Click Here To Purchase The Vampire Tapestry

Author:  Suzy McKee Charnas

ISBN:  9780765320827 

The Vampire Tapestry is a paranormal contemporary fiction set in present day style.  It tells the tale of a prestigious university professor who can mask his true identity.  It isn't the typical vampire story you usually read such as Bram Stroker's Dracula or Laurell Hamilton and her Anita Blake character.  Suzy McKee Charnas takes an unusually sophisticated vampire and makes him almost human.

The black cover of the book shows an ominous man cast in shadow in the mist of nightfall.  It speaks of danger and you can't help but pick it up and glance through the pages.  The story catches my attention right away from the first chapter.  The fascination derives from the unexpected way the author pulls the reader away from the usual vampire story.  At first, you think that the mystery is gone when in the first sentence you find out the professor is a vampire but you will be entertained at how the writer draws you into the rest of the story. 

The main character, Dr. Edward Weyland, appears to be having an emotional conflict because he is realizing that the longer he spends with humans, he starts to enjoy the same thing they enjoy.  His encounter with the psychologist, Dr. Floria Landauer, was the closest he got to feeling human and the little change she made in him was enough to make him think.

The main plot is clear and believable as the author shows us the life of a person as close to being a vampire than any other traditional vampire in history or fiction.  At one point, the reader is lead to believe that this character may be in a delusional state and believes himself to be a vampire but with further reading, you find out that he is indeed a member of the undead.  I felt that Dr. Edward Weyland decides to escape his conflict because he seems afraid of falling victim to the emotions of the human race. 

The setting is very descriptive and it keeps the reader at the time and place of the characters.  Most of the story is written in the city, in modern day.  The settings of the homes, the school, outside in the street and the forest seems very real and didn’t distract the reader at all from the story but added to it to make it more concrete.

The characters came alive, in relevance to the main character.  Although Dr. Weyland interacts with the other characters in the story, he is  made to come alive to the reader.  My only concern is that I don't believe there was enough backstory on him.  The only time the reader is given any more insight into Dr. Wyland, is when he goes for counseling with Dr. Floria Landauer.  Her character plays the part of extracting more of his personality but not enough to tell us who he really is.  It seems sort of clinical, which at that point of the story, detracts from his personality and makes him feel a little one-dimensional.  When he gets back into interacting with the characters, outside of her office, he comes back to life.  The author may have wanted to keep the mystery about his true identity, possibly wanting readers to question if he was really human with a psychological problem or was he really a vampire from over the ages. 

Through the dialogue, you could tell all the characters are distinct from each other.  When Dr. Weyland spoke, he had an air about him that made you feel he felt disdain for the human race.  He seems to patronize people and force himself to get along or be found out.

The story is written in several points of view but Suzy McKee Charnas doesn't confuse them.  Each point of view is clear and doesn't leave the reader wondering who is speaking at the moment.  The Vampire Tapestry is told by the main character, Dr. Edward Weyland, as well as the three other secondary characters, Katje – who starts off the first part of the story, Roger and Alan Reese who continue with the character in the second part of the story and Dr. Landauer, who causes the greatest reaction from him in the third part of the story.  They each bring about their interaction of the vampire and how his presence and actions enter their individual lives. 

The author did a good job in displaying the main characters thoughts and feelings.  She also is able to describe the interactions with the other secondary characters so that the reader can feel their emotions.  If we could have delved further into Dr. Weyland's past, it would have made the story a little more colorful.  The mystery of the character seems to be the most important point of the story.

The Vampire Tapestry is an excellent book to read and every adult who loves the paranormal shouldn't miss out on reading this novel.  If you're looking for the action adventure type reading between the struggles of vampire beast and man, this book doesn't give you that.  It is an intelligent, piece of drama that gets you thinking, keeps you enthralled, and entertained to the last word.

Click Here To Purchase The Vampire Tapestry

The above review was contributed by: Jennifer Andrew -Freelance Writer and Reviewer. Jennifer is an avid reader who loves to read every type of book, giving all of the fiction and non-fiction books a chance. Her favorite categories are fantasy, mystery drama, romance mystery, science fiction, philosophy, psychology, new age and selective self-help books. She enjoys promoting a good book when she reads one and hopes everyone feels the same joy that she did in reading it. To read Jennifer's reviews CLICK HERE