More Than Mortal

Rating:
Summary: none
Review: Farren's writing is lyrically haunting, built around an exquisite backbeat of a dark and disturbing decadence...Gary S. Potter Author/Poet

Rating:
Summary: Plot? What Plot?
Review: I enjoyed the first two "Renquist" novels, despite some glaring inconsistances. However, "More than Mortal" was too tedius to be fun.

Farren's writing seems to be getting more and more florid and he spends far too much time on pointless descriptions. It took Renquist 10 pages (of very small print) just to get into the priory to say "hi" to the troika. And all he did for those 10 pages was skulk around -- there was no action, just lots of retoric.

The basis of the novel, the finding of "the Merlin" a.k.a. an Ursu left over from the beginning, hardly figured into the story. Most of the time is spent describing scottish habits, dress codes, and behaviors while the reader has to fight his or her way through trying to figure out the meanings of pages of supposed scottish accents. How irritating.

The final denoument is nothing at all -- the Merlin wakes up, the Merlin chats awhile, and the Merlin leaves. Renquist and his merry band are left looking like morons and wandering around the Fenrior's castle trying to figure out what next -- apparently so was the author. He just gave up and went home. Don't waste your money.

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Summary: Renquist is back!
Review: In More than Mortal, Mick Farren gives us another instalment in the life of Renquist, the vampire. This third novel in the series appears to be a launching pad for an extended story arc and while it is complete in itself and is thoroughly enjoyable (this is Mick Farren after all) it is definitely a scene setter for whatever comes next. Renquist receives a message from Columbine, an old flame. She is living in a remote English village in an ancient priory with two other nosferatu Marieko and Destry.

Destry is mad about horses and at one point in the novel someone asks, "Where's Destry?"

"She's riding again," is the (inevitable) reply.

You have to admire the sheer nerve of an author who can put a joke as bad as that one into a novel.

Anyway - the point of asking Renquist to come to England is that Columbine has detected psychic radiation from an old Saxon burial mound near the priory. The mound is currently being investigated by an archaeological team and Columbine is a little frightened at what they might uncover. Renquist To The Rescue!

He finds things to be a bit more dangerous than he expected. The being in the burial mound is the extra-terrestrial who was once known to human history as Merlin. In that guise he played a large part in the Matter of Britain, and it seems that his ambition in this area is not yet satisfied. Renquist has his work cut out for him as he tries to foil both Merlin's plans and also the ambitions of a feudal clan of Scottish nosferatu who have their own secret agenda for the newly revitalised being. There is an ending of sorts, but it is nicely ambiguous. We haven't seen the last of Merlin.

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Summary: The most intelligent vampire books I've ever read.
Review: Mick Farren not only takes a new and very thoughtful approach to the subject of vampires, but he sets them in the present. He writes with such newness and is so very literate, that one is torn between describing him as a horror writer or a writer of simply great literature. Anyone who has ever had the intense pleasure of reading his books will know exactly what I am talking about. He writes an extremely absorbing book and one which will make you think as well. My very grateful thanks to him.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better
Review: Nosferatu Victor Renquist struggles to rebuild his American based vampire colony when he receives the summons from three females of his species, including a former love. Knowing this is not a friendly visit between old friends, Victor drops everything to go to Ravenskeep Priory, England where he learns that Homo Sapiens archeologists disturbed the gravesite of Taliesin, better known as Merlin. The return of Merlin to the world means the belief that the Urshu species is extinct is no longer true.

The question facing Victor and his vampire allies is whether to kill Taliesin before he becomes a powerful wizard that could destroy the current balance of power. As the brooding Nosferatu debate what to do, power struggles and duels from within leave the group somewhat disabled as no can take charge to make the final decisions on the emergence of an Urshu.

Based on his previous novels in this series, this reviewer expected to spend time on a Nosferatu feast, but instead felt lost in the dark of an anemic plot. The background of MORE THAN MORTAL is deep so that readers understand the difference between the species and somewhat how they were "planted" on the planet. The concept of this Merlin is intriguing and the insight into the Nosferatu is quite illuminating. With all that going for it, this novel could have been the horror-fantasy tale of the year, but instead Mick Farren gives fans a tale that feels more like an in betweener novel.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Plot? What Plot?
Review: There is a good deal of suspension of disbelief when reading a vampire/nosferatu novel. Much depends on character and atmosphere. Mr. Farren has a real gift for presenting weak, flat characters and nonsensical atmosphere! The snobbishness and pretentiousness aren't a great problem. The difficulty is is remarkable silliness! He attempts to be "scholarly," and makes repeated errors. A great deal of emphasis is placed on Renquist's education and fluency in Latin, then he is impressed by dog-Latin in which he is called "brothers in blood." He seems to have been born to a Norman baron half a century before the Norman Conquest; Farren can't spell Norman or Saxon names. "Victor of Redlands" in 1000 AD is left with ONLY a sword, suit of armor, and cavalry horse capable of carrying a mounted knight; that's like saying the illegitimate son was "disinherited" with only $ 50,000, a car, and a military education! He thinks a priory is inhabited by a whole bunch of priors! It goes on and on!

