A woman is kidnapped and chained up with a hungry vampire. As part of a battle of wills with their captor he refuses to kill her. In thanks when she discovers latent magical ability that allows her to escape she takes him with her.
When their escape is discovered their captor knows something extraordinary has happened and starts to hunt them down. The vampire turns up on the woman’s doorstep with the news and the two of them band together to destroy their mutual foe and save each others lives.
But vampires and humans are eternal enemies and the woman is conflicted about their developing friendship and her role in saving the life of an unrepentant killer, who may, at any second, decide to kill her. All she wants is a quiet life working in her family’s café. Instead events have drawn her to the attention of a government agency set up to monitor all nonhuman species in a post war world, alienated her from her few friends and forced her to confront the dark side of her psyche.
My summation doesn’t even come close to describing what is essentially a rich, modern reworking of Beauty and the Beast.
The story is unapologetically derivative and the pace can be a little slow at times but for all that it is still engaging.
This story’s main strength is its world building. McKinley has produced a reality I can completely believe in. Magical and yet mundane. A place where evil is truly evil and good can be ambiguous. If you’re sick of the vampire as a tortured or misunderstood hero then you’ll love this return to the traditional horror story vampire and be impressed by the author’s ability to make a hero of the monster yet still have him remain essentially a monster.
In the end a number of questions are left unanswered making me think there might be a sequel in the works, or perhaps even a series. If that’s the case I think they would be worth a look.
Not the best book I’ve ever read but head and shoulders above most of the stuff on offer in the horror/ urban fantasy arena at the moment.-Lynn
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