Pale Guardian

August 24, 2015
In the sixth installment of the James Asher vampire series, Hambly (Kindred of Darkness) deftly nests one historical story inside another. The key to a mystery on the eve of WWI lies in James Asher’s fever dreams reliving the exploits of his old friend Don Simon Ysidro at the beginning of the 17th century, when Simon navigated the politics of religious dissent among his fellow vampires in Paris. When James’s practical wife, Lydia, receives word that he has been tossed from a church steeple in Paris in a vampire attack, she calls upon Simon for resources and protection while James heals in a hospital, despite James’s new resolve to destroy all vampires. Series regulars who crave more of Simon’s backstory will find the focus on him satisfying, and Lydia’s fans will enjoy her skills in medicine, disguise, lock picking, and not dissolving in sunlight, though those more focused on continuity may dislike that Hambly leaves James and Lydia’s new baby out of the story entirely. It’s not a standout on its own, but this book is a solid continuation of a strong series.

April 3, 2017
Hambly’s seventh James Asher vampire novel (following Darkness on His Bones) blends excellent historical detail and skilled characterization with Gothic intrigue. Dr. Lydia Asher works as a volunteer medic at the front lines near Ypres in March, 1915. Her husband, James, convalescing from pneumonia, is home in England, and her self-appointed vampire protector, Don Simon Ysidro, has followed her to the battle lines—where every other vampire in Europe has already clustered, feeding on the terminal wards. Despite her hatred for vampires and everything they represent, Lydia is forced to work with Simon, and James with the vampires of London, to stop an even greater threat: mindless revenants who feed on human and vampire alike. The revenants are as contagious as they are deadly, and they have begun to appear in the trenches. Hambly’s affecting situations hold real moral weight, marred only by her occasional over-reliance on standard thriller tropes. Agent: Fran Collin, Frances Collin Literary.

September 15, 2015
Hambly's sixth book in the James Asher vampire series, after The Kindred of Darkness (2014), opens in July 1914 as Germany and France declare war on one another. Asher is in a Paris hospital, unconscious with multiple puncture wounds. His wife, Lydia, immediately enlists the help of the vampire and ally Don Simon Ysidro to both protect her husband and discover what he was doing in Paris. The resourceful Lydia tracks her husband's research before his injuries, and Simon enters Asher's fitful dreams, surprised that memories of his own past mingle in Asher's subconscious. The lines between enemy and ally blur as a German spy searches for a talisman to control Paris' vampires for his own ends, promising power to fledgling vampires in exchange for his prize. Lydia takes center stage as a strong and resourceful character, and, through Asher's dreams, Ysidro's strange history is brought to light. Hambly's complex and atmospheric story moves swiftly as Paris mobilizes for war, and many leave the city to fight or flee. Hambly continues to mix vampire fiction and historical mystery in a way that will delight her fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)