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Loading... Fevre Dream (1982)by George R. R. Martin
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Fevre Dream by George. R. R. Martin This book is almost as old as I am, so it seems almost silly to review it. However, I do have thoughts, so here goes. This is a story of vampires of a sort - ageless blood drinking creatures who seem to have evolved independently of humanity, but not the traditionally supernatural type - and a riverboat captain's complicated relationship with them around the time of the American Civil War. It is the kind of complex story you might expect from Martin, although it does bear some signs of immaturity of thought (for example, it's made clear that the vampires require human blood to function fully, but it also says that they evolved long before humans did. So... What did they eat?) but what really strikes me is the way it so evokes the time and place of its setting. It is set in the American south, in the 1850s, and it confronts the evils of slavery in a way that I find somewhat uncomfortable. The parallels between vampiric preying on humanity in general, and the way a slave society preys upon the enslaved, are hammered home almost too bluntly. And there is that scene, that brutal, almost unforgivable scene, that I think might not be publishable in today's world. I wonder about this. I wonder if perhaps the wrapping of unnatural vampirism around this story is almost a cop-out. Because I think a story that deals with slavery needs more focus on the purely human evils of that institution, instead of muddying them with the inhuman evils of Julian Damon and is ilk. I'm not sure. I'm really not. There is no veiled whitewashing of the institution, at all, but this kind of muddy presentation of the brutal viciousness of slavery, and the inhumanity it tries to force on the enslaved, reaches deep into places that many people don't want to reach, while at the same time giving readers an out, a chance to focus on the viciousness of the inhuman characters and ignore the evils of the human society around them. It's a book worth reading, and thinking critically about, at any rate. Martin is a writer best known for the Song of Ice and Fire series (A Game of Thrones), but if readers were to overlook his other work, that would be a pity. Fevre Dream is an easy reminder of what sets this author apart. A richly drawn tapestry of life aboard steamships ferrying goods and passengers up and down the Mississippi, blended with a gothic helping of vampire mythology. Most striking of all is how the author brings the steamboat captain, Abner Marsh, alive in full coarse realism. Never has a protagonist so ugly been so wonderfully memorable. The story at once romanticises its setting and characters, simultaneously making them powerfully gritty. It’s possible to feel the heat and damp and oppression of the steamboat work, the river, the weather, and of society itself. There’s something classic about this book (references to Mark Twain abound entwined with Bram Stoker, and that’s a fair definition). This is no lightweight vampire tale or novel. Good for those who like a richly portrayed backdrop to the action. Atmospheric, and beautifully layered storytelling. no reviews | add a review
Is contained inHas the adaptationAwardsNotable Lists
Fantasy.
Fiction.
Thriller.
Historical Fiction.
HTML:A THRILLING REINVENTION OF THE VAMPIRE NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF MODERN FANTASY, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York’s reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York’s actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare—and humankind’s most impossible dream. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Given my rather limited experience and mixed feelings about his work, I went into Fevre Dream with fairly middling expectations and I would say they were met absolutely.
I love GRRMs descriptions of the setting. I knew literally zero about paddleboats before I started reading and by the end I felt like I knew enough. The ending was rather disappointing with much of the action happening off-screen (off-page?) and quickly described to us by one of the characters. Given the violence in ASOIAF, I was expecting more from this book. There's a bit of blood and a baby has its hand cut off, but I really wanted to see some vampires let loose and I just didn't get that.
Characters were a mixed bad. Abner and Joshua were pretty well fleshed out, but everyone else was paper thin. The only female character with any time given to her was just in love with Joshua and really not much else.
3 stars at a push. ( )