Freda Warrington

Oh, how I wish The Court of the Midnight King had existed back when I was a teenager obsessed with The Sunne in Splendour and all things Richard III-related; I probably would have read it ten times. As it is, I hope to re-read it again sometime in the future. It is a magnificent book, the perfect blend of historical and fantasy romance, as well as a psychological exploration into why certain historical figures grow to fascinate us so much.

I loved that a story with which I was already show more familiar managed to nonetheless keep me guessing right up until the end, thanks to the original twists Warrington wove into it. I found myself wanting to rush along to see how it would all wrap up, while at the same time wishing the book would go on forever because it was so, so good and so fun to read.

If you are at all into (i.e. fixated on) the story of Richard III, then you have to give this version of it a try. I doubt you’ll regret it. A solid and easy five stars. show less

Well written, but slightly overlong, novel about a parallel universe of vampires. Karl von Wultendorf gatecrashes Madeleine Neville's eighteenth birthday party, keen to learn the meaning of his unnatural existence from her scientist father. Instead, he meets and falls in love with Madeleine's reserved but intelligent sister, Charlotte.

Overall, I enjoyed Freda Warrington's novel, though less so than her sequel to Dracula. There is a strong fantasy element in Blood Wine, replacing familiar show more devices of the traditional vampire mythology with a sort of mystical otherworld - the Crystal Ring - where vampires can enter a spiritual realm and exist apart from people, that was a bit too hallucinogenic for my taste, but the vampires themselves are suitably cruel and cynical. Karl's sarcastic friend Pierre is my favourite, but Ilona, Stefan and religious nut Kristian are all wickedly gothic.

The Neville family are also well crafted as distinct, sympathetic personalities, and I associated with pre-Karl Charlotte more than I would care to admit to! She is a strong, smart woman, frustrated by her father's emotional dependence and her sisters' popularity, and her sense of isolation is almost palpable. Yet her grand, all-conquering love for Karl comes across as wholly unconvincing and deeply disturbing. Desire for him supposedly brings her personal and physical freedom, but all she really does is replace her family's control over her life with a besotted infatuation for her lover. Granted, the story is set in the early 1920s, but for all Charlotte's suffragist posturing, her obsession with Karl is rather ironic. Without the central love story between Karl and Charlotte, the novel would have been about 300 pages shorter - much of the narrative is taken up with repetitive dialogue about how Karl must leave Charlotte for her own good, and how Charlotte cannot live without him - and far more effective. I prefer vampires who are truly evil, and not haunted creatures looking for love.

So, Karl and 'Charli' (her ridiculous pet name) - and the cliched Hammer House of Horrors cover - aside, I'm glad I tasted Blood Wine, but won't bother with the rest of the trilogy. show less

Freda Warrington is a lesser known and underrated author of vampire novels. Her trilogy of 'blood' books, commencing with A Taste of Blood Wine, is hard to find, and I only managed to acquire a copy of her sequel to Dracula by chance! For all the effort, however, I would definitely recommend Dracula the Undead to fans of the original - authentic, dark, sensual, and scary in places, Warrington respects the narrative, characters and reputation of Stoker's work, while creating a worthy show more successor of her own. In fact, I would go so far as to say that this sequel is actually better than the original, with more depth and balance. Warrington doesn't ridicule any of the characters, or insert her own modern agenda, like some authors who take on the classics, but builds on what made Mina Harker and the Count so fascinating in Stoker's novel.

