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VAMPIRE CITY

by Paul Féval
Black Coat Press
, September 2003
200 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 0974071161


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

VAMPIRE CITY was first published in 1867 but this latest translated edition also contains an introduction, an afterword and notes by Brian Stableford. It is one of three translations of Paul Féval’s work (along with NIGHTSHADE and THE VAMPIRE COUNTESS) by Stableford. If you were wondering whether there were any vampire books written before DRACULA then you would be forgiven for thinking that this was not the case. However, VAMPIRE CITY was written 30 years before Bram Stoker’s DRACULA but is not as well known apart from by those who have an interest in the genre.

Gothic author Ann Radcliffe, along with her intrepid vampire-tracking cohorts, Irishman Merry Bones, her faithful old servant Grey Jack, revenge-driven Dr Magnus Szegeli and one of the vampire’s previous victims a young woman called Polly Bird, attempt to save her friends from the dreaded vampire lord Otto Goetzi. They launch an attack on the Vampire City known as Selene, which was based in Europe.

As Radcliffe narrates the story, we are introduced to the vampire whose strengths and weaknesses are not the ones that we as readers have come to expect. With a chase across Europe and back, and an inn full of vampires and the requisite trap-filled castle, VAMPIRE CITY is certainly full of colourful incidents.

As interesting and enjoyable as this book was, there were also aspects of it that were rather annoying, but it could be the case that at the time it was written one could get away with such things. The novel is full of trite devices such as several suitors competing for the hand of an heiress; the evil man who whisks her away so he can possess her fortune; a spunky heroine with an idiosyncratic manservant; numerous opportune, unachievable rescues by coincidence; and the having-it-both-ways ending.

It is interesting to note that in his afterword Stableford considers that Bram Stoker’s DRACULA has had a much more influential effect on the state of current vampire books than any other earlier book featuring vampires have.

This is not a book to be taken seriously but if you enjoy reading a Gothic eerie tale that is as surreal as it is humorous and like a sense of adventure then VAMPIRE CITY will be right up your street.

Reviewed by Ayo Onatade, July 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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