The Kindred of Darkness

Starred review from January 27, 2014
Hambly (The Magistrates of Hell) deftly draws the reader into 1913 London’s undead social scene in all its complexity in the standout fifth entry of this dark, lush series. James and Lydia Asher have the ability to track the undead. Their unsteady truce with the local vampires is shaken when Grippen, Master of the London Nest, kidnaps their infant daughter, ordering them to find a foreign interloper, Damien Zahorec, without looking too closely into his secret books of vampire-controlling lore. As James sneaks through the streets seeking information, Lydia tracks Zahorec while escorting her debutante niece to parties, in scenes that dance delightfully close to period romance. The emotional triangle between James, Lydia, and their mysterious friend Don Simon Ysidro will please those who look for swooning romanticism in their vampire fare. Hambly’s clever, driven characters are creatures of action, and will satisfy those who enjoy a well-articulated, heart-pounding mystery.

February 1, 2014
On the eve of World War I, a couple fights to rescue their daughter from a vampire's clutches. Lydia Asher is struggling to finish writing an article about radium and dealing with her tiresome relatives when she learns that her baby daughter, Miranda, has been abducted. The kidnapper is Lionel Grippen, the master vampire of London, who forces Lydia to find the lair of Damien Zahorec, a rival vampire recently arrived from Eastern Europe. Grippen, who has been a vampire since 1555, has killed upward of 30,000 people over the centuries, and he considers one more life nothing but a means to defeat his rival. Lydia summons her husband, James, home from Venice and begs help from Don Simon Ysidro, a vampire who's made himself her lover in the dreams and illusions he creates in her mind. While Ysidro, Lydia and James search for Zahorec's lairs and for various editions of The Book of the Kindred of Darkness, an American mine baron is buying up copies for a sinister plan involving his own daughter. In a quest that takes them from the depths of old Roman baths to a fortress built on a remote Scottish crag, James and Lydia are pitted against an even more powerful vampire. Avowed series hero James (Magistrates of Hell, 2012, etc.) is more pallid a character than his centuries-old quarry, and his Oxford-educated, scientifically minded wife is too vain to wear her glasses even when she's hunting vampires in the dark. Although Hambly's fans may enjoy returning to her carefully constructed and lavishly detailed world, the uninitiated may be less enthralled.

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February 15, 2014

While vampire hunter James Asher is away in Venice, his wife, Lydia, makes the awful discovery that Grippen, the Master of London, has stolen her child. Grippen wants to coerce Lydia into helping him find a rogue vampire who has been hunting recklessly on his turf. As Lydia races to find the mysterious vampire, with the eventual aid of James and their occasional vampire ally Don Simon Ysidro, she must contend with human and vampiric forces. As the search progresses, everything appears to be tied to The Book of the Kindred of Darkness, an ancient text that purports to tell the secrets of the undead. VERDICT Although the pace lags in places, Hambly, who also writes the historical mystery series featuring freed slave Benjamin January, imbues this historical horror novel with plenty of thrills and authentic historical details for a satisfying entry in the series (following 2012's The Magistrates of Hell).

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2014
England, 1913. James Asher, linguistics professor and former intelligence operative, is in Venice, at a conference. Back home, strange doings are afoot: the Ashers' baby girl is kidnapped by Grippen, the leader of London's vampires, who wants Lydia Asher to do a job for him: find an out-of-town vampire who's been nosing around Grippen's territory. And Grippen, who's a pretty powerful bloodsucker, has reason to be worried about Zahorec, the newcomer: Zahorec is looking for the famed Book of the Kindred Darkness, which supposedly bestows on its possessor virtually limitless power over other vampires, although some people believe the book doesn't actually exist. Hambly gives us a good look at Lydia Asher here, positioning her as a strong, resourceful lead character (although James does eventually put in an appearance, about a third of the way into the book). Another fine entry in this always-entertaining series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)