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Voice of Blood #3
Fiend
In nineteenth-century Italy, young Orfeo Ricari teeters on the brink of adulthood. His new tutor instructs him in literature and poetry during the day and guides him in the world of sensual pleasure at night. But a journey to Paris will teach young Orfeo much more. For in Paris he will become a vampire. Told in his own words, this is the story of the life, death, rebirth and education of a vampire. No one else could properly describe the shadowy existence, the endless hunger, the heightened senses or the amazing power of the undead. No one else could recount the passing of the years and the slow realization of what it means to grasp immortality, to live on innocent blood, to be a Fiend
326 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
5 people are currently reading
189 people want to read
About the author
Jemiah Jefferson
11 books97 followersAfrican American horror author and Dark Horse comics editor. Her Voice of Blood series introduces the smart, beautiful, sexy and vicious vampires of Portland.
Jemiah Jefferson was born in Denver, Colorado. Her childhood consisted of a steady diet of AM radio, New Wave and disco, music videos, Star Wars, and resenting the strictures of school. At an age too early to remember, she began making up stories populated by vivid characters. Combined with a compulsive urge to write commentary and reactions in the margins of books she read and re-read, she found that these increasingly-complex stories demanded to be written down.
Her first printed work, St*rf*ck*ng, a group of short erotic stories with a touch of celebrity obsession, was published by local small-press rockstar Kevin Sampsell for Future Tense Books.
The first draft of the novel that would become Voice of the Blood was written in 24 hours in 1990 in a fit of inspiration. After another six years of thinking about it (and writing a few more novels and short stories in the meantime) she finally began to apply herself to this work, taking her experiences of living in San Francisco and of her contacts with the young, amoral, and beautiful that she had there and applying them to a situation and a set of characters already in existence in her imagination.
She works in the editorial department at Dark Horse Comics, Inc., working on titles including Emily the Strange, Creepy Archives, The Complete K Chronicles, and the Eisner Award-winning Herbie Archives.
Jemiah Jefferson was born in Denver, Colorado. Her childhood consisted of a steady diet of AM radio, New Wave and disco, music videos, Star Wars, and resenting the strictures of school. At an age too early to remember, she began making up stories populated by vivid characters. Combined with a compulsive urge to write commentary and reactions in the margins of books she read and re-read, she found that these increasingly-complex stories demanded to be written down.
Her first printed work, St*rf*ck*ng, a group of short erotic stories with a touch of celebrity obsession, was published by local small-press rockstar Kevin Sampsell for Future Tense Books.
The first draft of the novel that would become Voice of the Blood was written in 24 hours in 1990 in a fit of inspiration. After another six years of thinking about it (and writing a few more novels and short stories in the meantime) she finally began to apply herself to this work, taking her experiences of living in San Francisco and of her contacts with the young, amoral, and beautiful that she had there and applying them to a situation and a set of characters already in existence in her imagination.
She works in the editorial department at Dark Horse Comics, Inc., working on titles including Emily the Strange, Creepy Archives, The Complete K Chronicles, and the Eisner Award-winning Herbie Archives.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 28, 2017
This is Ricari's story, and I thought I was going to hate it for two reasons.
1) Voice Of The Blood was a triumph of vampire lit, even though I didn't like Ricari's character
2) Wounds pissed me off
But I actually ended up really liking this and flew through it faster than I expected. I understood Ricari much more, if not exactly liking him. It was extremely well-written, as I've come to expect from Jefferson, and a great addition to the series.
4.5 stars.
1) Voice Of The Blood was a triumph of vampire lit, even though I didn't like Ricari's character
2) Wounds pissed me off
But I actually ended up really liking this and flew through it faster than I expected. I understood Ricari much more, if not exactly liking him. It was extremely well-written, as I've come to expect from Jefferson, and a great addition to the series.
4.5 stars.
April 26, 2019
I mean, obviously, *I* love it.
January 27, 2016
The back of the book lists a review snippet. For the sake of my review, I'd like to quote it here:
Comparisons to Anne Rice are inevitable, but Jefferson's writing is simultaneously tougher and more elegant. - Willamette Week
Well, folks, that about sums it up a lot of right there. Jefferson creates a world that's all too familiar. Finding similarities with Rice work? You aren't kidding! Even the writing style is a bit reminiscent of Lestat Land; everything from the birth of a vampire, to the angst of one, to the streets of Paris and changes of modern age.
However, I don't dismiss a book simply because its been done before. After all, sometimes when its done again by someone else, its done better! Is that the case here? Not even touching that one. Haven't read enough of Rice to compare, and wouldn't be fair to. Lets just say that if you enjoy those types of vampires, you probably wouldn't be disappointed looking here.
Like many life stories, this one goes through the motions of telling a back life. Some of it is interesting and some of it had me wanting to speed through it. That's one of the risks of these types. As a result of this tale the pace lagged a bit at times, making up for it at other moments. I enjoyed some of the moments but not much action took place. Here and there something occurred but nothing HUGE. For future reference, I like, want, love HUGE action somewhere in there. A big surprise maybe?? Perhaps a gigantic tragedy? The nearest this came was the death of a main character it was strongly dramatic more of that would have earned this book a higher rating, I think.
