Rating: 
Summary: Original page-turner, very graphically violent.
Review: "Of Saints And Shadows" is a fantastic novel. From the moment I picked up this book, I did not want to put it down. In fact, even though I am not a fast reader, I completed this book in about a week. On the back of the book there is a comment by one of the reviewers along the lines of "...when you thought there was nothing new in the vampire mythos, here comes Christopher Golden." This statement hits the bull's eye.The concept of this book was amazing. The characters were well developed and creative. The story never had a slow spot in it, and when I was getting near the end of the book, I felt excited to no end because there are two more books in the series. So why do I only give it four of five stars? Two words: The
Epilogue. Although only a three to four page section the first page of the epilogue really discounts one of the major story lines in the book. This is an extreme shame too, because the other 370+ pages of the book were nothing short of fantastic. I am still going to read the next two books in the series, and I still STRONGLY recommend this book to anyone who enjoys vampire novels or just the suspense/horror genre of literature. But if you can, avoid the epilogue.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic book...except...
Review: "Of Saints And Shadows" is a fantastic novel. From the moment I picked up this book, I did not want to put it down. In fact, even though I am not a fast reader, I completed this book in about a week. On the back of the book there is a comment by one of the reviewers along the lines of "...when you thought there was nothing new in the vampire mythos, here comes Christopher Golden." This statement hits the bull's eye. The concept of this book was amazing. The characters were well developed and creative. The story never had a slow spot in it, and when I was getting near the end of the book, I felt excited to no end because there are two more books in the series. So why do I only give it four of five stars? Two words: The
Epilogue. Although only a three to four page section the first page of the epilogue really discounts one of the major story lines in the book. This is an extreme shame too, because the other 370+ pages of the book were nothing short of fantastic. I am still going to read the next two books in the series, and I still STRONGLY recommend this book to anyone who enjoys vampire novels or just the suspense/horror genre of literature. But if you can, avoid the epilogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the faint at heart . . .
Review: And I'm not even that faint! I tried to read this book, really I did. I throughly enjoyed this author's other books, both his young adult works and particularly his 'Buffy: the Vampire Slayer' books. But this one was just too much for me. I'm 20 years old and found myself disturbed by the graphic imagery. From the vivid description of a dog being eviscerated to sticking crosses in unnatural places, I was trying to find a reason to keep going. I did find myself intrigued by the new mythology on vampires that was presented and that kept me curious enough to go on some. But one can only take so much. If you are thinking about reading this book because you enjoyed the author's other books, take care that you are stronger than me.
Rating:
Summary: Okay Vampire Tale
Review: At first I liked this romp into the intriguing shadowland of the vampire race especially since it seemed to be modeled in the fashion of the once popular after dark TV series "Forever Knight" where each vampire has a long personal history with learned experiences that aids the creature through present-day situations. The orgy-like parties that call for human "volunteers" in alternating Carnival locales in the world reminded me of Jeanette's trendy night club scene and the enlightened Peter Octavian is pretty much a clone of Forever Knight's Nikolai the detective who has eshewed the hunting habits of the normal vampire, instead satiating himself by drinking cow's blood.
However, this is where the similarity ends. OSAS's main plot revolves around a controlling faction of the Roman Catholic Church. An ancient text which invalidates the well-known stipulations that vampires have dealt with since the very first i.e. exposure to the sun's rays equals death, is stolen by an outraged cardinal with intent to loose the book's devastating information through the media. Sorcerers of the controlling faction are unleashed and the most ancient vampires from around the world are brutally destroyed along with various human persona that the cardinal indirectly and directly involves in his desire to put the book's contents in the public eye. As the vampires become informed with regard to the invalidity of their former constraints, the book moves towards a decisive battle between the sorcerers and the vampires at the novel's conclusion.
Although I liked this book's premise, I found some of the characters lacking--particularly the character of Meghan, Peter's human love interest who is eventually 'brought across'. From the start, she is much too considerate and understanding of Peter's nature, becoming outraged rather than frightened when Peter metamorphs into a wolf while battling a zombie in her apartment. Her dialogue and that of some of the other vampire characters is a little to pat--the vampires overly sophisticated and Meghan just too much the cheerleader.
This book loses momentum despite the lead-in to the major battle scene at the story's end. The silly dialogue and trite characterization makes the reading laborous rather than fun as it was intended. Still, if you like vampire stories, I will not deter you from reading this one, it is admirable especially if you are intrigued by the idea of vampires who have been tricked into believing their own limitations by a controlling Church. Warning: there are some gory scenes in this--the regular blood sucking and blood letting descriptions which at times should be left to the imagination rather than written down.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic twist to vampire lore!
