Genevieve Undead (Vampire Geneieve)
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Description
After her return from Drachenfels, Genevieve Dieudonne, the vampire femme fatale, embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery in which she must face monsters and magicians, intrigue and evil. Her journey takes her from the depths of an old theater to an accursed mansion under a deadly gothic spell, and finally to the hunt of a savage unicorn mare through haunted forests.
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Genevieve undead is a collection of three novellas of varying quality, and to reflect that I have rated the whole book as the average of the three (3, 1, 2, respectively). Rather than focus my review on each novella in turn, I wanted to focus on some patterns and commonalities that emerged between them, and including it's predecessor, Drachenfels. This series is colloquially known as the adventures of Genevieve, but a more appropriate title might be 'adventures happening in the general vicinity of Genevieve'. Over the four narratives i have read so far (The three novellas herein, + Drachenfels), they have all followed the same basic meta-outline, though the themes, settings, and direct plot have varied considerably. In each, The story focuses on - and is primarily told through the eyes of - another character, and includes a variety of secondary supporting POV's of which out supposed hero is only one. On the face of it, this is not necessarily a bad thing; actually, it's quite an interesting idea - a life or series about a secondary character, each book focusing on their interactions with a different main character. Unfortunately, this would only work if that through-line character - in our case, Genevieve - was a strong one, and she isn't. Our vampire rarely becomes important to the plot until the inevitable climactic fight scene, where the her status as a vampire functions to absolve the author - in his eyes - of coming up with any kind of subtly, charisma, or cleverness to beat the bad guy. Genevieve can do it because she is a vampire, and vampires are super strong. Before this climax where she jumps in claws-slashing, she is hardly a character at all - relegated to observing what is going on around here, with no meaningful impact. A ghost could - and in some cases does - have more plot relevance than her. She exists as a plot device, a dues ex machina in another's (or several others') story (or stories). Aside from the second novella in this volume, which literally made no sense whatsoever and felt like aimless rambling for 50 pages, the stories themselves are not bad. They are not terribly good, either, but do contain some interesting and genuinely interesting, uncommon and thought-provoking ideas. I did particularly enjoy the first novella in the current text (3 stars) and would recommend reading it as a standalone, though it could be much stronger if it were written as a standalone.
Description
After her return from Drachenfels, Genevieve Dieudonne, the vampire femme fatale, embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery in which she must face monsters and magicians, intrigue and evil. Her journey takes her from the depths of an old theater to an accursed mansion under a deadly gothic spell, and finally to the hunt of a savage unicorn mare through haunted forests.
Book Information
Posts
Genevieve undead is a collection of three novellas of varying quality, and to reflect that I have rated the whole book as the average of the three (3, 1, 2, respectively). Rather than focus my review on each novella in turn, I wanted to focus on some patterns and commonalities that emerged between them, and including it's predecessor, Drachenfels. This series is colloquially known as the adventures of Genevieve, but a more appropriate title might be 'adventures happening in the general vicinity of Genevieve'. Over the four narratives i have read so far (The three novellas herein, + Drachenfels), they have all followed the same basic meta-outline, though the themes, settings, and direct plot have varied considerably. In each, The story focuses on - and is primarily told through the eyes of - another character, and includes a variety of secondary supporting POV's of which out supposed hero is only one. On the face of it, this is not necessarily a bad thing; actually, it's quite an interesting idea - a life or series about a secondary character, each book focusing on their interactions with a different main character. Unfortunately, this would only work if that through-line character - in our case, Genevieve - was a strong one, and she isn't. Our vampire rarely becomes important to the plot until the inevitable climactic fight scene, where the her status as a vampire functions to absolve the author - in his eyes - of coming up with any kind of subtly, charisma, or cleverness to beat the bad guy. Genevieve can do it because she is a vampire, and vampires are super strong. Before this climax where she jumps in claws-slashing, she is hardly a character at all - relegated to observing what is going on around here, with no meaningful impact. A ghost could - and in some cases does - have more plot relevance than her. She exists as a plot device, a dues ex machina in another's (or several others') story (or stories). Aside from the second novella in this volume, which literally made no sense whatsoever and felt like aimless rambling for 50 pages, the stories themselves are not bad. They are not terribly good, either, but do contain some interesting and genuinely interesting, uncommon and thought-provoking ideas. I did particularly enjoy the first novella in the current text (3 stars) and would recommend reading it as a standalone, though it could be much stronger if it were written as a standalone.