Blood Roses by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
In 1345, Saint-Germain (and Roger) are living in the small French town of Orgon. The peasants have grudgingly accepted the foreigners. Only a local tax collector is troublesome to the Comte.
But soon everything falls apart, the Black Death has come. Soon death, fear and ignorance are all encompassing and for safety, Saint-Germain must flee. His flight brings him to Heugenet and yet another of Saint-Germain’s star crossed love affairs begins. This is a good take on a bleak chapter in human history.
However the weaknesses in Yarbro’s writing are apparent: repetition of phrases and recycled plots: Roger is content to be a bootboy for eternity, idiot authority figures, a good woman and a bad woman. Yes all Yarbro’s tropes are present.
Still I’d love to read ‘Blood Games’, ‘Communion Blood’, ‘Hotel Transylvania’, ‘Mansions of Darkness’, ‘Path of the Eclipse’ and ‘Writ in Blood’.
