A review by annasirius
Blood Maidens by Barbara Hambly
3.0
Those who hunt the night stunned me with its subtlety, its love for detail, its language, its narration style. Travelling with the dead felt as if it had been written under more time pressure: the language was not as superb, the story telling not as subtle. It was still an enjoyable read but not quite what I'd hoped for after the first volume. Blood maidens - I agree with previous reviews - had a plotline that did not engage me and felt in parts like a repition of the previous books. I was also not really intruiged by the interpersonal moral conflicts. This probably could have been prevented if the author had changed her narration style, from a somewhat remote perspective of reporting the characters' subjective perceptions rather than allowing the reader to experience them. To adapt the narration style to the changing relationships between the three main characters would have made sense to me. As it stands, the style was perfect for book 1, but here it stood between me as the reader and a deeper connection with the story.
Another point that made it hard for me to enjoy this book was its view of Germany and its use of the German language. I understand that the characters, British and Russian people a few years before the first world war, would have their (well founded) prejudices against Germans. However, the dislike seemed to seep into every part of the book. The Dresden vampires, e.g. were described as provincial good-for-nothings that Ysidro does not even wish to interview. Dresden is a city resplendent of baroque architecture and chuck full with art collections and theatres - how it would be snubbed when Prague is glorified is beyond me. This reduction of the German Reich to mindless militarism and striving for power offended me. (Bavaria was treated somewhat better than the North, even though it was part of the Reich as well. I have to admit, at this point, that regional rivalries in Germany led to me being bothered by this even more.)
I felt that how someone would slip from English into their original language was not always well portrayed. This doesn't usually happen by slipping in a single word but by using phrases, half sentences - and these would be grammatically correct in the context of the sentence.
Another point that made it hard for me to enjoy this book was its view of Germany and its use of the German language. I understand that the characters, British and Russian people a few years before the first world war, would have their (well founded) prejudices against Germans. However, the dislike seemed to seep into every part of the book. The Dresden vampires, e.g. were described as provincial good-for-nothings that Ysidro does not even wish to interview. Dresden is a city resplendent of baroque architecture and chuck full with art collections and theatres - how it would be snubbed when Prague is glorified is beyond me. This reduction of the German Reich to mindless militarism and striving for power offended me. (Bavaria was treated somewhat better than the North, even though it was part of the Reich as well. I have to admit, at this point, that regional rivalries in Germany led to me being bothered by this even more.)
I felt that how someone would slip from English into their original language was not always well portrayed. This doesn't usually happen by slipping in a single word but by using phrases, half sentences - and these would be grammatically correct in the context of the sentence.