Review: But if one wishes to hold true to the old myths, then they should stick with Bram Stoker. Golden filled me and thrilled me with this one, and there's not been one to compete with it, besides maybe Christy Golden's "Vampire of the Mists". All around great, with fantastic plot twists and vampires out in the sun. Completely flips the traditional roles of the undead and the church. Although I found it to have quite a weak ending, the rest was bold and imaginative. Truly original.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Read
Review: Christopher Golden is probably best known as the author of several Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, but he has also earned recognition for The Shadow Saga, a series of books built around vampirism. I enjoyed Of Saints and Shadows, the first book in the saga, and it offers one particularly nifty reconstruction of the vampire legend, but this novel failed to bowl me over for a number of reasons. This is a novel of good and evil, only it is difficult to consider either of the two opposing sides good in the traditional sense. On the one hand, you have the world's vampires, hiding out from mankind yet taking their sustenance from the veins of human beings; on the other hand, you have a sect of heretical Roman Catholic sorcerer priests going way beyond their necessary duties. I should point out that this novel is in no way critical of the Roman Catholic Church or of the pope, for the work done by priest sorcerers such as Liam Mulkerrin is unsanctioned and secret, just as it has been, we learn, since the time of Christ. The novel's hero, Peter Octavian, is no ordinary vampire, having left his coven a century earlier. This outcast from his own kind now works as a private investigator, and the case of a missing young lady leads him into the biggest investigation of his life; he uncovers nothing less than a sinister plot by the religious army of the church to destroy all of the Defiant Ones (vampires) left on earth. At the center of events stands an ancient book called The Gospel of Shadows; held secretly inside the Vatican, this book offers much in the way of explaining the nature of vampires in the world. When the book is stolen, Father Liam Mulkerrin is sent to retrieve it; the high degree of sorcery he already knows cannot be imparted completely among his acolytes and students without the book on hand to guide him. Mulkerrin enjoys his vampire extermination work far too much, caring nothing about who gets hurt in the process, and his true motive for finding the book is to gain control over demons, destroy the only creatures left that he and the church cannot fully control, and basically take over and reform the Roman Catholic Church himself. Peter and his fellow vampires just want to live in peace and secrecy, yet Peter quickly realizes that his band of brothers and sisters must soon fight for their very survival. Peter has figured some things out on his own, such as the fact that the sun cannot kill a vampire unless that vampire believes it will do so. The big twist to this saga can be found here, as the vampires of old were somehow brainwashed by the church into believing a number of myths throughout the years; it's never crystal clear how this was accomplished, although it did reportedly require sorcery of such a powerful sort as to change the very fabric of Hell. Convincing his fellow vampires that many of their beliefs are false is no easy task, but Octavian goes to Venice in order to warn his old brethren of the danger afoot and to enlist their help in fighting the renegade Vatican emissaries here and now. Peter's most persistent question concerning the true nature of vampires is never answered in these pages, but the novel explanation for the existence of long-established yet patently false beliefs among vampire kind is quite interesting. The problems I have with the novel basically have to do with characterization and the ending. All vampires drink blood, of course (although Octavian refused to take his nourishment from live human beings after leaving his coven), and the vast majority of Peter's comrades, once he meets up with them again, see humans as little more than their personal blood supply pumps. A similarly ambiguous evil lurks in the hearts of the renegade priests of Rome, however, as Mulkerrin pursues his goals with a lust for power, giving little more than lip service to the religion he practices and serves. Going further, there is one important character in the novel, Meaghan, whom I could never really like, especially as she bore an undue influence on the culminating events of the story. That ending, as I have alluded to, is rather disappointing to me, conjuring up images in my head of semi-ludicrous Japanese monster movie conclusions. The epilogue does nothing to help bring the novel to a close, either, as much of the information detailed in those pages strikes me as extreme, unnecessary overkill of very unlikely proportions. In the final analysis, though, Of Saints and Shadows does offer a tellingly new version of the vampire's history and future, and Golden keeps one's interests held quite firmly in his grip up until the beginning of the end. One must hope for and expect a better construction of the vampiric landscape in the succeeding novels in The Shadow Saga, for there are many unanswered questions left at the end of this first novel in the series. Those with a preternatural fondness for vampires would almost certainly enjoy Golden's handiwork though, even if one feels - as I do - that his quest for originality in a tried and true genre leads him slightly too far outside the beaten path.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting yet unfulfilling retelling of vampire history
Review: Christopher Golden is probably best known as the author of several Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels, but he has also earned recognition for The Shadow Saga, a series of books built around vampirism. I enjoyed Of Saints and Shadows, the first book in the saga, and it offers one particularly nifty reconstruction of the vampire legend, but this novel failed to bowl me over for a number of reasons. This is a novel of good and evil, only it is difficult to consider either of the two opposing sides good in the traditional sense. On the one hand, you have the world's vampires, hiding out from mankind yet taking their sustenance from the veins of human beings; on the other hand, you have a sect of heretical Roman Catholic sorcerer priests going way beyond their necessary duties. I should point out that this novel is in no way critical of the Roman Catholic Church or of the pope, for the work done by priest sorcerers such as Liam Mulkerrin is unsanctioned and secret, just as it has been, we learn, since the time of Christ. The