3 Stars

Karen Koehler

SLAYER

KHP Industries (Black Death Books)

ISBN 0-9679220-0-3

2002

The dhampire, half-human offspring of a vampire, supposed in folklore to have an extraordinary gift for hunting vampires, has recently attracted popular attention in such films as VAMPIRE HUNTER D and BLADE. Karen Koehler's "slayers" are dhampires, bearing the bloodlust and longevity of their nonhuman parents, as well as psychic talents unique to themselves. In this universe vampires appear to be an inhuman species, though their origins are lost in the depths of legend. Slayer Alek Knight, protege of Covenmaster Amadeus, inhabits a world where nobody can be trusted and few people are what they seem. When Amadeus reveals to Alek that he has been chosen as the future Covenmaster, Alek resists accepting this destiny. Still worse, however, is the next revelation -- that Amadeus appears to have rejected him in favor of a younger slayer, arrogant, streetwise Sean Stone. Alek has to fight for his life while in search of the Chronicle, a fabled book rumored to tell the hidden truth about the relationship among vampires, slayers, and the Catholic Church. Does the Chronicle exist at all? Why has Amadeus turned against Alek? And what is the role of Teresa, a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Alek's dead sister Debra, the only person who loved him during their childhood in an orphanage, whom he was eventually forced to destroy? Mystery and betrayal abound in this convoluted plot. Everything builds, of course, toward a climactic confrontation between Alek and Amadeus. Although Alek's fate seems conclusively settled at the end, a framing document, a letter from a vampire-hunting priest, hints at the likelihood of a sequel.

Koehler's polished prose abounds in vivid descriptions and searing emotional intensity. She has the gift of plunging the reader into a fully realized world that feels as if it existed before we entered it and will continue to exist after the end of the book. In spite of the many questions whose answers we only gradually discover (and some never fully answered; unless I missed a vital bit of information, we are never explicitly told which vampires are legitimate targets of the slayers' lethal mission and which must be left alone), the author instantly sweeps us into the characters' lives and rivets our attention. Her universe reminds me of Anne Rice's in its violence and eroticism. The vampire-slayer hierarchical politics and the nightclub where vampires indulge their sensual appetites also bring to mind the "Vampire: The Masquerade" roleplaying universe. My own favorite part of the novel, though, is the series of flashbacks narrating Alek's childhood with his bloodthirsty sister, Debra. I found these sections fascinating. The violence of the present-day thread appealed to me less. Anne Rice fans, however, will probably love this book. Koehler deserves praise for creating a complex fictional universe with room for many volumes of future stories within its boundaries.

Reviewed by Margaret L. Carter.