The characters were interesting and not poorly written, but some lacked substance. I'm used to more conscientious, morally righteous characters than Orfeo. Strangely enough, one minute he preached on treating others well and not killing, while on the other hand he didn't blink an eye to doing the deed, hearing of someone else doing it (or planning to), or react to tragedy. It seems like the act of killing someone who loved and trusted him was dismissed in his mind because he was doing it to gain someone he wanted? Odd logic there.
How the character of Daniel would turn out was predictable. Frankly his character was downright nasty and not enjoyable I would have enjoyed seeing him get the wrong end of the stick. I certainly couldn't see the main characters attraction to him, that's for sure. And of course there was also the strange subplot with his sister at the beginning?
This isn't the case with all the characters, thankfully. I actually loved Gabriel and Chicot. If they had been around more and stayed, this book may have left me in more pleasant spirits. But even with them there are flaws to be found. Their personalities clicked with me, but they were oh-so-familiar! As a clear summary, the beginning started off a little slow with a strange tutor relationship, the middle picked up and kept me more enthused, the ending was starting to irritate me with one of the characters, and the very last pages were too abrupt. Why the sudden change? Seemed like there should have been more of a lead up there. As a final slap in the face, the last paragraph left me a bit confused on who the author was referring to.
A saving grace is Jefferson's writing style. Her words flow beautifully across the pages; she has the knack of the written word and picks the right ones to express the right emotions. When things are supposed to be delightful, they are. Dark? They are. Gross? They are. Depressing? They are. The atmosphere in one scene with Maria being at her most depressed stages was haunting and carried forth through the rest of the story.
Overall, this book is readable. I didn't want to set it down once I got into it, but it took me a few tries to stay tuned. The writing style is complimentary to this type of tale, but this stories already been told before. The ending held a minor let down, let justice hadn't been done, but there were some saving scenes that held the books head above water. Its filled with sex but many of the scenes could have been made more erotic.
My advice? Read it if you're in the mood for some new vampire blood, but don't put too much stake in it capturing your heart.
Comparisons to Anne Rice are inevitable, but Jefferson's writing is simultaneously tougher and more elegant. - Willamette Week
Well, folks, that about sums it up a lot of right there. Jefferson creates a world that's all too familiar. Finding similarities with Rice work? You aren't kidding! Even the writing style is a bit reminiscent of Lestat Land; everything from the birth of a vampire, to the angst of one, to the streets of Paris and changes of modern age.
However, I don't dismiss a book simply because its been done before. After all, sometimes when its done again by someone else, its done better! Is that the case here? Not even touching that one. Haven't read enough of Rice to compare, and wouldn't be fair to. Lets just say that if you enjoy those types of vampires, you probably wouldn't be disappointed looking here.
Like many life stories, this one goes through the motions of telling a back life. Some of it is interesting and some of it had me wanting to speed through it. That's one of the risks of these types. As a result of this tale the pace lagged a bit at times, making up for it at other moments. I enjoyed some of the moments but not much action took place. Here and there something occurred but nothing HUGE. For future reference, I like, want, love HUGE action somewhere in there. A big surprise maybe?? Perhaps a gigantic tragedy? The nearest this came was the death of a main character it was strongly dramatic more of that would have earned this book a higher rating, I think.
The characters were interesting and not poorly written, but some lacked substance. I'm used to more conscientious, morally righteous characters than Orfeo. Strangely enough, one minute he preached on treating others well and not killing, while on the other hand he didn't blink an eye to doing the deed, hearing of someone else doing it (or planning to), or react to tragedy. It seems like the act of killing someone who loved and trusted him was dismissed in his mind because he was doing it to gain someone he wanted? Odd logic there.
How the character of Daniel would turn out was predictable. Frankly his character was downright nasty and not enjoyable I would have enjoyed seeing him get the wrong end of the stick. I certainly couldn't see the main characters attraction to him, that's for sure. And of course there was also the strange subplot with his sister at the beginning?
This isn't the case with all the characters, thankfully. I actually loved Gabriel and Chicot. If they had been around more and stayed, this book may have left me in more pleasant spirits. But even with them there are flaws to be found. Their personalities clicked with me, but they were oh-so-familiar! As a clear summary, the beginning started off a little slow with a strange tutor relationship, the middle picked up and kept me more enthused, the ending was starting to irritate me with one of the characters, and the very last pages were too abrupt. Why the sudden change? Seemed like there should have been more of a lead up there. As a final slap in the face, the last paragraph left me a bit confused on who the author was referring to.
A saving grace is Jefferson's writing style. Her words flow beautifully across the pages; she has the knack of the written word and picks the right ones to express the right emotions. When things are supposed to be delightful, they are. Dark? They are. Gross? They are. Depressing? They are. The atmosphere in one scene with Maria being at her most depressed stages was haunting and carried forth through the rest of the story.
