Hotel Transylvania by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1978)
4/5 stars
Madelaine travels to Paris to stay with her aunt and uncle in order to make her debut in society. She meets the charming and mysterious Saint-Germain and they begin a secret affair. Meanwhile, a Satanic cult prepares for a long-awaited ritual.
I loved the historical setting of this novel, the gossip and melodrama, the decadence and romance. There is a lot of detail such as the descriptions of clothing, which I personally enjoyed as I felt it really helped set the scene and the time period. So while there are some frilly (in more ways than one) moments in the story there are also some brutal and quite graphic moments too, including violence and sexual violence. Yarbro writes excellently across the board.
Each chapter ends with a letter from and to various characters within the book. I thought this format worked really well to get necessary information across without feeling info-dumpy. The vampire element is actually somewhat secondary to the story. It is a part of the story but is not the main focus. So we have some romance, plenty of adventure, throw in a bit of alchemy, a little sauciness, plus a Satanic cult and you have a really enjoyable novel. This was my first time reading Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and I would definitely pick up more of her work.
Madelaine travels to Paris to stay with her aunt and uncle in order to make her debut in society. She meets the charming and mysterious Saint-Germain and they begin a secret affair. Meanwhile, a Satanic cult prepares for a long-awaited ritual.
I loved the historical setting of this novel, the gossip and melodrama, the decadence and romance. There is a lot of detail such as the descriptions of clothing, which I personally enjoyed as I felt it really helped set the scene and the time period. So while there are some frilly (in more ways than one) moments in the story there are also some brutal and quite graphic moments too, including violence and sexual violence. Yarbro writes excellently across the board.
Each chapter ends with a letter from and to various characters within the book. I thought this format worked really well to get necessary information across without feeling info-dumpy. The vampire element is actually somewhat secondary to the story. It is a part of the story but is not the main focus. So we have some romance, plenty of adventure, throw in a bit of alchemy, a little sauciness, plus a Satanic cult and you have a really enjoyable novel. This was my first time reading Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and I would definitely pick up more of her work.
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