Silver Under Nightfall

[cornerofmadness]

Silver Under Nightfall by Rin Chupeco

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It’s funny. A friend told me I had to read this and two days later the publisher asked me for an unbiased review. Stars aligning. So much of this is right up my alley and I enjoyed it so much some of the world building strangeness didn’t much bother me (though it kept me from going for five stars)

Remington “Remy” Pendergast is the son of a duke (who you’ll want to bitchslap into next week) and a Reaper, a killer of vampires to keep the Queendom of Aluria safe. His biggest problem is the rest of the Reapers and most of the capital city of Elouvre hate and fear him thinking he’s a cambion/dhampire (used interchangeably) as his mother was killed and turned just as he was in the last month of gestation. He was cut from her body. Half the reason he’s a Reaper in spite of the hate he gets is he wants revenge for his mother’s death at the hands of the Night Court.

One of the biggest world building issues for me is the vampire political structure. It seems like some vampires are undead humans and others are born (so I assume that even undead they can procreate) The various vampire courts are murky at best in this and not exactly friends with each other nor with the humans. Two of the courts under the control of Xiaodan Song and Zidan Malekh respectively are attempting to make a peaceful alliance with Remy’s queen.

The big problem is Zidan and Remy have met on the field of battle after Remy nearly killed Zidan’s brother who Remy thinks has killed a young noblewoman who was at least nice to him. Circumstances throw them together as a new horror threatens everything and everyone. Some of the killed vampires are mutating into zombie like monsters that are nearly impossible to kill. Zidan is a scientist and confirms Remy’s father’s fears: these are created by science not nature.

And that takes me to the next world building weirdness. These people are capable of genomic studies and molecular genetics, genetic engineering and even develop mid-story PCR and DNA fingerprinting but they’re still using horse and buggy to get around. Science really doesn’t work that way but you know what? Remy, Zidan and Xiaodan are so engaging I didn’t really care that it seems very highly unlikely they developed genetic manipulation before they developed the combustion engine (what? I love steampunk so it’s not so unlikely I can forgive this scientific weirdness)

The upshot is Remy is sent with Xiaodan and Zidan to find out who is behind the Rot and stop them. Remy also hope that these two vampire lords can help him take out the Night Court who killed his mother. By the time I was twenty-five percent into the story, I was saying if this doesn’t end with Remy, Xiaodan and Zidan in a polyamorous relationship I’m going to be so disappointed. That’s the main plot, who created the Rot and why and the secondary plot is how Remy fits in with Xiaodan and Zidan vs his life as a Reaper and all the political rot his father is involved in.

It's actually a rather long novel but it doesn’t read like one. I galloped through this. Was I disappointed about the relationship with the three leads? Well you’ll just have to read and find out for yourself. It definitely wraps up most of the threads in this novel and sets up well for the next. I’ll be there for it.




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