What a marvellous book! George R.R. Martin knows how to create characters. The dense atmosphere and the unique story with a different look at vampires makes this book one of my all-time favourite. ( )

What a marvellous book! George R.R. Martin knows how to create characters. The dense atmosphere and the unique story with a different look at vampires makes this book one of my all-time favourite. ( )

Blurbed on the back as being a modern Mark Twain it's nothing of the sort, the closet comparison is possibly Jerkyl and Hyde. Dark and bloodthirsty, as one always expects Martin's work to be, there is still some underlying beauty, but nothing of Twains satire.

Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain on the Mississippi in it's heyday of the 1850s. A few unlucky years have seen him reduced from owner of a proud fleet to just a single rustbucket. When a stranger makes an extremely rich offer to enter intopartnership, Abner is almost certain it is too good to be true. However he accepts, and soon builds a magnificent new steamboat with hope of being fastest on the river. His new partner sail, Joshua York, with him, and Abner starts to become very curious about his peculiar habits. Eventually he manages to persuede Joshua to reveal all, and finds himself embroiled in somethinf far deeper and darker than he could ever have imagined taking place on his, already violent, river.

Although we don't get much in the way of characterisation there is a pervading sense of gothic gloom that is well described. this is neatly contrasted with the high fires and sparks of the steamboats themselves in all their glory. Fortunetly Martin hasn't attempted too much in the way of dialect but for those of sensitive disposition there is a lot of usage of 'nigger' - as would have been the case at the time. Very little is made of the political situation between the slavery and free states that the Mississippi trades along. Abner turns out to be against slavery, but no particular reason is given for this, and I'm not sure how mornal that would have been.

The ending is all fairly predictable, but there is a decent adherance to vampire 'canon' and clever explanations of deviatins from it. Engaging read, slightly to dark to be enjoyable, Martin is skilled at atmosphere and actions, less so with the inner depths of human mind.

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A southern gothic vampire tale set on the Mississippi River, this feels like Anne Rice meets Mark Twain and in the true spirit of the mash up, isn't anything like as good as either.One of the vampires (in this universe a different species who have always existed alongside humans) finds a cure for what he calls 'the thirst'. This stops him wanting to kill people and he endeavours to get chummy with them instead. The other vampires he comes across, however, greet this innovation with varying enthusiasm.

A gentle pace and just the right amount of historical detail make this a joy to read, but the vampires seem out of place, even in the dark, damp decay of the 19th century American south, which is rather a fundamental problem. Some of the action nearer the end was repetitive and could have been condensed. However, considering other books in this genre, the subject matter was delicately handled with the author avoiding the lurid even if he sometimes slips into cliché.

I first read this book years ago and it stuck with me, when I got the chance to re-read it I did so almost reluctantly, would it be as good as I first remembered? Thankfully yes, it's everything a vampire story set in 1850's deep south America on a steamboat should be!
Abner Marsh a river boat captain has a failing steamboat business when a stranger, Joshua York (I know - couldn't sound more like a vampire's name if he tried), contacts him offering to be his business partner and save his failing company. Together they build and run the Fevre Dream, one of the biggest, brightest and fastest steamboats on the Mississippi. For Abner it is a chance to live his dream of running the fastest boat on the river, for Joshua it is an opportunity to discover his past, where he came from, who he is and to try and help his lost 'family'.
This is a great historical fantasy novel, the pace of the novel drives you onward, especially the chapters in the book when they are chasing and being chased down the Mississippi. There is not a great deal of depth to the characters, you have met them before but the story and the setting sets this apart from other horror or vampire novels. There is a wonderful sense of Deep South atmosphere throughout the book, you can imagine the accents, the heat, the fashion and architecture and hear the splash of the paddles on the river. It has been described as Mark Twain meets Bram Stoker and I couldn't agree more, fans of vampires will love this book. ( )