Seven years after the events of Dracula, Jonathan and Mina Harker are content with each other, and dote on their son, little Quincey. In fact, everything in life is running far too smoothly, so in a truly gothic plan to tempt fate, the Harkers accompany their old friend and ally Abraham Van Helsing to Transylvania, just to 'reassure themselves that the evil was destroyed'. Or not. Mina's presence on Dracula's native soil awakens the spirit of the evil vampire, who refuses to let an insignificant obstacle like incorporeality distract him from getting revenge on the stuffed shirts who plotted to kill him. Dracula manipulates a passionate and frustrated young girl, Elena, to stalk Mina back to England, there to do his evil bidding. Meanwhile, Elena's uncle Andre Kovacs, a good friend of Van Helsing, sets off into the Carpathian mountains to locate the fabled 'Scholomance', or school of the devil, where Dracula sold his soul to learn the dark arts. The keeper of the Scholomance, Beherit, has been imprisoned in the mountain for four hundred years, paying the price of Dracula's deception, and enlists Kovacs to help him send his immortal enemy back where he belongs - into the flames of hell. The living and undead come together to face an epic battle of good versus evil in the underground academy, but first Mina must decide between her own soul and the life of her son.

Yes, it's gothic, and fantastic, and melodramatic - Dracula wouldn't be the same without dialogue like 'I am so cold. So very cold' and 'You wish to make me a vampire!' - but there is also a thoughtful debate behind the rollicking good story. The diary format is stretched to the very limit, but then, Stoker himself took that particular narrative device to an omniscient level. Mina, Jonathan, Elena and Kovacs all write down their every thought and word, managing to find a scrap of paper and a pen, even when they break an arm or are trapped in the middle of nowhere. Yet the voices - and the intimacy - given to the main characters by allowing them to tell the story personally means that the reader shares the same fears and motives, and can empathise with the Harkers both. Jonathan comes across as a bit wet in Stoker's novel, but Freda Warrington portrays him as a loving husband and father who must fight not only a supernatural, external enemy, but also his own suspicion and jealousy. Even though Dracula is supremely clever as always, I found myself in support of Team Harker, simply because the diaries brought both Jonathan and Mina to life.

Mina is strong, practical - 'She has been my strength,' Jonathan writes, 'even when she so nearly fell prey to that foul monster, her spirit never faltered' - and yet still susceptible. Dracula's blood is in her veins, and she shares a connection with him that runs deeper than religious belief or social behaviour. Up until the fiery conclusion of the novel, I admired how Warrington developed Mina's character, maintaining the sense of unity and dependability established by Stoker, but also hinting at darker passions. She loves Jonathan, but behaves like a Victorian wife would. Elena, younger and unattached, is free to rant against marriage and domesticity, but Mina is happy with her role in life, and that is the impression I had of her character in the original novel, too.

Freda Warrington has done Dracula justice with this tense, atmospheric and (nearly) faithful sequel - the Scholomance is a claustrophobic nightmare, Dracula is a force to be reckoned with, and only Satan can stop him this time! show less

Rosie is typical girl. Wondering about love, trying to figure out her place in life, cavorting with brothers and friends, and oh yeah, trying to figure out how to be Aetherian in this mortal word. But the gates between their world and "Elfland" has been closed permanently because of a great danger - or so says the Gatekeeper. As Rosie and her friends grow up, exploring into their lost heritage, they will find themselves in the midst of breaking this mystery.

This is the first book with show more decent grammar and writing that I've had the displeasure of finishing. The characters are complete imbeciles. All of them. All of them!! How is this possible? It's as if they're stuck at a hormonal age of 16, making idiotic decisions and irrational statements. Ummm marriage for 4 months and then realizing you can't stand the dude because you didn't face up to your real emotions? Ridiculous. It's like they're playing with life, and when a wave of lust comes across them, they treat it like real love and change their entire life. Argh, love - this pisses me off! As if any of them show real emotional attachment. All they have connecting them (Rosie and Jon; Faith and Matt; Jessica and Lawrence, and Sam and Rosie, especially) is just pure lust. And ugh, gratutious sex scenes. I'd rather have a scene that shows me that there's a true connection besides longing for their hot bod. And the worst part is that all of these characters grow up into their late twenties and they are still incapable of making rational decisions. Sure, emotions can make someone a little wonky, but their dumb decisions happen over and over again. Please. Excuse me as I roll my eyes.

