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Reviews for Fevre Dream

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  • Unfulfilled Promise4

    Gregor Matheson George RR Martin reminds me of Philip K Dick: he is a writer who at once transcends generic fiction and yet is oddly hampered by it. Like Dick, his characters tend to be flawed yet kind who are redeemed by friendship in a world where loneliness and cruelty are all too common.

    Fevre Dream's main plot focuses on the friendship between Abner Marsh, an ugly and boorish (yet principled and generous), steamboat captain and an elegant vampire called Joshua York. A parallel plot involves an evil vampire Damon Julian and his human sidekick 'Sour' Billy Tipton.

    Tipton is a slave to his master, yet he is also a master to slaves. Martin shows great skill in his use of dialogue as Tipton's condescending manner of speech towards the slaves mirrors Julian's way of speaking to Tipton.

    Julian and a pack of vampires live in a decaying Southern mansion and (for me) Martin's best scene describes the arrival of some farmers who have captured slaves who have run away from Julian. Tipton hosts them in the rotting mansion building up a thick air of tension and Martin shows a strong visual imagination and handles the dialogue and pace excellently. The farmers mention horrific tales the slaves have told. Tipton replies by scoffing at them for believing anything slaves would say. Martin's use of irony and subtext work well without being laboured.

    Despite this, I thought Julian suffered from being too theatrical, and overall I thought Martin's handling of the vampire plot used too many clichés and had too little subtlety. His description of French New Orleans was very beautiful and exotic, though the plot became quite confused after York lost a battle of wills to Julian and became separated from Marsh. However, the closing chapters were very well written and the ending surprisingly poignant.

    It is unfortunate that Martin largely abandoned horror writing, as it was a genre he did well in. Whilst Fevre Dream is not a masterpiece it is an accomplished work by a (then) young writer. Worth a read for enthusiasts of adventure horror, but not those who like subtle chills. by Gregor Matheson

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