3.75: A complicated book to review, and all due to my tastes.

The Good: Holland is a seductive and evocative writer whose prose and sense of history bleeds through the pages. It was a page-turner and I couldn't put it down. The story was just immersive enough to get lost in, and I was a bit obsessed with child-her and her early years as a vampire. I'd have loved just a 500-page novel of her in the 19th century. Also a bit controversial, but I liked the meandering internal dialogue—very Anne Rice at times—always a plus for me.

The Bad: Ultimately, the plot in the present part of the story felt very, very safe. I actually really enjoyed the plot and found it quite driving and well done. But. Nothing terrible truly befalls our main character, and the stakes, while high, never come to any fruition. The themes of privilege around safe childhoods and the relative love and care modern children get as compared to herself were fascinating but... could have maybe hit a deeper punch if... worse stuff happened!? Maybe I'm nitpicking, but the novel was lacking a certain je ne sais quoi of intensity I expected for a gothic vampire novel.

I enjoyed the historical sections a bit more because of that last fact, and it was a tiny bit disappointing to see nothing very drastic happen near the end. I still loved this novel though, and Holland is a talented writer, so confusing thoughts all around. I'd definitely read another of her novels if it's about something so seductive and gothic as this! ( )

This book is amazing. A vampire who resents eternal life and has a fear that czernobog is coming for her. It’s beautiful and unexpected. I’d read so much more about her. ( )

Couldn't finish. She fed on cats ( )

Absolutely beautiful saga of an immortal woman grappling with what meaning there is in a life that doesn't end. Sweeping across time periods and continents, we follow her from her rebirth as vampire immortal up until 1984 where she faces her ultimate decision. The amount of loss she experiences across 300+ years is devastating and we endure it with her as a prisoner of never-ending life. This is not a normal vampire novel with stakes in the heart and the sun as killer. Philosophical, lyrical and dazzling, Jacqueline Holland entranced me with the time periods and the depth of this woman's pain. Finishing this book, I feel as if I'm parting from a deeply contemplative headspace that I really hate to say goodbye to. ( )

This is a wild story with its roots in a character who has led into a life of vampirism by her grandfather. She lives in upstate New York where she is a teacher at an orphanage. She has already lived hundreds of years without aging. She does not prey upon the children and her close friends using animals as a source of blood. She becomes the protector of a sickly little boy she meets who has a generally absent mother who struggles with addiction .This is a complex novel full of richly drawn characters. ( )