand their sight. Etc. It's all very clever and works in her world. Prop all this up with quite a well researched (or enough so that I can't tell) history, rife with all sorts of textual detail...
Lastly, it's punctuated all over with spots of the most amazing violence, the villains realized in about as evil detail as you could want. It is to some degree a book I would even warn people against - rapes and sexual violence abound, and even with the otherwise light tone, there's an underlying threat and hint of consequence. The one thing that doesn't work too well is how closely homosexuality, sodomy, and violence are tied together here. I choose to think Yarbro does better later in the series, but this book is... pretty direct about the tie.
All in all, a great read - a charming pulpy historical horror romance with all the scenes and characters you'd expect, with just enough depth and detail to really bring it all to life.