Friday, August 18, 2023

Book Reviews: Silver Under Nightfall, by Rin Chupeco

 Silver Under Nightfall, by Rin Chupeco (Saga)


I grabbed this book on the strength of Chupeco’s previous novel, The Bone Witch, which I enjoyed. The opening engaged me immediately, with its world of constant friction between humans and vampires, with their own internal divisions. The central character is Remy Pendergast, elite bounty hunter of rogue vampires and social outcast, forced by his powerful noble father to provide sexual favors to courtly ladies in exchange for secret information. There’s so much potential there, with action, political tension, and a wounded hero. But that’s not all, for a new breed of vampires arrives on stage, infected with a toxic Rot that renders them impossible to kill, transforming instead into unstoppable, immortal monstrosities.

I was right with Remy in the opening chapters. My heart went out to him for his loveless life, his fighting prowess in the service of those who neither know nor care for him, and his longing for approval. Then he’s off on a quest to find the source of the Rot and a way to counter it, accompanying a vampire princess and her fiancé. It’s soon evident there’s a great deal of sexual tension all around, which leads to the inevitable intimacies. Many readers will just love the intricacies of the characters, a polyamorous love triad, vampires and more vampires, and a very cool medical mystery.

Alas, I wasn’t one of them. The author could have played on the trope of vampirism as a metaphor for eroticism or explored how acceptance and validation can aid in recovery from sexual abuse, or formed the basis for an extraordinary, cooperative fighting unit. But for me, the book did none of these things beyond token mention of Remy’s enduring PTSD and lots of bed action once he gives in to his lovers. I felt as if I were reading two quite different books, maybe more. The focus jumped around rather than finding a resonance with each genre enhancing and mirroring the other. Still, I was willing to keep reading, carried along by the strength of the opening and concept.

About three-quarters through the book, when each event ought to have jacked up the tension even more, the book ran out of steam. It felt to me as if everything stopped. The three have escaped from the clutches of the evil vampire and for the moment, all other threats recede while research goes on. Then the city where they’ve taken refuge is about to be swarmed by yet more mobs of Rot-infected vampires, Remy leaves, then changes his mind and comes back. And so forth. All the elements were set up well before in terms of mention but not in terms of emotional immediacy and growing-ever-closer, escalating danger.

I was left puzzled as to the disconnect between the dynamic, engaging beginning, and the piecemeal experience of the latter part of the book. This was complicated by a serious challenge to my suspension of disbelief regarding the ecology of vampires in this world. Various writers have tackled the question of the minimum sustainable ratios of vampires to humans. While their solutions vary, they all agree that there need to be quite a few more humans than vampires, anywhere from 1 vampire per 15,000 to 1 per 100,000, depending on how frequently vampires feed (and a bunch of other factors). I had trouble wrapping my mind around the siege where hundreds or thousands of vampires, original, newly turned, and Rot-infected, form a ravening horde. I wonder if this is a case in which the author had already strained my credulity, whereas if I had not had occasion to question the world-building, I might not have had a problem with it.

As I said before, other readers may not have these issues, but may instead love the complex world, polyamorous bisexual romance, and action, not to mention vampires and a very nifty weapon called Breaker. If these appeal to you, give the book a try.

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