Tainted Blood

Rating:
Summary: Darkly Comic Masterpiece!
Review: After anxiously awaiting the next book in Mary Ann Mitchell's Marquis de Sade vampire series, "Taited Blood" finally arrived at my door a few days ago....and, let me tell you, it was worth the wait!

Even someone who has not been following the series could pick up this book and follow the story, as the main characters from the past three novels take on a secondary roll in the latest.

The story focuses on a family of vampires: Mother, Father and three children, eternally, ages-12, 8 and a toddler.

When the Marquis de Sade and his mother-in-law Marie, (who have been involved in a centuries long battle of wits), come to visit, things come to a violent head within the family, as all-especially the children- are becoming dissatisfied with their vampire existence.

While a horror novel, this one has touches of dark humour that add to the over-all reading enjoyment.

The character of 'Chuckie', the vampire toddler makes you not only laugh, but, feel a certain sorrow for his plight as well.

He, also, at times puts you in mind of the character of 'Stewie', from the "Family Guy" cartoons-which this reader found simply inspired!

Like with most of Ms. Mitchell's books, once I started reading, I was hooked and devoured this one in two days.

Highly recommmend it!!

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF MITCHELL'S BEST- IF NOT T.H.E. BEST!!!
Review: I love 'Tainted Blood' by Mary Ann Mitchell! It's has a good stoy, & a great ending! I think the only partial downside in the book is the French that Sade adds in now & then b/c he doesn't remember how to say it in English... *bah!* All-in-All the story has all the good elements - Vampires, Blood, Comedy, Action & Sex. All that get combined in yet another blood~sucking Sade lifestyle & keeps the pages turning until you reach the end - & still leave you thirsty for more!

Rating:
Summary: You can't judge a book by it cover
Review: On the back of the book, there is a short synopsis of what this book is about. It waxes on about Marquis de Sade and his life. It mentions in two sentences about Sade's "journey leads him back to America, to a seemingly normal suburban house. But the family who lives there is far from normal." Guess what, 75% of the book is about this American family of vampires. What a collection of co-dependant, undead creatures !! The Sade character just peeks in and out of the story and we are left with the family of vampires who just can't get it together. I eventually got tired of the tedious storyline. I was dissapointed that the description wasn't really what the story was about. Other reviewers mentioned the short chapters were a nuisance. I agree.

Rating:
Summary: one of the best vampire page turners
Review: Once again she has done it. The book is never dull from cover to cover and keeps you wanting to know what will happen next. The story and persona's of the charactors are excellent, and that is all that matters, if your a nit picker that likes to anilise every sentence I don't know what you will think of this story, if you read these books it has to be because you like storys, and as far as storys go this is one of the best in Mary Ann Mitchell's series.At this stage I'm a devoted fan ,having read all her books. I'm constantly hoping she writes more quickly so I can get her next book.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Comedy (but serious)
Review: The fourth installment of Mitchell's de Sade series is loaded with off the wall gore and a very interesting family of vampires, especially the baby, Chuckie. Fans of the series will not be disappointed, and the added dark humor does not ruin the seriousness of the series. The short chapters are a plus if you do not like to read...the book breezes by.

Rating:
Summary: So Much Potential
Review: The Marquis de Sade is an immortal vampire?!?
What a premise. Oozes with potential, however Mitchell writes a novel of the hunt and hunted of the undead in a convoluted plot of family of vampires trying to escape from Sade's what else sadism haha.
In particular the first few chapters are such a mishmash of characters and scenes you need a scorecard to keep all the players in this game of undead cat and mouse straight. Mitchell only excarerates the situation, by sometimes referring to de Sade as de Sade and sometimes as Louis (it took me half the novel to discover they were the same person).
This is a novel brimming with potential.... unfortantely wasted, the premise places a fresh spin on the vampire mythos, yet in an attempt to write flourishing prose (which succeeds in parts but not in enough passages) with the grace of de Sade's own style the author boggled the reader down with too muc h style without depth.
Mitchell compounds the weaknesses of this story by instead using the vampire's innate sensuality to help tell the tale relies on shock value graphically depicting her love/sex scenes very heavy handedly.
If you are desperate to read a slightly different vampire novel I may recommend this book to you but there are many better books on the market. Also if I was asked to point out example of wasted potential I would recommend this book and point it out as being a case in point.
Writing this review was no fun, after all as a creature of the night it pains me to pan this novel, but honesty prevails in the end.

Rating:
Summary: Dark Comedy (but serious)
Review: The review on the back cover states that "Mitchell is able to write without the stuffiness that puffs out the majority of modern vampire novels.." I wouldn't call the basics of good fiction writing "stuffy." While the book has a good plot and some interesting characters, the 3-5 page chapters are a real put-off. The book dares to deal with some rough topics- vampire homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, infanticide, and patricide. Mitchell is to be commended for the courage to incorporate such themes. The writing, however, is atrocious. You can't delight in the horror when you are laughing at the inept writing. Examples: excessive use of telling rather than showing ("A rug was thrown over them" instead of the active voice- "Sade threw a rug over them." Similes which are cliche- "throwing her body down as if she had run a two-day marathon." Needless,annoying, and repetitive alliteration ("a ghastly ghost waited for them").
Stephen King advises aspiring writers (In his book ON WRITING) to read voraciously-both the good and the bad. The good novels teach you what to do, and the bad ones teach you what not to do. Unfortunately, this book is an example of the latter.

Rating:
Summary: Tainted Storytelling
Review: The review on the back cover states that "Mitchell is able to write without the stuffiness that puffs out the majority of modern vampire novels.." I wouldn't call the basics of good fiction writing "stuffy." While the book has a good plot and some interesting characters, the 3-5 page chapters are a real put-off. The book dares to deal with some rough topics- vampire homosexuality, lesbianism, incest, infanticide, and patricide. Mitchell is to be commended for the courage to incorporate such themes. The writing, however, is atrocious. You can't delight in the horror when you are laughing at the inept writing. Examples: excessive use of telling rather than showing ("A rug was thrown over them" instead of the active voice- "Sade threw a rug over them." Similes which are cliche- "throwing her body down as if she had run a two-day marathon." Needless,annoying, and repetitive alliteration ("a ghastly ghost waited for them").
Stephen King advises aspiring writers (In his book ON WRITING) to read voraciously-both the good and the bad. The good novels teach you what to do, and the bad ones teach you what not to do. Unfortunately, this book is an example of the latter.