This might have worked if Farren had stuck to the punk/grunge/ Goth style. As it is, he's thrown in everything from references to H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker to his personal prejudices. The confusion, dull dialogue, stereotypes, and messiness are dreadful.

Rating:
Summary: Less than entertaining
Review: There is a good deal of suspension of disbelief when reading a vampire/nosferatu novel. Much depends on character and atmosphere. Mr. Farren has a real gift for presenting weak, flat characters and nonsensical atmosphere! The snobbishness and pretentiousness aren't a great problem. The difficulty is is remarkable silliness! He attempts to be "scholarly," and makes repeated errors. A great deal of emphasis is placed on Renquist's education and fluency in Latin, then he is impressed by dog-Latin in which he is called "brothers in blood." He seems to have been born to a Norman baron half a century before the Norman Conquest; Farren can't spell Norman or Saxon names. "Victor of Redlands" in 1000 AD is left with ONLY a sword, suit of armor, and cavalry horse capable of carrying a mounted knight; that's like saying the illegitimate son was "disinherited" with only $ 50,000, a car, and a military education! He thinks a priory is inhabited by a whole bunch of priors! It goes on and on!

This might have worked if Farren had stuck to the punk/grunge/ Goth style. As it is, he's thrown in everything from references to H.P. Lovecraft and Bram Stoker to his personal prejudices. The confusion, dull dialogue, stereotypes, and messiness are dreadful.

Rating:
Summary: Castles in the Night
Review: This is Mick Farren's third effort in a series that focuses on the adventures of Victor Renquist, the 1,000 year old master of a vampire nest in Los Angeles. Farren's vampires are the results of alien genetic experiments about 15,000 years ago, but are otherwise fairly traditional. While not particularly averse to religious symbolism, they can be destroyed by light and must sleep during the day. Taken as a subculture, they are a weird and degenerate group, ranging from Victor's suave style and manners to half insane Scotsmen who go on regular blood rampages. For the most part they are not 'evil' but they have no particular feelings of remorse about using people for their regular diet.

In this tale Victor is called to England to help with a curious problem that has overtaken a troika of female vampires. These creatures are Columbine Dashwood, a regency beauty who has a severe intelligence problem; Marieko Matsunaga, deadly as both Japanese courtesan and swordswoman; and, finally, Destry Maitland; who has spent much of both her life and her unlife as a mercenary. Destry possesses Dormandu, an Uzbek, the incredibly rare hereditary steed of the warrior vampires. The problem Victor has been called on for is that digging at a nearby archeological site has started to awaken something that has begun to affect the women's dreams, especially Columbine. Anything that can do that is a threat that can't be ignored.

Victor arrives to discover that the dig hides the resting place of an ancient Urshu, known as Taliesin the Great Merlin. The Urshu were a creation of the same aliens that bred the vampires. They were considerably more powerful than vampires, especially in powers of illusion and are able to work in daylight. Nor do they require the normal vampire diet. The Urshu were created to help protect humanity and so are often opposed to their vampire relatives. To add to Victor's problems, Fenrior, the vampire Laird of a huge clan of Scottish vampires is also much interested in the waking Urshu. He will stop at nothing to get control of the Merlin and discover its secrets.

Reader's used to the frantic action of the average vampire thriller will find Farren's work a bit of a different experience. "More Than Mortal" moves at stately pace and takes the time to dwell on its characters and the settings in which they move. I find this a refreshing change from the paperback that can be gulped down in a handful of hours and just as quickly forgotten. The lover of characters will enjoy the return of Lupo, the master assassin, the self-centered empty-headedness of the fair Columbine, as well as the cold, calculating Renquist. Not that there isn't plenty of action, it just doesn't all happen at once, if you know what I mean. It would never be considered dull or bloodless. The book stands well on its own, but the reader would benefit from having at least read the first in the series, "The Time of Feasting."