Covenant with the Vampire

Covenant with the Vampire is the beginning of a trilogy of books that serve as both prequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula as well as serve as a gap filler. Who are the Vampire Brides? Who is Van Helsing and what is his connection to Dracula? Why does Dracula seek to come to England? This series attempts to answer those questions and more, and is off to a fantastic start. It is chilling, with the same level of eroticism the original novel had (just updated for modern standards), and thoroughly entertaining.

The only criticism I can level against it is that it's an epistolary novel, written in journals and diaries just as the original Dracula is. That format served the more placid Dracula well, but this novel has a lot more action and a lot more suspense in it, and the effects of those actions are undermined by the journal format. Sometimes the journals feel too vivid, as if we're experiencing it in real time, and sometimes the journals feel like a bit of a stretch, such as when a character is convinced that he is mad spending time writing things out in proper English? One of the final actions in the climax of the book is rendered suspenseless by the journal format, as it takes place in the character's own journal so that the reader immediately knows that the event can't move towards the ending the writer is suggesting.

That's just a minor complaint about the book. Every fan of Dracula should do themselves a service and read this series. ( )

I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this book but I found it such a chore to read. If you take a look at the excerpt, the format is in diary form, alternating between Arkady, his wife, Mary and his sister, Zsuzsanna. So it's more of a narrative, detailing their observations, thoughts and experiences in detail than anything which I found that tiresome. I found myself skimming the pages furiously and gleaning through the dialogue just to speed up the story. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.com/1995/07/covenant-with-vampire-jeanne-kalogridis.ht... ( )

Arkady Tsepesh has returned to his childhood home to Transylvania with his pregnant wife Mary to take the place of his deceased father as the caretaker to his eccentric uncle, Prince Vlad. Arkady decides to begin writing a journal to record the painful days ahead and to also remember his father. The only other family member left is his older sister, Zsuzsanna, who was born crippled. Unfortunately the Tespesh family is plagued by madness, tragedy and children born deformed or dying young.

Once back at the family home, Mary notices strange things about Arkady’s uncle. He doesn’t eat or drink. He also pays too much attention to Zsuzsanna than Mary is comfortable with. Mary is warned by her servant, Masika, to get away before it is too late. She witnesses many things that have her scared to death and she can’t seem to get through to Arkady what a monster his uncle is.

Things are about to become worse because Prince Vlad has broken the covenant and the peasants know if he is already preying on his family that they will be next. Arkady feels the madness descending upon him. He starts seeing his older brother, Stefan, who was mauled by their family dog when Arkady was five. He thinks that Stefan is trying to tell him something but he can’t seem to figure it out.

The entire story is told through diary entries of Arkady, Mary and Zsuzsanna. A very dark, intense read. It isn’t for the faint of heart because there is graphic scenes involving incest and necrophilia that had me cringing. ( )

After reading Dracula, I had an urge to read books based off of it. I wanted to see where else people's minds had taken them. So I picked up this series in the library.

Covenant with the Vampire is interesting. It's a lot more romance and erotica than I originally expected, but that could be a fault of not reading the back cover close enough. It follows Arkady Tsepesh and his wife, Mary, returning to Transylvania because Arkady's father has died. And what he founds out while he's there is that he has to stay and get his Uncle Vlad's affairs in order.

Of course, since this is a Dracula spin off and the uncle's name is Vlad, we know where that goes. Arkady is trying to get things straight but starts to realize that something seems off.

On the other hand, we follow his crippled sister Zsuzanna, who has an almost childish idolization of her uncle. This can not end well, of course. I won't spoil it, of course.

Written in diary entry, just like the original novel Dracula, it was a very entertaining read. Perhaps not the best, but a good start to a series I think. 4/5. ( )