The Priest of Blood

I just cannot be bothered to finish this one. Maybe it's my mood. I usually love vampire stuff, but this novel is tedious in the extreme. Clegg took way too long, IMO, to get to the vampire portion of the story, and once there, the writing felt flat to me. I didn't like the mythos for some reason that I cannot define, and I just didn't care about the main character all that much. Nothing really inspired me to keep reading when I have a ton of other books that sound far more interesting at this point.

An interesting take on vampires in an historical setting, that is overwhelmed by bad writing, a turgid tone, and a too complicated mumbo-jumbo creation myth.

Clegg starts in the dark-ages and develops a POV who has a lowly place in his world. It was very well done, except the writing was just awful. Entire paragrahps as one sentance. Just way too many words, and much too awkward. Perhaps he was trying to emulate the speech of the time period ? It just didn't work. I almost gave up.

On top of that, the content of the writing was overblown and the male version of bodice ripper. It was very stagey and silly. As though the characters were uttering what was expected of those on a stage, rather than real people. A lot of pulsing emotion, some show more fraternal and some sexual. Way too much, way too often.

Eventually either the writing got a bit better, or I got used to it, because I was able to get into the story. I liked the main character, and his adventures, and how he acted as well as his self-reflection. The settings were interesting as were the supporting characters. I really liked the incorporation of the old religion, and how it first was accepted by christianity as harmless and then how it became persecuted.

A final problem for me was the vampyre creation myth, with the foreign words. It was too busy and and complicated with gods, goddesses, priests, past cities, and who was related to each other and who hated and fought with each other. There was a bit at the start, but once he became a vamp it got bigger and became a larger part of the story. It was meaningless and took me out of the flow of the story.

Not sure if I will read the next 2 books or not. show less

I know this wasn't a hard read, but to be honest I don't really remember much detail about it, it didn't really gel with me and I didn't really care for any of the characters and what was happening to him, which was kidna surprising because I'm a history nerd and particularly a crusades nerd. I'm not hunting up the rest of his series and the vampirism, while different, doesn't really make me want to read more.

Overall it's not my kind of read.

I read it a chapter or two at a time - which I don't often do. It never really grabbed me enough to sit up untill 4:00 to find out what happened. I was hoping for a new- fresh vampire mythos.

Mr. Clegg's afterward seems apologetic - he seems to have wanted to get the prehistory out of the way so he could tell the "really good story" in the later books. Maybe we can blame the agent or publisher for breaking this part out and expanding it or.. maybe it's just his way. It's not a vampire story until very late in the book so some genre fans will just hate the early chapters. When asked about what I was reading, my recitation of all the disadvantages the hero had before reaching puberty made my friend exclaim that the author certainly was show more pulling out every sad beginning he had ever read ( Dad gone, Mom's a whore, multiple half-siblings starving, sordid family history, crippled gandfather, absolute poverty, scary witch in the forest, buggery, persecution by the church/state.)

After being sold to fight in the crusades, ( for seducing the Princess - lucky fellow) he succeeds only to witness his long lost and much beloved brother die in his arms - obviously, a quest is in order. Now we can start the vampire in the Vampiricon. I probably am interested in the creation story - I'll compare it to Anne Rice's Pandora. I hope it gets more treatment in the future so we don't have to listen to Aleric whine through a second volume.

Mom won't see this one - too bleak, to much abuse, to many formulaic themes and only one character developed. show less

**Called Fallen Ones, winged jackals, and night devils, they are a tribe of vampires long-believed extinct. Until now...** In this medieval dark fantasy epic, Aleric the Falconer, torn by war from his beloved, falls prey to Pythia, the savage mistress whose embrace means death.**“If you like Game of Thrones and vampires, you’ll love The Vampyricon."*** Get the series: *The Lady of Serpents* (#2), and *The Queen of Wolves* (#3).
Set in a world of ancient sorceries and buried cities, *The Priest of Blood* is the first book in *The Vampyricon* trilogy from *NY Times* bestselling and award-winning author, Douglas Clegg.
“Astonishing...The Priest of Blood is a bloody gem.” – Christopher Rice, New York Times bestselling author show more with Anne Rice of Ramses the Damned.
“Richly layered, beautifully rendered foray into a past filled with sorcery and mystery — and a rousing good story.” – Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author.
“Stunning...gives the iconic vampire a massive makeover."– Publishers Weekly, Starred Review.
*"If you like Game of Thrones and vampires, you’ll love The Vampyricon.” – USA Today bestselling author Robert Swartwood. show less

Aleric, el Halconero, es un joven campesino de la Bretaña francesa medieval que crece conociendo bien la miseria extrema y la brutalidad del mundo mortal. En los bosques aprende a comunicarse con las aves predadoras que los habitan y logra entrar al servicio del barón como halconero. Tras enamorarse de la hija de éste y ser desterrado por ello a luchar en las cruzadas, el Halconero cae en los brazos de la vampira Pythia que lo utiliza para alimentarse y para sus juegos eróticos. Convertido finalmente en vampiro, el Halconero descubre su verdadero destino: convertirse en el largamente esperado mesías de la raza vampírica que partirá en busca del Sacerdote de Sangre.