The New Dracula: Pale Immortal
Written: Oct 07 '07 (Updated Oct 07 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Storyline, both main & secondary characters, writing style
Cons: excessive swear words, have to buy 2nd book to find out about main character
The Bottom Line: An interesting modern day vampire story.
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| cmaw63's Full Review: Anne Frasier - Pale Immortal |
Tuonela, Wisconsin has a 100 year old secret. Anne Frasier has taken that secret and made it into one of her best books yet. Is Tuonela a real place? Not according to any research I have done. Yet, Anne does warn in the foreword that it will only appear on a map 10% of the time. The other 90% Tuonela is a ghost town that only appears in stories passed around Wisconsin cafes.
100 years ago Richard Manchester enjoyed drinking the blood of others. Eventually the Pale Immortal was killed by the townspeople he had been stalking and buried somewhere in Old Tuonela.
New Tuonela, built a few miles from the original town, is experiencing the same fear as 100 years ago. A body is found with all the blood drained from it. Another woman is missing.
Evan Stroud is an author confined to his house during daylight hours. He has made his fortune by writing about the history of Tuonela. Suffering from porphyria, an allergy to the sun and other forms of UV rays, he only leaves his house during the nighttime. Some townspeople believe he is a vampire, the new Pale Immortal. Evan has other things to worry about, like the teenage son dropped on his doorstep that he didn't know he had.
Graham, the son, falls in with the wrong crowd. Namely the group of boys calling themselves the Pale Immortals. Kids playing at becoming vampires...or are they?
When Graham disappears has he become the next victim or the next Pale Immortal?
Nicely done Anne
Anne Frasier did a good job of blending Old Tuonela history with New Tuonela happenings. I enjoyed the way she weaved the original Pale Immortal into the main character's life. Evan Stroud is likable, but I was never quite sure if he was or wasn't a vampire. It lent an air of mystery that kept me interested in finding out more about him.
Of course there was the token romance involving Evan and Rachel Burton, the town coroner/medical examiner. Rachel lent strength to the story rather than just being a bit of fluff thrown in. She had a purpose and the romance took a secondary seat to the main storyline. In my opinion that is how it should be in a mystery/thriller.
Graham is a confused teenager with an abusive mother. He was written with typical abused child tendencies. He is able to "go somewhere else in his mind". He was a realistic addition that I often wanted to pull out of the story and hug.
The secondary characters are almost as important as the main characters. Frasier found the balance of just enough players to keep the story twisting, without confusing me with the abundance of them.
Pale Immortal is, at times, a graphic book. Frasier describes events in such a way that I could picture the scenario. At times those scenarios can be rather disturbing. In the context of this book it worked, though. What did detract from the book was the overuse of some swear words. In places those words were effective, other times they were unnecessary. The other thing that bothered me is I now have to buy a second book to find out what is really going on with Evan Stroud. It isn't a big thing as I'm always buying new books but, I wanted to know the answer NOW.
I will be buying the next Pale Immortal book. I enjoyed this one and feel that Frasier will do just as good with the next. That in itself is a recommendation. I finished this one and am on my way to uncover the mystery of Evan Stroud.
updated: The next book is Garden of Darkness and isn't available until December 2007
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
cmaw63
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 in Pets, Home and Garden, Books |
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Member: Julie
Location: Illinois, USA
Reviews written: 307
Trusted by: 71 members
About Me:
Looking forward to my first grandbaby. She's due November 24!
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