littlemissattitude
Super Moderator
Come Twilight, by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (2000), 479 pages.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has been writing about Count Saint-Germain, her millennia-old vampire, since the late 1970s. The amazing thing is that, over two decades on, she has managed to keep this undead character so alive for all these years. Many characters in a series of novels tend to become stale and repetitive in their adventures as the series progresses. Not so with Saint-Germain. He is still as vital here, in Come Twilight, as he was in his first appearance, in Hotel Transylvania in 1978.
This novel is constructed a bit differently, however, than the earlier Saint-Germain novels I have read. In most of those, we see a few years - at most a few decades - out of his life. In this outing, we see bits of his life over some five hundred years, set against the background of the struggle between the Christians and the Moors over control of Spain. In the 600s, Saint-Germain and his manservant, a ghoul and quite long-lived himself, are forced to spend a winter in an isolated village in the mountainous north of Spain. Both the Moors and smallpox have taken their toll, and they find the village deserted but for one pregnant woman who has been left behind by the surviving villagers as they flee from devastating disease. Eventually, after the birth of the woman’s baby, the villagers return to take back the village. The problem is that the woman has sworn that, as the only one who stayed, she will hold the village until her son grows old enough to rule there. It is his right, she figures; everyone else had deserted the place in fear. In a fight for control of the village, the woman is mortally wounded. Saint-Germain, against his own best instincts, brings the woman - who has become embittered over her abandonment by the villagers - into his vampiric life in order for her to survive to raise her son, who would otherwise surely be killed by the villagers. In her bitterness, she will not listen to Saint-Germain’s counsel concerning her new existence. Saint-Germain leaves the village, vowing never to return. Fate has its way, however, and the rest of the novel tells the story of the three subsequent times he must return to her native earth over a span of five hundred years.
I have to admit that Come Twilight is not my favorite of Yarbro’s novels of Saint-Germain. However, this is not to say that it is inferior to her earlier efforts to tell Saint-Germain’s story. She simply approaches the story differently, taking in a wider sweep of history than is usual in her books. She also examines a bit more closely here, through the experiences of both Saint-Germain and his manservant, the serious repercussions of existing for hundreds or thousands of years. Her exemplary historical research shows as usual; even if you don’t enjoy vampire novels, her books are worth reading for their deep, textured historical backgrounds. If you do enjoy vampire novels, her Saint-Germain stories are a must-read for a slightly different take on an established literary tradition.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has been writing about Count Saint-Germain, her millennia-old vampire, since the late 1970s. The amazing thing is that, over two decades on, she has managed to keep this undead character so alive for all these years. Many characters in a series of novels tend to become stale and repetitive in their adventures as the series progresses. Not so with Saint-Germain. He is still as vital here, in Come Twilight, as he was in his first appearance, in Hotel Transylvania in 1978.
This novel is constructed a bit differently, however, than the earlier Saint-Germain novels I have read. In most of those, we see a few years - at most a few decades - out of his life. In this outing, we see bits of his life over some five hundred years, set against the background of the struggle between the Christians and the Moors over control of Spain. In the 600s, Saint-Germain and his manservant, a ghoul and quite long-lived himself, are forced to spend a winter in an isolated village in the mountainous north of Spain. Both the Moors and smallpox have taken their toll, and they find the village deserted but for one pregnant woman who has been left behind by the surviving villagers as they flee from devastating disease. Eventually, after the birth of the woman’s baby, the villagers return to take back the village. The problem is that the woman has sworn that, as the only one who stayed, she will hold the village until her son grows old enough to rule there. It is his right, she figures; everyone else had deserted the place in fear. In a fight for control of the village, the woman is mortally wounded. Saint-Germain, against his own best instincts, brings the woman - who has become embittered over her abandonment by the villagers - into his vampiric life in order for her to survive to raise her son, who would otherwise surely be killed by the villagers. In her bitterness, she will not listen to Saint-Germain’s counsel concerning her new existence. Saint-Germain leaves the village, vowing never to return. Fate has its way, however, and the rest of the novel tells the story of the three subsequent times he must return to her native earth over a span of five hundred years.
I have to admit that Come Twilight is not my favorite of Yarbro’s novels of Saint-Germain. However, this is not to say that it is inferior to her earlier efforts to tell Saint-Germain’s story. She simply approaches the story differently, taking in a wider sweep of history than is usual in her books. She also examines a bit more closely here, through the experiences of both Saint-Germain and his manservant, the serious repercussions of existing for hundreds or thousands of years. Her exemplary historical research shows as usual; even if you don’t enjoy vampire novels, her books are worth reading for their deep, textured historical backgrounds. If you do enjoy vampire novels, her Saint-Germain stories are a must-read for a slightly different take on an established literary tradition.
