Fevre Dream (Fantasy Masterworks 13) [Paperback]

I first read Fevre Dream in the early eighties and on a recent quest to re-acquire the top ten paperbacks of my youth this novel was top of my list.

When you consider the hype for Twilight and Vampire Diaries and what they have done to change the modern perception of vampires, I must say they have borrowed a lot from this novel. The author, more known for his Game of Thrones adventures delivers a completely fresh take on the vampire genre, with a breathtaking story of friendship, horror, mystery and paddle steamers.

So, we have Abner Marsh; fat, ugly, riverboat captain who has built the finest, fastest steamship to grace the Mississippi. He enters into partnership with Joshua York, a strange pale man but with a barrowload of money that Abner needs to get the steamship afloat.

The Fevre Dream carries cargo for a while, but rumours start about Joshua - he sleeps all day, doesn't eat and has strange companions. Abner has his suspicions, but is not sure what to do - Joshua has become a friend and he still needs the finances.

When Damon Julian is invited into the fold, Abner comes to realise what is good and what is bad, and what is pure evil. The friendship stutters, rekindles, and the emotions run high all through the story.

Set in the 1850s, this is a tale which evokes so much of the time, the hardships and the prejudices. Much can be read into the setting - the Mississippi runs like a huge artery through the Southern states - and the characters are superbly drawn. I thoroughly recommend this novel to everyone, not just horror, mystery and supernatural aficionados.

No longer re-animated corpses possessed by demons, but a race of beings in their own right. Vampires live for centuries though they cannot survive for long in the sunlight; they are stronger and faster than humans; they possess the power to mesmerize humans into doing their bidding; and once a month, the "red thirst" comes on them, driving them to drink human blood.

One of the most powerful of these "vampires" has just become Abner Marsh's new partner. His name is Joshua York, and he needs transportation along the Mississippi (and a place to hide from the sun) so that he can search for others of his people who have fled the Old World for the New. Joshua believes he can save them: he has invented a drink that suppresses the "red thirst" thus making it possible for the "People of the Night" to live alongside humans for the first time.

But Joshua is about to find out that not all his people want to be saved. Some of them are, in fact, rather enjoying their existence as unkillable blood-drinking demons - notably the ancient, powerful bloodmaster Damon Julian, who may yet bring all Joshuas dreams for his people to a bloody end.

I've always loved vampire stories, and this one is exceptional. Comparisons with Anne Rice are, given the setting, inevitable. The rotting Louisiana swamps are a marvellous setting for any horror story. Martin conjurs up the same humid atmosphere of decay in the swamps and slums of New Orleans, contrasting it with the glittering beauty of the richer parts of the city - and, of course, the steamboats themselves - that Rice describes so vivdly; but he makes his protagonists a lot more interesting. No self-obsessed Lestat here, searching for his own personal redemption. (Or maybe not. You can never be quite sure with Lestat, can you? Anyway. I digress.)

Joshua is trying to save his entire race, searching for a way for them to live with humans before they die out - or are destroyed. Martin has created a whole mythology for the People of the Night, making them the hunted not the hunters, giving them a depth and character that far surpasses any other vampires in books or on screen. Along with some serious horror, lots of blood and the odd Byron quotation, this book becomes a story you're not likely to forget. I for one want don't want to.

I'm ashamed to admit that I had never heard of this book before, or even of its author. I purchased this book purely on impulse. Now I've finished it I can safely say it is one of the best novels I have ever read - in any genre. It is a minor masterpiece that deserves to be better acknowledged (at least as the best vampire novel ever written - better even the Bram's original!).

This book has everything - tons of atmosphere, horror, action, emotion, thought provoking morals and two excellent lead characters, plus one superb villian. Also (and maybe most importantly) Fevre Dream is simply a fun read.

Set around the mid nineteenth century the story may seem a little bizarre - a vampire riverboat captain riding the Mississippi searching for other vampires. But a good book is still a good book no matter what it's subject matter so even if your reading tastes does not usually include horror fantasy please still consider giving this a try. You will not regret it!