Scan barcode
A review by tracey_stewart
Blood Maidens by Barbara Hambly
5.0
I probably say this every time I review a Barbara Hambly novel: I've loved her books for years. She wrote vampire novels before they were clichéd, the series that began with Those Who Hunt the Night, of which this is the third book.
Her use of metaphor and simile is one of the loveliest things I know of in fiction. "The woman put back her veil – champagne-colored point-lace that wouldn't have stopped a glance, let alone sunlight". "Ellen bridled like a coy percheron." There are few authors who can come close to matching her, and none can surpass her. Her sentences are things of beauty which create miracles of character and setting. In a sea of mediocre freebies and ARCs, she is utterly reliable. "Reliable" may not be one of the sexier compliments one can give – but when it comes to reliable enjoyability, reliable skill, reliable wonder, reliable joy … every author should be so complimentable.
Her use of metaphor and simile is one of the loveliest things I know of in fiction. "The woman put back her veil – champagne-colored point-lace that wouldn't have stopped a glance, let alone sunlight". "Ellen bridled like a coy percheron." There are few authors who can come close to matching her, and none can surpass her. Her sentences are things of beauty which create miracles of character and setting. In a sea of mediocre freebies and ARCs, she is utterly reliable. "Reliable" may not be one of the sexier compliments one can give – but when it comes to reliable enjoyability, reliable skill, reliable wonder, reliable joy … every author should be so complimentable.