Overall, this book is readable. I didn't want to set it down once I got into it, but it took me a few tries to stay tuned. The writing style is complimentary to this type of tale, but this stories already been told before. The ending held a minor let down, let justice hadn't been done, but there were some saving scenes that held the books head above water. Its filled with sex but many of the scenes could have been made more erotic.
My advice? Read it if you're in the mood for some new vampire blood, but don't put too much stake in it capturing your heart.
December 20, 2021
I hadn't read a book like this before and I really enjoyed it. Just the right amount of erotism and gore, not too much. And the plot was always bustling and continuing, no long boring lulls.
February 14, 2010
vampires and sodomy..enough said.
September 29, 2014
Wants to be Interview so bad!! Never quite makes it though.
December 18, 2024
This sequel steps back in time to explore the birth and early life of Ricari. It's a better read than Wounds in the sense that it's less intentionally aggravating; indeed, the lack of friction is glaring. Ricari is such a piece of work in the other books; here, he's too normal for too long, where normal still contains the convoluted, delightful, erotic tensions of Jefferson's vampires--and it's gratifying to see the Ricari-has-two-mommies backstory play out in full color. Unsurprisingly, Daniel is, again, the turning point. The slide into disaster isn't wholly convincing, but it's pretty good, and the later tableaux--vampires at an affected remove from volatile human spaces, politics, & ethics, out of sync but entangled, with the consequences sublimated into and thus destroying their interpersonal relationships--are striking. I don't like this as much as the first book, but I'm glad to still be reading the series.
December 12, 2022
Не можу однозначно сказати чому до кінця прочитала цю книгу. Хоча потрібно віддати належне автору - роман написаний легко, вільнодумно та не завантажує операційну систему тисячами імен та місць але поисутнє постійне звернення та суперечливі депресивні роздуми. Образ головного героя змальований з Джорджа Байрона - романтичний індивідуаліст, розчарований у навколишньому світі та самотній (хоча перебуває у самих різношерстних компанія: від самих «загублених низів» до «вищих шарів Парижу»).
Якщо ви неоднозначно відноситесь до содомії, інцесту, гомосексуальності/лезбійства - вам точно не сюди.
Якщо ви неоднозначно відноситесь до содомії, інцесту, гомосексуальності/лезбійства - вам точно не сюди.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2017
I enjoyed this book most out of the series
There was a bit of action and plot
There was a bit of action and plot
March 22, 2025
AMAZING!!! So seductive, sexually good!!!
July 10, 2011
This story, while third in the seires, is a prequel to the other two (but needs to be read as the third). Here we go back to 1st person POV as Orfeo. A character I didn't really care for in the first book. The second he was verily absent. The only oddity that came with this one is that we see a lot of internal Orfeo that is very different from the external we get from others perspectives in the first two books. He isn't nearly as Catholic-y as he seems in those books. One of the rememberances Daniel shared with Sybil in book 2 was completely overlooked and it would have been really eye-opening to see why he behaived that way, that scene would have given some explaination on Orfeo's devoutness and honestly, he came off as a spolied child (like ever other vampire in this series really).
I did like it. The writing was very good and it sucked me in completely. Just looking back on the other two before it there seemed to be a little descrepancy in his outward and inward appearances.
I did like it. The writing was very good and it sucked me in completely. Just looking back on the other two before it there seemed to be a little descrepancy in his outward and inward appearances.
July 13, 2015
Every time I pick up an erotic vampire novel by Jemiah Jefferson, I get the feeling I'm not going to like it. When I saw this one was about Ricari, a character I don't ordinarily enjoy, I figured I really wouldn't like it. Yet . . . as with all other times, Jefferson won me over. This is a great book detailing the amazing history of a less-than-inspired peasant boy who became one of the most powerful vampires in history. I was fascinated by how he left his family and home all the way to how he became a vampire and how he spent his early days as an undead creature. I lost interest a bit (as I usually do in other vampire books) when vampirism becomes a common thing for Ricari, but then . . . then my favorite character in Jefferson's pantheon shows up, Daniel Blum. That's when this book really gets interesting. If erotic vampire fiction is your thing (and it's not mine), you need to read this book.
May 23, 2008
The third book from this highly talented writer from Portland. I personally love her style, her humour and her skill. This book gives the background of Orfeo Ricardi, and fans of hers will not be disappointed. I am still reading it but of course am highly enjoying it.
October 1, 2012
I can't give this more stars because, I don't remember reading it. I must have, since it was in storage. If you choose to get this one, John, I may give it a quick read over again before sending it on.
September 17, 2007
dark, secret, totally sexy. be prepared to be up all night with vampires and sex. Loved this book!
July 3, 2008
This book is great. Jefferson is great for anyone who likes Anne Rice's vampires.
February 5, 2009
great rea dnot meant for small kids though. id say a adult book due to graphic sex
June 26, 2011
I am suck a sucker for Orfeo's character. Love how J.J. painted his history in this sad, tragic novel. I wish Jemiah would write more amazing characters such as Orfeo.
February 6, 2017
This could have been better. To go into the why of it all, would prevent me from moving onto the next great adventure in reading...
Giving this one: 2.5 stars.
Giving this one: 2.5 stars.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews