Vivia

Rating:
Summary: Dark, mesmerizing, incomplete
Review: A haunting tale told in a calm, hypnotic voice.

The story is of the darkly beautiful Vivia, daughter of a feared and powerful warlord. A strange and deadly plague decimates the survivors of a bloody war, and Vivia, seeking to escape death, hides in the secret grotto deep under her father's castle. There, in the silent darkness, a presence seduces her and changes her, ensuring that Vivia's striking beauty and youth be a part of her forever. (I hesitate to say "vampire," since this was a somewhat nontraditional vampire story.)

Left alone to discover her powers on her own, Vivia hides again, and this time is found by the warrior prince, Zulgaris. An alchemist as well, Zulgaris is first drawn to Vivia's beauty but soon realizes that she harbors powers that he himself wants to make use of.

Vivia, for all of her experiences and abilities, mutely accepts everything that is done to her. Still unsure of exactly what her powers consist of (although she knows she has magic), she allows herself to be mistreated and experimented upon. The death she so feared during the plague is the death that now will never touch her. She can escape death, but not the cruelties of life. She must learn to take control of her own destiny.

*

Definitely not a tale for the timid. There is a lot of violence, and rape occurs throughout the novel. The language in some parts contains more vulgarity than is probably necessary. Tanith Lee's voice is ethereal and tells Vivia's story vividly. Tanith Lee impressively brings forth Vivia, who is detached from life and indifferent to life, although she scorns death. Vivia is not a likable character; she is cold, cruel, aloof, silent, and while not "weak," she meekly allows people to mistreat her. It was hard to accept that a person with such raw magical power (or anyone, for that matter) would simply allow herself to be so abused, and abused she is. Vivia the character, despite all that happens to her, elicits no sympathy. It's the haunting way that this story is told that redeems the book. The ending is vague and leaves room for a sequel.

For those who are Tanith Lee fans, and for those who like violent dark fantasy.

Rating:
Summary: A young girl suffering isolation
Review: I am a big fan of Tanith Lee for all the obvious reasons. She is not your usual writer. <g> This story is about Vivia, a young woman (girl who becomes a woman) whose world is changed by her meeting a vampire-like creature. Although the creature saves her from her destructive world, the future is about alienation and isolation. I am not sure what Ms. Lee really wanted to do in this haunting story. Her images are sometimes horrific, but always thoughtful. All and all, this is a wonderful tale of what it means to survive and be alone. And yes, we are all alone when we face life and death. We pretend otherwise, but in truth, isolation is our curse. There is a medieval setting, religious subplots, and a story about different kinds of love. Vivia chooses her destiny at each moment. As usual, Ms. Lee's language is wonderful.

Rating:
Summary: A Dissapointment
Review: I don't mean to be hard on Tanith Lee, but this book just wasn't all that enjoyable for me. The book "Vivia" did not seem to have that carefully crafted, beautiful text of Lee's previous work. In fact, it seemed to me that she wrote the book without enough thought in the content of the book. "Black Unicorn" took my breath away, both in the plot and character developement as well as the climactic ending. But "Vivia" seemed to lack that magic. The characters reluctantly move from chapter to chapter, containing no great dimension or interest. On top of that, this book desperately needs an editor. In short, if you want a good Tanith Lee book in the spirit of "Black Unicorn" and the "Claidi Journals," this is not the one to get.

Rating:
Summary: a good read but very violent, even for Tanith lee
Review: I have been a big fan of Tanith Lee starting all the way back with The Silver Metal Lover when I was in high school. I am 36 now, and recently really went crazy over the Paradys series. I guess my all time favorite is A Heroine of the World. I love all her books in all the different genres in which she writes. I found Vivia riveting (of course) and also relentlessly, horrifically violent and sadistic. It almost seems like Ms. Lee was seeing how far in this direction she could go. I have not read a lot of her horror books, but I think this would rank amongst the more extreme. (for instance, there are a lot of crucifixions and impalings described in loving detail) Anyway, just thought I would write down my opinion for other die-hard fans out there-- this one made even ME cringe.

Rating:
Summary: A little darkness with my dark.
Review: So this is my first Tanith Lee book, and I'm thinking I'm probably going to read another. This lady can write.

