Thu 20 May 2010
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: DEANNA RAYBOURN – The Dead Travel Fast.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[5] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
DEANNA RAYBOURN – The Dead Travel Fast. Mira, trade paperback, March 2010.
Genre: Gothic/Suspense. Leading character: Theodora Lastrange. Setting: Transylvania-Victorian era/1858.
First Sentence: All proper stories begin with the words Once upon a time….
Theodora Lastrange travels to a castle in the Carpathian Mountains at the invitation of her school-days friend, Cosmina. There she finds an old castle, an aristocratic family, and a count to whom she is inexplicably and inexorably attracted. She also finds superstition and dark tales of werewolves and becomes involved in the destruction of an alleged vampire.
My feelings about this book changed almost page to page, and my rating oscillated from “Good” to “Not Recommended.” My problem wasn’t that this was very different from the author’s Lady Jane Grey series; I was prepared for this to be completely different. I like gothic. When done well, it can be wonderful. When done badly, it crosses over into being melodramatic.
For much of this book, I found the latter to be true. My problem was the writing itself. Parts of the story are very good; wonderfully written, touching, emotionally and thoroughly engrossing. However, in other parts of the story, I found myself rolling my eyes and wondering what Ms. Raybourn had been thinking.
It is difficult when you read first for character, and the only character you really feel any affinity for is a secondary character, Charles. I truly disliked that the protagonist was named Theodora Lastrange; how cliché can one possibly be? It may be a small thing, but it was so trite it nearly caused me to stop reading immediately.
Than rather than Ms. Lastrange being gutsy and independent, there was a wimpishness about her, particularly in her attraction to the Count. Even with my issues with the characters, it was the plot which let me down. The plot was rife with anachronisms, clichés and coincidences.
However, on the plus side, there were some scenes that were very well done, I personally like the inclusion of references to and the poetry of Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du Mal being a particular favorite of mine, and I particularly appreciate her explanation for some of the ‘supernatural’ events.
All this being said, this isn’t a terrible book. Unfortunately, it isn’t a good book either. Having read Ms. Raybourn’s other books, I believe much of my disappointment comes from knowing she is a much better writer than The Dead Travel would indicate.
Rating: Okay.
May 20th, 2010 at 10:35 pm
There are, so far, three books in Deanna Raybourn’s “Lady Jane Grey” series. They take place in England in the late 1880s, and are romantic detective stories, you might say, with Lady Grey teaming up with an ‘enigmatic’ private inquiry agent named Nicholas Brisbane to solve cases of murder, the first being that of the lady’s late husband.
They’ve proven to be very popular, but it appears that the lure of vampires and werewolves has proven too much for the author or her publisher to resist. There is a craze for them that I have not yet even begun to understand, but there is no doubt books with either Vampires or Werewolves in them, or even Zombies, sell like wildfire.
LJ, even though I’m a fan of the traditional Dracula story, from your description I think I’d be as ambivalent about this book as you are.
I have Deanna Raybourn’s first three books waiting for me to read, and you can be sure that they’re the ones I’ll tackle first.
May 21st, 2010 at 2:23 pm
For some reason, whilst reading this, I had a flashback to an article written by the late, great British humourist Alan Coren. He talked about being snowed in at his holiday home, and finding that the only reading matter available was a) the telephone directory b)a collection of newspaper cartoons and c) approximately 30,000 cod-gothic-romances; all called something like THE MISTRESS OF BEAUJOLAIS, and all with a beautiful woman in torn period clothes, staggering away from a burning mansion. This was back in the early 70s. I suppose that there would be more vampires, and assorted metaphysical nasties, in the mansion nowadays, but otherwise it’s business as usual!
May 21st, 2010 at 7:49 pm
Back in the 1970s, very few Gothic Romances had vampires in them. The DARK SHADOWS books, based on the TV soap opera, were exceptions, but most of the gothics were based on books like Daphne du Maurier’s REBECCA. Lots of atmosphere, in othre words, with a hint of the supernatural, perhaps, but almost always explainable in the end.
And REBECCA to to contrary, few of the mansions were burning, but of course there were alwayslights shining from the uppermost windows.
I collect these, but not (so far) the present day ones. It’s several years old now, but a list of the ones in my collection several years ago is still online.
You can see it at
https://mysteryfile.com/Gothics.html
— Steve
May 22nd, 2010 at 1:07 am
What we think of as gothics are actually more romance novels than true gothic, usually modeled after DuMaurier’s REBBECA, which was a true gothic in the JANE EYRE tradition, but model for the romance novels that followed.
All those bosom heaving heroines taking jobs as demure governess to some Byronic Rochester (Bronte not Benny) actually has little to do with the gothic tradition of Mrs. Radcliffe, Monk Lewis, and Walpole, which was part of the early Romantic Movement.
But it is true that save for an occasional ghost, vampires and werewolves tended to be explained away in romance novels with the gothic trappings usually giving way to a logical explanation (or at least something attempting logic).It wasn’t until the horror novel became to make a comeback that the supernatural started to make a show in the gothic novel as anything but atmosphere.
Like any popular genre it is easy to make fun of them now, but among all the tired plots and standard thrills there were good writers like Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney, Madeline Brent (the late Peter O’Donnell), Elizabeth Peters (aka Barbara Michaels), and many more — some of which were primarily suspense novelists but got gothic covers anyway.
But exactly what the appeal of the vampire thing is has long escaped me — especially as Dracula was a originally a metaphor for venereal disease. I guess dead guys are easier to understand than live ones since the genre is primarily appealing to women readers and writers. Something to do with being the bitten and not the biter.
May 22nd, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Has there even been a romance about a demure young man who comes to work as a child-minder for a Byronic woman? Sort of Jim Eyre and Ms Rochester. Would there even be a market for such a thing?
The appeal of the vampire, particularly to a modern audience, is not hard to guess. You remain young, good looking, potent and powerful for all eternity. It is the appeal of a sort of eternal life to a secular generation.