Helpful Score: 2
Brust has concocted a marvelous fantasy, a vampire novel in which the word "vampire" never appears. Jack Agyar is, if not quite immortal, very long-lived. He writes the story of his life on an old typewriter in the attic of an abandoned house in an Ohio university town where he lives with the ghost of an ex-slave named Jim. In Brust's world, vampires don't necessarily kill their victims, but, rather, feed off them for lengths of time. Through one of those victims, Agyar meets Susan, an enchanting young dancer with whom he is shocked to discover himself falling in love. Meantime, the vampire who made Agyar plans to set him up for a murder she commits and he finds himself less and less willing to do her bidding. The plot may seem elementary, but Brust is a master stylist who creates such intricate characters that plot is almost irrelevant.
Agyar, a suave and mysterious drifter who shares an abandoned house with a compassionate African-American ghost, spends his nights seducing various inhabitants of an Ohio college town.
I'm sure that Steven Brust achieved his goal in the writing style he selected for this book; he loves a challenge. It must be difficult to portray a protagonist as more ghostly and insubstantial than the ghost he lives with. I can only say that I admired the literary achievement without being able to really enjoy the book.
Not a bad book. Story of a vampire and his emotional journey, written in first person, some swear words but not lingered over the way more juvenile writers do; what else? I didn't ever really feel connected to the main character, but I cared enough to watch him change, and I wanted enough to find out what happened next that I kept reading.
Not the strongest book, but satisfying as a vampire read.
Not the strongest book, but satisfying as a vampire read.
Stephen Brust has been my favorite author for years so it is no great surprise that I was smiling as I read chapter after chapter of this novel. It has been a few years since the last time I had read this book and I had shared it with my wife who was less than thrilled at Agyar raping a young lady in the beginning of the book. So please be aware that this is character development and has little more to do with the story. Unlike the Vlad Taltos series, one must really enjoy the style of Stephen Brust to truly enjoy this book. Much like Gypsy you are led to have a love hate relationship with the main character.
If you like how Stephen Brust can make you turn pages or leave you on the edge of your sofa, bed, toilet seat, etc. and want a different type of read than the standard suspense/fantasy novel then you will definetly enjoy Agyar.
If you like how Stephen Brust can make you turn pages or leave you on the edge of your sofa, bed, toilet seat, etc. and want a different type of read than the standard suspense/fantasy novel then you will definetly enjoy Agyar.
I was going to give this 4.5 stars -- it is original, suspenseful, humorous, engaging -- until the ending, which I didn't like. Also, there were a few other sections, occasionally, that I didn't feel were quite clear, perhaps due to efforts at subtlety. However, it's a well-earned 4 stars: Agyar the vampire, who is never explicitly identified as such, is going through something of a mid-life crisis and decides to record his observations and experiences on an old typewriter he finds in the house in which he's squatting. An enjoyable and unusual read.