The characters have utterly no depth except for what we are spoon-fed from the narrator. For example, Jon is supposed to be someone with whom everyone falls in love. But from his characteristics and actual dialogue, he's a bit of a stupid idiot. Rosie is supposed to be generous and kind and forgiving with a bit of spunk. But her actions and words just make her seem like a selfish, love-sick fool who can't do anything. Honestly, does she do anything at all in this story? Sam is supposed to be a violent, rude person that later is revealed to be actually a good guy who helps out his brother - but his words say that he's just a creepy, obsessed dude who has issues. The author wants us to believe these characters are a certain type of person by telling us exactly who they are, but all the dialogue and actions point to the contrary. That is poor writing.

There is absolutely no plot. My summary in the first paragraph sucks because I feel like it's a little impossible to summarize this convoluted, no-directional story. It's basically about Rosie and Sam hooking up and getting together and opening the gates. With a ton of teenage drama. Oh there's an affair. Here's a marriage. There's a hookup. There's a stepmom. There's unrequited love. Etc. That's the bulk of this book. It's more like a television high school soap drama with the amount of dumb relationship problems hidden between two families. And the closed gate is more like a subplot thrown in to make this drama possible. Shakes head.

Thus, the resolution of the "main" (in quotes because obviously the real emphasis is on the dysfunctional relationships. "Main" can probably be replaced by "fake") plot, is incredibly weak. The ending was a cop-out and the villain was too easily defeated.

You would think that having faeries in the real world would be a little bit interesting. I love learning about new magic systems and delving into new worlds. But this book.... manages to make faeries mundane. How is this possible? They're basically like humans with shiny skin and one more dimension. Rosie manages to reveal her status as a faerie to every single human she meets - and they're supposed to keep it quiet. What the heck? There is no magic in this world. There is no discovery. It's completely boring. Instead of new lore and a beautiful world where senses are incapable of describing the new dimension, Warrington just dumps the entire history of these Aetherians in long, unreadable, completely boring paragraphs. Information dumps. Horrible way to reveal a potentially beautiful world.

And one thing that I noticed and that I can't believe with a bit of outrage is that there are no humans in this story who are remotely portrayed in a positive light. In contrast, the main characters (all Aetherians) can do no wrong. Even Rosie when she commits adultery to her poor husband seems to be in the right at the end of the day when Alastair turns out to be a complete scumbag despite the initial courtship. Arghhh! Stupid girl!! Lawrence, for all his horrible, almost inexcusable mistakes, is still portrayed as a swell guy with courage to face his fears by the end of the book. Jon gets a free pass for his bastardly actions when he's all redeemed at the end as well. What the heck? How can these main characters (all Aetherian) do no wrong? And Sapphire, someone who could potentially defeat the stereotypical wicked step-mother turns into a caricature of that exact stereotype. The only humans in this book (besides maybe Mel, who isn't really a character), are all horribly in the wrong. Is it just me, or is that kind of weird? Especially since they're living in the mortal world and choose to stay here. Even besides that, it also points to the fact that this is a pretty empty world. Despite them going to college and getting married and whatever goes on in their drama-filled daily lives, they only interact with other Aetherians. It's poor world-building and poor characterization.

I hate how Warrington portrays the women in this book. These women all have stupid affairs and romantic relations and do absolutely nothing. They flip their waterfall of hair and let their hair swish around. They just get married and plant gardens. Do they have no ambition or any purpose in life besides swooning over boys??? Rahhh!!! Feeling angry. I am disappointed in Warrington for creating a female protagonist that can't do anything at all.

So. After all these rants, why did I finish the book? All 500 pages. Ha.. I'm not sure. Because I wanted to know how it ended, even though I hated so many parts of it, I guess. Maybe because it's a fairly easy read as well. But ugh. I don't think it was worth my time at all.

One star. This is incredibly low, even for me. But it's because even though sentence structure, grammar, and perhaps even basic story construction is okay, I really did not like it. At all. It's basically a teen angst romance story with multiple love plots. That is not what it sells itself as, though, and therefore extremely disappointing.
Would not recommend to anyone at all. Unless you like stupid girl stories about romance with a hint of magic.
I won't judge if you actually do like those stories. Okay. Maybe a little. Read at your own caution. show less