Comments on "Knight's Blood"

If the title didn't make this clear, this is a story by Gwendolyn Blackthorne, about vampires.  Normally I stay as far as possible from vampires; both vampires, and the the authors that are inspired by them, are usually ultra romantic, and of questionable stability.  But this one was within the price range of the acquaintance who lets me read their ebooks, and I was bored ...

I was surprised by the aspects of the story that were good.

1. The main protagonist is a young woman, who has qualified to be a knight in spite of her reactionary father.  There are a number of run- ins between father and daughter, but the language and tone---given that girls were not permitted to be knights, though that is a conceit that has been heavily explored in modern popular literature---are convincing.

2. The vampire is also a woman, who is disguised as a visiting knight, at the outset.  The plot element of a 'dark knight' at a tourney ìs also quite common, so the only innovative device, here, is that it is a female, and a vampire. 

3. The other grown-ups here are well-spoken, though the language is modern.  The politics is moderate, though the young female knight is not only an ardent feminist, but also a 'socialist' according to conservatives of our day, because she urges her father to spend money to make the lives of the villagers easier.  But that's not a knight theme; the girl is anxious to make the village safer, from vampires, incidentally. 

There is one feature that I think detract from the story. 

The vampire is, as vampires often are, several centuries old.  But the woman is just a little more spry and affectionate and--- honestly--- youthful, that it strains the imagination.  A being more than a century old, would normally be just a little more measured in their speech.  The style of speech is the main tool an author has to paint a picture of a character, more than descriptive words, descriptions of clothing, and things like that (though they're important, no doubt).

Then, apart from a couple of mechanical errors--- which seem inevitable--- it is a nice first installment of a multi- volume work. 

K.H.B