That being said, this book was good - not great - but good. Lee's very adept at creating a mood; the atmosphere of Vivia is brooding, dark, and sultry. Unfortunately, it never breaks out of those three modes, and I think it stifles the story. I personally don't mind dark books - they're okay - but there has to be some kind of brightness SOMEWHERE to offset all the negative energy.

This book never quite rose to the occasion. It maintained a dark, depressing pace, with a main character who never quite comes to understand her own worth - or depth. That's where the story falls short. You never see if the author KNOWS how to write anything other than the moody dark stuff. I like a palette - a buffet of moods, if you will - because I think it allows an author to fully flush out their characters AND explore the depths of their own writing.

So all in all, would I recommend this? Yes, I would. But there's an asterisk next to that. I'd read it, BUT . . .

Three out of five.

Happy reading.

Rating:
Summary: A little darkness with my dark.
Review: So this is my first Tanith Lee book, and I'm thinking I'm probably going to read another. This lady can write.

That being said, this book was good - not great - but good. Lee's very adept at creating a mood; the atmosphere of Vivia is brooding, dark, and sultry. Unfortunately, it never breaks out of those three modes, and I think it stifles the story. I personally don't mind dark books - they're okay - but there has to be some kind of brightness SOMEWHERE to offset all the negative energy.

This book never quite rose to the occasion. It maintained a dark, depressing pace, with a main character who never quite comes to understand her own worth - or depth. That's where the story falls short. You never see if the author KNOWS how to write anything other than the moody dark stuff. I like a palette - a buffet of moods, if you will - because I think it allows an author to fully flush out their characters AND explore the depths of their own writing.

So all in all, would I recommend this? Yes, I would. But there's an asterisk next to that. I'd read it, BUT . . .

Three out of five.

Happy reading.

Rating:
Summary: Haunting & beautifully written, but ultimately unsatisfying
Review: Tanith Lee's writing, as so many others have observed, is literate, beautiful and evocative. The first 2/3 was mesmerizing but the tale unraveled in the last third. Vivia never really learns the scope and nature of her powers except accidentally; the compelling and mysterious presence who transforms her into a vampire appears only for a few pages of the narrative (leaving both the reader and Vivia unsatisfied and mystified), and the story finally peters out in the last chapter leaving more questions unanswered than not. Notwithstanding, I'm hoping hard that Ms. Lee will produce a sequel and tie up the many, many compelling loose threads she left dangling in Vivia.

Rating:
Summary: Not A Favorite
Review: This was not a Tanith Lee favorite book, although it's very good light reading (try it on the treadmill), and Lee's sex scenes are always good. It's almost like an historical romance set in a fantasy world. The ending kind of petered out. Sometimes After Sunset was a much better sample of this genre.

Rating:
Summary: A Dissapointment
Review: Vivia is among the most unsettling of Tanith Lee's novels, which is saying quite a lot if you've read her. It's a richly textured vampire novel set within a gruesome medieval realm that includes alternate versions of Vlad the Impaler (who gets impaled himself) and the Christian religion. Although Vivia herself is aloof and perhaps not even likeable, she was highly sympathetic because the problems she deals with (fear of death, alienation from others) are universal. I know several people like her, who seem to inexplicably submit at times to what life offers them. In tone, Vivia is highly reminiscent of Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Also, Tanith Lee's prose is in particularly high style, almost elliptical, sometimes, admittedly, even hard to understand, but refreshing from all other fantasy novels. I think Lee was hinting at her own style in the descriptive painting scenes towards the end of the novel. I highly recommend it; I loved reading it. And the ending, for me, was very satisfying- true to Vivia's character.

Rating:
Summary: evocative, dark fantasy
Review: Vivia is among the most unsettling of Tanith Lee's novels, which is saying quite a lot if you've read her. It's a richly textured vampire novel set within a gruesome medieval realm that includes alternate versions of Vlad the Impaler (who gets impaled himself) and the Christian religion. Although Vivia herself is aloof and perhaps not even likeable, she was highly sympathetic because the problems she deals with (fear of death, alienation from others) are universal. I know several people like her, who seem to inexplicably submit at times to what life offers them. In tone, Vivia is highly reminiscent of Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Also, Tanith Lee's prose is in particularly high style, almost elliptical, sometimes, admittedly, even hard to understand, but refreshing from all other fantasy novels. I think Lee was hinting at her own style in the descriptive painting scenes towards the end of the novel. I highly recommend it; I loved reading it. And the ending, for me, was very satisfying- true to Vivia's character.