sparkatito's review against another edition
Really dated, bad psychology mixed with bad vampire sex
verkisto's review
2.0
I like Rusch's style, but this book felt off-kilter throughout. It's about vampires (more to the point, it's using vampirism as an allegory for abuse and how it runs in the family), but there are parts of the mythology that don't make much sense. Vampirism is commonly known in the world, but the laws about them are unconvincing. They're legal, but only to a certain point, at which they're legally executed, guerilla-style, by teams of eradicators. Plus, when one of the characters begins to turn, it's like he's unaware of vampires, even though he's known about them for all of his life.
The pacing feels off, too. The exposition (especially when Ben is being introduced to the vampires that will assist him for much of the book) feels rushed, and the ending feels likewise. Worse, the ending feels unfinished, but that makes me wonder if Rusch intended for the book to be the first in a series. Other parts of the book move along slowly, and Rusch chooses the oddest things to describe or focus on. There's a section of the book where she describes the airport in Eugene, OR in such detail that it feels like it's become a travelogue. Most of the sections that feel out of place are the ones where she's devoting particular attention to the cities in the northwest.
Still, Rusch knows how to keep the reader's interest. She uses the main character's lost history as a maguffin for the first third of the novel, and that kept me reading. Rusch's style is nonchalant, and it throws you off when it comes to determining how engaged you are in the story. It doesn't feel gripping, but when you have to stop reading, you become aware that you don't want to.
It also feels strangely misogynistic, which threw me, since the book was written by a female author. Rusch uses a strong woman as her principle character, but she also has characters who are disposable, the most prominent one being a woman. She includes men and women as being disposable (e.g., for use by the vampires), but the one that matters the most, story- and emotion-wise, is barely developed, and then killed off because she's pregnant.
I went back and forth in how I felt about the book, but in the end, it was disappointing. Rusch has a tremendous reputation (having been the editor of The Magazine of F&SF is no small achievement), but this book didn't show that. Facade also felt off in certain ways, but somehow Sins of the Blood is worse in that respect, despite the ambitious theme.
Abyss #43
The pacing feels off, too. The exposition (especially when Ben is being introduced to the vampires that will assist him for much of the book) feels rushed, and the ending feels likewise. Worse, the ending feels unfinished, but that makes me wonder if Rusch intended for the book to be the first in a series. Other parts of the book move along slowly, and Rusch chooses the oddest things to describe or focus on. There's a section of the book where she describes the airport in Eugene, OR in such detail that it feels like it's become a travelogue. Most of the sections that feel out of place are the ones where she's devoting particular attention to the cities in the northwest.
Still, Rusch knows how to keep the reader's interest. She uses the main character's lost history as a maguffin for the first third of the novel, and that kept me reading. Rusch's style is nonchalant, and it throws you off when it comes to determining how engaged you are in the story. It doesn't feel gripping, but when you have to stop reading, you become aware that you don't want to.
It also feels strangely misogynistic, which threw me, since the book was written by a female author. Rusch uses a strong woman as her principle character, but she also has characters who are disposable, the most prominent one being a woman. She includes men and women as being disposable (e.g., for use by the vampires), but the one that matters the most, story- and emotion-wise, is barely developed, and then killed off because she's pregnant.
I went back and forth in how I felt about the book, but in the end, it was disappointing. Rusch has a tremendous reputation (having been the editor of The Magazine of F&SF is no small achievement), but this book didn't show that. Facade also felt off in certain ways, but somehow Sins of the Blood is worse in that respect, despite the ambitious theme.
Abyss #43
More...