Come Twilight: A Novel of Saint-Germain

Rating:
Summary: Terrifying & Thrilling Saint-Germain book
Review: Come Twilight is one of the most powerful Saint-Germain novels that Yarbro has written to date. As usual, her writing and historical research is top-notch; the reader feels like they are part of Spanish history, be it the 7th, 8th, or 12th century. This book is darker, bloodier, and more disturbing than many of Yarbro's, but given the long history of what is now Spain, nothing seems out of place.

My favorite part of the book was the character of Csimenae, and seeing how she grew from a strong-willed woman to an utterly evil vampire. This character is probably one of Yarbro's most terrifying creations.

I also liked how we more about Roger in this book, as well as other parts of Saint-Germain's long, undead life. We also see Olivia through the letters; another great character.

I hope Yarbro will have another Saint-Germain book out soon!

Rating:
Summary: Of Interest to St. Germain Completists, But Not Of the Best
Review: If, like me, you've read all of the St. Germain Chronicles, you will want to read Come Twilight, but if you're just starting to read Yarbro's vampire books, I don't recommend you start with this one. Since the St. Germain books range through time from ancient Egypt to the outbreak of World War II, it is understandable that Yarbro has some difficulty in creating narrative tension concerning St.Germain, when she writes about his life during an earlier period of history. Nevertheless, there is less narrative tension here than in many of the books in the series. It is true, as mentioned in the review printed with this book, that Yarbro does not ascribe to historical persons 21st century attitudes. It is also true that this can be a weakness, as well as a strength, in her work. It can become tiresome to read about female characters with no scope for change in their lives, or people, such as Csimenae (the female vampire character in this book), who are incapable of learning or experiencing emotional growth and intellectual change. Even St. Germain and his relationship with Roger can
sometimes become just so much rote behavioral habit. Come Twilight made me long for the passion and fire and narrative drive of the earlier books in the series, such as Roman Blood, Path of the Eclipse, and Tempting Fate.

Since we know that St. Germain will survive into the 20th century, the narrative drive has to come largely through the supporting characters in the novels. The supporting characters in this particular novel, however, were just not sufficiently compelling to make me care about their survival.

Rating:
Summary: Thirteenth in the Saint Germain series.
Review: Or fourteenth, if you count "Out of the House of Life", a spinoff novel primarily about the character of Madeline de Montalia, a vampiric "childe" of Saint Germain, but also including some flashback scenes featuring an early Saint Germain.

Or seventeenth, if you also include "A Flame In Byzantium", "Crusader's Torch", and "A Candle For d'Artagnan", a spinoff series about Olivia Atta Clemens, an earlier offspring.

Throughout the series, the best part of these novels is the character of the count Saint-Germain himself; he is an unmitigated hero, not the anti-hero that one usually sees in vampire novels, and that's a fascinating change of pace. He always explains that he wasn't always the urbane, elegant, even-tempered, kind and sensitive individual that he is now; four thousand years ago, when he became a vampire, he was a typical ravening beast, but he outgrew it. This is a marvellous and original perspective on vampirism, and a delightfully optimistic outlook on humanity: that given sufficient time, ANYBODY can grow up, even a bloodthirsty creature of the night.

As a result, what we have in this series is a series of historical novels, set at various points along the very long time-line of Saint Germain's life. We generally see very little of other vampires, other than occasionally seeing those who Saint Germain has made vampires in previous books. (Generally, we see even these only in their correspondence with Saint Germain; I cannot remember any book in which we see more of them than this except for "Tempting Fate", in which we see quite a bit of Madeline de Montalia, and one short story in the collection "The Chronicles of Saint Germain", in which we see the count in conflict with a more traditionally minded vampire.) This book is the exception to that rule, as well as the rule that each book covers a "point" on his time-line. This book is told in three sections, each a separate point of its own: one in the seventh century, one in the eighth, and one in the twelfth. This divergence from form is necessary in order to show the fact that interactions between vampires are by necessity very long-term things. The main conflict in this book is between Saint Germain and a woman who he makes into a vampire early in the book, and who refuses to accept him as a mentor on how to manage her new life and the powers that go with it.

This was an interesting change of pace, but resulted in a novel that was long on sub-plots, but had less primary plot than it might have. In addition, it made it difficult to see Saint Germain interacting with mortals as one normally would, because by definition, none of the mortals survived more than a third of the book. We did see interations, but there wasn't time to develop them as there normally would be, and that left them feeling rushed. Still, the loss of that aspect of the books was easily compensated for by the novelty of seeing other vampires, vampires who acted as vampires are expected to, for a change.

Not one of the best in the series, but far from the worst.