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Saint-Germain #15
Night Blooming
Summoned to the eighth-century court of Charlemagne to authenticate the kings recently acquired maps, the mysterious Hiermon Ragoczy de Santus Germainium, the immortal vampire Le Comte de Saint-Germain, encounters Gynethe Mehaut, an albino woman who bears the signs of the stigmata and is faced with accusations of witchcraft. 20,000 first printing.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
4 people are currently reading
326 people want to read
About the author
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
259 books477 followersA professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-1962 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers.
She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories.
In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. In 2014 she won a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention.
A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco.
She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can.
Divorced, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area - with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera.
Her Saint-Germain series is now the longest vampire series ever. The books range widely over time and place, and were not published in historical order. They are numbered in published order.
Known pseudonyms include Vanessa Pryor, Quinn Fawcett, T.C.F. Hopkins, Trystam Kith, Camille Gabor.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 21, 2013
Here the immortal vampire Saint Germain serves at the court of Charlemagne in the 9th century Frankish Kingdom. He does all the same stuff that he does in every other book: sets up a household, behaves with kindness and generosity to everyone, lives under a cloud of suspicion for everything he does (except being a vampire, which nobody notices) and gets booted out of town at the end. Saint-Germain’s stories have the same ending as the old Incredible Hulk episodes: sad music plays while he leaves town, his head hung low.
The hook in this novel, besides the historical setting and Charlemagne himself, is the presence of a young woman who is an albino and afflicted with stigmata. The Church can’t decide if she is blessed or cursed. Given that this is a Yarbro novel, guess which side the Church comes down on?
A bright spot in this mostly depressing book is the presence of Olivia, a feisty old girlfriend of Saint-Germain’s who became a vampire a few centuries ago.
I complain, but I keep reading these. There’s something hypnotic about them: the sheer repetitiveness of the conversations between Saint-Germain and his eternal manservant Roger, who will surely one day explode from being asked if he has remembered to pack the same stuff he’s been packing for literally centuries; and the relentlessly horrible people Saint-Germain encounters: nearly all characters from kings to beggars are greedy, suspicious, spiteful and traitorous.
The hook in this novel, besides the historical setting and Charlemagne himself, is the presence of a young woman who is an albino and afflicted with stigmata. The Church can’t decide if she is blessed or cursed. Given that this is a Yarbro novel, guess which side the Church comes down on?
A bright spot in this mostly depressing book is the presence of Olivia, a feisty old girlfriend of Saint-Germain’s who became a vampire a few centuries ago.
I complain, but I keep reading these. There’s something hypnotic about them: the sheer repetitiveness of the conversations between Saint-Germain and his eternal manservant Roger, who will surely one day explode from being asked if he has remembered to pack the same stuff he’s been packing for literally centuries; and the relentlessly horrible people Saint-Germain encounters: nearly all characters from kings to beggars are greedy, suspicious, spiteful and traitorous.
March 9, 2015
I was not as thrilled with this book as I thought I would be. I had been given the impression that it was comparable to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, but it is vastly different. The entire story moves at a snail's pace, and there are huge gaps left to the imagination. Many things are hinted at, yet nothing is told outright. I found it had a disappointing end as well, although it is set up for the next book to continue the story.
December 3, 2008
I still like the books, and Ms. Yarbro's writing, but like most series, they do start to get a touch repetitive. The brilliant historical details and my fondness for St. Germaine keep me going, though.
February 5, 2019
This might be the most boring romance novel I've ever read.
March 7, 2020
Best author of vampire fiction! All the Saint-Germain books convey an exquisite sense of an immortal who has seen it all before.
March 5, 2023
As usual in Ms Yarbro's books, the vampire and his manservant, the ghoul, behave better than the humans.