novel's hero, Peter Octavian, is no ordinary vampire, having left his coven a century earlier. This outcast from his own kind now works as a private investigator, and the case of a missing young lady leads him into the biggest investigation of his life; he uncovers nothing less than a sinister plot by the religious army of the church to destroy all of the Defiant Ones (vampires) left on earth. At the center of events stands an ancient book called The Gospel of Shadows; held secretly inside the Vatican, this book offers much in the way of explaining the nature of vampires in the world. When the book is stolen, Father Liam Mulkerrin is sent to retrieve it; the high degree of sorcery he already knows cannot be imparted completely among his acolytes and students without the book on hand to guide him. Mulkerrin enjoys his vampire extermination work far too much, caring nothing about who gets hurt in the process, and his true motive for finding the book is to gain control over demons, destroy the only creatures left that he and the church cannot fully control, and basically take over and reform the Roman Catholic Church himself. Peter and his fellow vampires just want to live in peace and secrecy, yet Peter quickly realizes that his band of brothers and sisters must soon fight for their very survival. Peter has figured some things out on his own, such as the fact that the sun cannot kill a vampire unless that vampire believes it will do so. The big twist to this saga can be found here, as the vampires of old were somehow brainwashed by the church into believing a number of myths throughout the years; it's never crystal clear how this was accomplished, although it did reportedly require sorcery of such a powerful sort as to change the very fabric of Hell. Convincing his fellow vampires that many of their beliefs are false is no easy task, but Octavian goes to Venice in order to warn his old brethren of the danger afoot and to enlist their help in fighting the renegade Vatican emissaries here and now. Peter's most persistent question concerning the true nature of vampires is never answered in these pages, but the novel explanation for the existence of long-established yet patently false beliefs among vampire kind is quite interesting. The problems I have with the novel basically have to do with characterization and the ending. All vampires drink blood, of course (although Octavian refused to take his nourishment from live human beings after leaving his coven), and the vast majority of Peter's comrades, once he meets up with them again, see humans as little more than their personal blood supply pumps. A similarly ambiguous evil lurks in the hearts of the renegade priests of Rome, however, as Mulkerrin pursues his goals with a lust for power, giving little more than lip service to the religion he practices and serves. Going further, there is one important character in the novel, Meaghan, whom I could never really like, especially as she bore an undue influence on the culminating events of the story. That ending, as I have alluded to, is rather disappointing to me, conjuring up images in my head of semi-ludicrous Japanese monster movie conclusions. The epilogue does nothing to help bring the novel to a close, either, as much of the information detailed in those pages strikes me as extreme, unnecessary overkill of very unlikely proportions. In the final analysis, though, Of Saints and Shadows does offer a tellingly new version of the vampire's history and future, and Golden keeps one's interests held quite firmly in his grip up until the beginning of the end. One must hope for and expect a better construction of the vampiric landscape in the succeeding novels in The Shadow Saga, for there are many unanswered questions left at the end of this first novel in the series. Those with a preternatural fondness for vampires would almost certainly enjoy Golden's handiwork though, even if one feels - as I do - that his quest for originality in a tried and true genre leads him slightly too far outside the beaten path.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best adult Vampire series.
Review: First, I loved this book. Actually I love the whole trilogy. I have never before read any book by author Christopher Golden. But I have read a lot of adult Vampire novels. Most were interesting enough. But, basicaly that old cliche applied to them,you know the one.. same thing different day. So, when I read this series I was very pleased. When I was younger, highschool age, maybe a little older, I read the Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith. And I fell in love with those books. The characters, the plot, everything about them. The books were written in such a way that I found myself wishing it were true!..:) I know it sounds crazy. But everyone who loves to read has come across a book or two that sparks those feelings in them. Well.. now in my late 20's, this series gives me the same feelings. I read 5-6 chapters at a time, and I find myself lost in the story and wishing it were true. I do have to admit that there are some parts of the story that I don't care for, such as the hard gore, and some of the sex scenes they describe. But hey, I feel that way about some of the things in the real world. This series really has the ability to pull you into the fantansy world of the story. So if you are looking for an adult vampire novel this is the series for you. Book 2 Angel souls and devil hearts. Book 3 of masques and martyrs. You should really check these three books out.
Rating:
Summary: the best book in the world
Review: Golden is amazing, read this book if you like any kind of fantisy or fictonal work. i am no vampires buff, and would say i still am not, but i loved this book. good read.
Rating:
Summary: Great Vampire Novel
Review: Golden offers a really good read and a unique brand of vampires that battle a secret sect of the Catholic Church bent on their destruction. Characters are vivid and real, and the storyline is exciting as it moves toward an impending, explosive climax. Peter Octavian is a bit of a loner in the vampire world. Having left his blood father and coven, he lives on his own working as a detective. We quickly find out that Octavian has made some realizations about vampire nature and the myths about them... crosses don't harm him, and he has even learned to walk in daylight! As grisly murders occur in his hometown, he is drawn into a mystery surrounding a powerful book stolen from a secret chamber of a Vatican library and an ominous secret society in the Church desperate to have it back. It may very well be the key to magic, sorcery, and the vampires themselves. So exciting... I just started the second book, Angel Souls and Devil Hearts. Loving it, too!
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