Stefan Petrucha, Blood Prophecy (Hachette, 2010)
All clichés about judging a book by its cover aside, Stefan Petrucha's Blood Prophecy is better than it looks. Part of that is the fact that there's more than a hint of vampire romance novel in the cover art, with Petrucha's centuries-old vampiric adventurer Jeremiah Fall portrayed as a scruffy soccer hunk with a sword straight out of the Final Fantasy series of games (revolver in hilt not included). Then again, part of it's because Blood Prophecy is a genuinely engaging read, with more to offer than the usual brooding fanginess.
The setting adds to the interest. Rather than stomp the streets of New Orleans or LA, Petrucha starts his hero off in prison during Napoleon's Egyptian misadventure, then winds back time to show the reader how he got there. There's a bit of globe-hopping, but the usual “vampire-hero-meets-famous-person” shtick is eschewed in favor of character-building and Fall's quest to understand and defeat his condition. Petrucha does a nice job of painting Fall's origins in the Puritan settlement of Dedham, MA, his metamorphosis into a vampire, and the slow series of moral compromises Fall is willing or unwilling to make along his quest.
It's in Dedham that we meet Fall's rival as well, the older vampire named Skog who had been imprisoned in a mound on the freshly tilled Fall fields. Jeremiah's father lets him out and pays the ultimate price, turning Jeremiah in the process. But it is Skog who becomes Fall's nemesis: older, stronger, wiser in the ways of vampirism and in the ultimate mystery of their condition hidden behind nursery rhymes and lost inscriptions.
The book stumbles a little bit when the ultimate plot is revealed, and the father of all vampires' plan for unraveling the world is spelled out. While there's a nicely understated romance between Fall and the Egyptian translator who saves his life and becomes his companion, her ultimate role in the great vampiric plan is one we've seen a few too many times before.
Still, Petrucha deserves credit for going all in on his Gnostic-flavored mythology, making it as integral to character motivation as it is to his world's cosmology. There's precious little angst, either. Fall knows who he is and has grown comfortable with that in a way that allows him to act as necessary. Skog is a cleanly painted villain, clear in his goals and consistent in his actions in a way that shies away from moustache-twirling shtick. And the minor characters, including the vampire-worshipping Russian Hylic who turns into Fall's reluctant sidekick, are interesting and engaging.
Ultimately, Blood Prophecy is an engaging read for fans of the genre who want a little something different. Petrucha's vampires are recognizable but distinctive, and intriguing enough to be worth another look when the inevitable sequel comes along.