February 20, 2009
Night blooming by chelsea quinn yarbro is a vampire book that does not read like a vampire book. I started with a book right in the middle of the series I guess, but this is fine as a stand alone book as well so I had no trouble reading it. The main character is a vampire who has been alive for thousands of years. Of course, he's good, and only drinks blood from women in their sleep without killing or hurting them, or from animals. In this volume, he's summoned to the court of Charlemagne, in the late 700s to early 800s, and you mostly forget he is even a vampire, just a really long living guy. I got a great sense of the life of people back then, as well as the politics and religion. Having taken mideval history in college, it really brought those old lectures to life (although professor kapelle did a great job of that himself!). The secondary main character, the "white woman" who was an albino whose hands bled, was entirely unlikeable. I kept thinking that as she fleshed out as a character, I'd like her more, but I liked her less. Still, all the characters were well done, the details, everything. This is a GREAT historical novel, and I'm so excited to follow our vampire guy to his next time period to learn more about it. If you like history or want to know more about old fashioned culture, read this book!
February 27, 2009
In some ways this was an enjoyable book for the fan. It is nice to see an actual physical interaction between the Count and Olivia. The weak part of the book seemed to be the character of Gynethe. She does seem to really live, at least in terms of a fictional character. There are two possible reasons for this. The first, is that Olivia is so charming that other female characters pale in comparsion. The second reason, the more plot relevant reason, is that Yarbro is trying to protray Gynethe to the reader in the way that the society sees Gynethe. In other words, the reader is distanced from Gynethe so the reader is forced, in part, to view her in terms of society (and that would include the Count). If it is a plot device, I'm not sure how successful it is, especially if Yarbro is trying to get the reader to see Gynethe as both society and the Count see her.
May 5, 2008
Another in the continuing saga of St. Germain, this time he it is the year 796 and he is at the Court of Karl-o-Magne (Charlomagne). He is tasked with taking an albino women with bleeding palms to Pope Leo so the pope can decide is she is a saint or the AntiChrist. Very dangerous times for people who are foreigners and people who are different. They are very much distrusted even though they are used by the King for his ends. St. Germain barely escapes not because he is a vampire but because he is a foreigner. He tried but could not save the young woman. Great for background on the time of Charlomagne.
July 24, 2009
This was my first Chelsea Quinn Yarbro book... Didn't think it was anything exceptional, but since it's the middle of a series, it did leave me wanting to read more. Mostly I was intrigued by the female vampires mentioned, and wanted to know more about them. I want some sort of Cliffs Notes backstory.
Not being a huge fan of the Charlamagne period of time, I may have missed some of the appeal, but in general I found the main character a little annoying.
The book did have some neat twists on the traditional vampire story, and it's hard to DISLIKE vampire historical fiction...
I guess I'd buy these at a used book store, but wouldn't pay full price again. Take that as you will.
Not being a huge fan of the Charlamagne period of time, I may have missed some of the appeal, but in general I found the main character a little annoying.
The book did have some neat twists on the traditional vampire story, and it's hard to DISLIKE vampire historical fiction...
I guess I'd buy these at a used book store, but wouldn't pay full price again. Take that as you will.
October 4, 2011
A tragic story of faith, love, intrigue and conflict during the era of Charlemagne (800 AD). I started reading this series, who main character is a vampire, in the 80's. What has drawn me back to them, is that they are meticulously researched for each historical era and geographical place. It's not so much about being a vampire, as being in a long time line and the march of history and place, seen through one particular pair of eyes. If you like historical novels, you'll probably love any of the St. Germain chronicles by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.
June 22, 2022
It was okay.And as i've said before the relationships get a bit tiresome after a while why can't St Germain have a platonic relationship with a woman he crosses paths with like just an friend or co worker or an acquaintance the women seem to be there just for him quite often.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2008
't Is Saint-Germain hé. Niet echt slecht, niet echt goed. Spijtig dat er niet echt een relatie is tussne Saint-Germain en Gynethe Mehaut. De blurb is totaal misleidend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 26, 2016
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May 6, 2009
Surprisingly good considering I had not read anything by this author in a long, long while.
Read
September 1, 2013St. Germain (Gaul, 796-804) Book 16
August 15, 2016
A gloomy story. Not one of my favorites in the series. I found myself wishing that Saint Germain had tried harder to determine the cause of the woman's stigmata. Left me a little disappointed.
January 24, 2016
I really enjoy this series of books and the historical nature of each book.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews