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A review by zephonsacriel
Sabella by Tanith Lee
5.0
Read for my resolution to read Classic Sci-fi AND because it's spooky season.
5/5 stars
Sabella, or The Blood Stone is a Gothic sci-fi novel set on Novo Mars--not the Mars of our universe. It follows a young woman named Sabella Quay who is allergic to sunlight and needs to drink blood every so often. Yes, she's a vampire, and we know right off the bat. Sabella has been invited to her maternal aunt Cassi's funeral, where she meets a mysterious young man named Sand Vincent and is gifted a mysterious miniature coffin by her late aunt. Her aunt reveals to her, via a will, that she knows what she is and God has ordered her to destroy her. Pursued by Sand, Sabella tries to live as normal as a life as she can. But she's a vampire. So, Sand is entranced by her, and she needs to feed. And the wolves of Novo Mars call to her.
This is something completely different; and it's a great treat to my first Tanith Lee read. I consider this book the precursor to [b:Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229], being a proper mishmash of Gothic and science fiction; albeit Gideon the Ninth is more Lovecraftian than Sabella. Lee makes it work for this genre mashup, and her lush, beautiful prose is the fine thread that is able to stitch everything together.
There are some of the traditional Gothic tropes found in the novella. A madwoman, an old house with a tragic backstory, and dark, undergrown (Martian) caverns that hold terrifying secrets. However, Lee does something different with them. The madwoman, Sabella's mother, is long dead and Sabella reflects on what happened between the two of them from when she was eleven--when she emerged from an old Martian cavern after her first period--up until her death. However, Sabella's mother still haunts the story, or at least Sabella herself. Her ghost haunts the old house where she died, metaphorically speaking. The Martian caverns themselves are different as they are the source of the vampire.
Ultimately, this is the story of woman wondering at her monstrosity, her Otherness, if you will, and wondering whether to flee from it or embrace it. When she was younger, Sabella would lure boys who catcalled and hit on her to drain their blood. She killed the first handful by accident and was terrified, but she eventually taught herself to only drain so much without killing. Some of these earlier encounters ended more horrifically for her. One man even raped her outside her house while her mother watched and did nothing. Her mother, too horrified by Sabella's initial ignoring of the catcalling boys and then further horrified by her vampirism, eventually became mad. This one fear hangs over Sabella and makes her question embracing her monstrosity.
Sabella is a fleshed out character. She is hiding a lot, she has to, but her spikes of rage and sorrow can really be felt throughout the novella. She is a literal monster wondering if she is to be considered beast or human. She even puts forth this question under religion. The religion on Novo Marts is Christian Revivalism; truthfully, it is just a slightly futuristic Catholicism. Nonetheless, Lee employs Christian symbolism and language around Sabella's journey. Sabella is a vampire with religion, though she isn't the most reverent follower. In fact, at one point Sabella calls Jesus a vampire (hello Midnight Mass); He shed His blood for the world so all could drink from it and be freed, and when people did not understand Him they drove (many) wooden stakes through Him. Sabella considers this thought blasphemy, but from what you learn about her along the way she also hopes that it's true. She wants a savior.
Sabella's desire for a savior ties into into her emotional reactions, and also her relationship with all the men in the book. As stated before, Sabella is often catcalled and hit on by men and some of those interactions end disastrously for her, other times disastrously for the men. There is a commentary about men being dangerous here, though it is more shown than told and not beaten over your head. Sabella being a vampire turns the danger against the men, but Lee's commentary goes more deeper than simply "Men are dangerous to women by default and women would have to become monsters to be actually dangerous to men" (a mouthful there, but you know what I'm referencing). As Sabella lets us into her mind behind these interactions with these men, particularly her uncle, Sand, and Sand's alluring brother Jace, we eventually see the power dynamics between men and women, but also, what Sabella truly wants out of these men.
She wants a savior. She wants someone not afraid of her monstrosity. Someone who she doesn't have to take from for selfish needs nor simply give him pleasure to satiate his typical male desires. Sabella wants what any person would want out of another: to be actually loved, to be actually seen. And, not to spoil things, Sabella eventually finds that through her monstrosity.
The other characters in the book, again mostly all men, do not get as huge a focus besides Sabella. Sand and Jace are pretty fleshed-out as is Sabella's mother despite being dead, but I think they fit into their roles well. Some of the smaller side characters like Sabella's aunt don't get much development but I wasn't totally bothered by that. I do wish that Sabella had more positive interactions with other women in the book.
This is an interesting study of a woman embracing her monstrosity. I've seen a lot of authors, even today, of any gender struggling with this. Sometimes they even back out of the descent into monstrosity. The vampire is a good choice for this motif because of the vampire's near constant sexualized Otherness and how its blood-sucking nature can tie into a woman's menstruation but also the blood of Christ in Catholicism. Additionally, there is some added imagery with the Martian wolves Sabella used to hunt with as a child. Feral creatures with base needs who primarily seeks sustenance and live on the outskirts of civilization.
This is truly a different but still haunting Gothic novel. I enjoyed it very much. This last part I am putting under spoilers, but I need to get it out anyway.
Tanith Lee truly did something different than everyone else, and it is utterly profound.
5/5 stars
Sabella, or The Blood Stone is a Gothic sci-fi novel set on Novo Mars--not the Mars of our universe. It follows a young woman named Sabella Quay who is allergic to sunlight and needs to drink blood every so often. Yes, she's a vampire, and we know right off the bat. Sabella has been invited to her maternal aunt Cassi's funeral, where she meets a mysterious young man named Sand Vincent and is gifted a mysterious miniature coffin by her late aunt. Her aunt reveals to her, via a will, that she knows what she is and God has ordered her to destroy her. Pursued by Sand, Sabella tries to live as normal as a life as she can. But she's a vampire. So, Sand is entranced by her, and she needs to feed. And the wolves of Novo Mars call to her.
This is something completely different; and it's a great treat to my first Tanith Lee read. I consider this book the precursor to [b:Gideon the Ninth|42036538|Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)|Tamsyn Muir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538._SY75_.jpg|60943229], being a proper mishmash of Gothic and science fiction; albeit Gideon the Ninth is more Lovecraftian than Sabella. Lee makes it work for this genre mashup, and her lush, beautiful prose is the fine thread that is able to stitch everything together.
There are some of the traditional Gothic tropes found in the novella. A madwoman, an old house with a tragic backstory, and dark, undergrown (Martian) caverns that hold terrifying secrets. However, Lee does something different with them. The madwoman, Sabella's mother, is long dead and Sabella reflects on what happened between the two of them from when she was eleven--when she emerged from an old Martian cavern after her first period--up until her death. However, Sabella's mother still haunts the story, or at least Sabella herself. Her ghost haunts the old house where she died, metaphorically speaking. The Martian caverns themselves are different as they are the source of the vampire.
Ultimately, this is the story of woman wondering at her monstrosity, her Otherness, if you will, and wondering whether to flee from it or embrace it. When she was younger, Sabella would lure boys who catcalled and hit on her to drain their blood. She killed the first handful by accident and was terrified, but she eventually taught herself to only drain so much without killing. Some of these earlier encounters ended more horrifically for her. One man even raped her outside her house while her mother watched and did nothing. Her mother, too horrified by Sabella's initial ignoring of the catcalling boys and then further horrified by her vampirism, eventually became mad. This one fear hangs over Sabella and makes her question embracing her monstrosity.
Sabella is a fleshed out character. She is hiding a lot, she has to, but her spikes of rage and sorrow can really be felt throughout the novella. She is a literal monster wondering if she is to be considered beast or human. She even puts forth this question under religion. The religion on Novo Marts is Christian Revivalism; truthfully, it is just a slightly futuristic Catholicism. Nonetheless, Lee employs Christian symbolism and language around Sabella's journey. Sabella is a vampire with religion, though she isn't the most reverent follower. In fact, at one point Sabella calls Jesus a vampire (hello Midnight Mass); He shed His blood for the world so all could drink from it and be freed, and when people did not understand Him they drove (many) wooden stakes through Him. Sabella considers this thought blasphemy, but from what you learn about her along the way she also hopes that it's true. She wants a savior.
Sabella's desire for a savior ties into into her emotional reactions, and also her relationship with all the men in the book. As stated before, Sabella is often catcalled and hit on by men and some of those interactions end disastrously for her, other times disastrously for the men.
Spoiler
Such as Sand's spiral into total, unkempt devotion for her as she drains his blood which leads to his eventual death.She wants a savior. She wants someone not afraid of her monstrosity. Someone who she doesn't have to take from for selfish needs nor simply give him pleasure to satiate his typical male desires. Sabella wants what any person would want out of another: to be actually loved, to be actually seen. And, not to spoil things, Sabella eventually finds that through her monstrosity.
The other characters in the book, again mostly all men, do not get as huge a focus besides Sabella. Sand and Jace are pretty fleshed-out as is Sabella's mother despite being dead, but I think they fit into their roles well. Some of the smaller side characters like Sabella's aunt don't get much development but I wasn't totally bothered by that. I do wish that Sabella had more positive interactions with other women in the book.
This is an interesting study of a woman embracing her monstrosity. I've seen a lot of authors, even today, of any gender struggling with this. Sometimes they even back out of the descent into monstrosity. The vampire is a good choice for this motif because of the vampire's near constant sexualized Otherness and how its blood-sucking nature can tie into a woman's menstruation but also the blood of Christ in Catholicism. Additionally, there is some added imagery with the Martian wolves Sabella used to hunt with as a child. Feral creatures with base needs who primarily seeks sustenance and live on the outskirts of civilization.
This is truly a different but still haunting Gothic novel. I enjoyed it very much. This last part I am putting under spoilers, but I need to get it out anyway.
Spoiler
We eventually learn that Sabella is not exactly a vampire. As a child she went into the Martian caverns and came out with the titular blood stone. Later on, we learn that a little girl's bones were discovered in the caverns by construction workers and that the bones belong to Sabella. Sabella learns through Jace that both she and he are actually the ancient Novo Martians. The real Sabella died as a young girl when vampire Sabella copied her, replicated her body, or whatever she did (it's intentionally ambiguous but uses the book's common mirror symbolism to describe it) and came out of the caverns. The same happened with Jace. Sabella and Jace are united in the end, in their monstrosity. And I love itTanith Lee truly did something different than everyone else, and it is utterly profound.