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Count and Countess
Count Vlad Dracula "The Impaler": A 15th century Romanian prince. A religious zealot who murdered over forty thousand men in the name of Christ. A former child soldier in thirst of blind revenge.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory: A 16th century Hungarian princess. Europe's first feminist. The aristocrat who liberated women by day and bathed in their blood by night. An invalid trapped in the prison of her own body.
These are the letters they wrote to one another, from childhood to adulthood, across the impossible threshold of time; the secret bond they forged in cruelty and ink--of friendship, of madness, of sincerest love.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory: A 16th century Hungarian princess. Europe's first feminist. The aristocrat who liberated women by day and bathed in their blood by night. An invalid trapped in the prison of her own body.
These are the letters they wrote to one another, from childhood to adulthood, across the impossible threshold of time; the secret bond they forged in cruelty and ink--of friendship, of madness, of sincerest love.
220 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 20, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 22, 2013
From my blog:
Count and Countess is an epistolary novel by Rose Christo that describes the never-fulfilled romance between Vladislaus Drakulya, Prince of Wallachia, and Elizabeth Bathory, Princess of Hungary, who find as children that though they are separated from each other by a hundred years, they can send letters to each other. It is part historical fiction/alternate history and part paranormal romance; but more Wuthering Heights with gore than Twilight, and not just because it takes great care never to mention the word vampire.
I found this book on tvtropes - I don't think it even has a wikipedia page - fell in love with the premise, and immediately bought it from the Kindle Store. It's gory from start to finish, but the character development is the interesting part; they grow from somewhat entitled, slightly abnormal kids in trying circumstances to being simply deranged and psychopathic, holding onto each other all the more desperately as everything else falls apart. I wouldn't say it paints a sympathetic portrait of the characters - hard to, when it describes so calmly how Elizabeth kills her ladies in waiting, or Vlad impales thousands of Turkish men, women and children, or how he decorates his dining halls with the heads of his page boys and doesn't understand why his guests leave before the dinner is over- but it certainly shows a side to them that's interesting. Elizabeth, especially, is more tragic than horrific, and even Vlad, as he ends the book saying that he looks forward to finally being with her in hell as he knows neither of them are destined for heaven, evokes a certain pity.
There's plenty more on the tvtropes page linked above, but at $2.99, I would just advise anyone who finds this interesting to buy and read it.
January 10, 2013
I stumbled upon this book while browsing the brilliant tvtropes, and would recommend it to those who enjoy: very dark humour, well observed character studies of psychotic/damaged individuals, and deconstruction of common tropes in fiction - especially the 'girls love bad boys'/'sexy, bloodthirsty vampire' trope.
It is to the author's credit that I cannot think of a similar work to compare it to. Possibly We Have Always Lived in the Castle? Twilight it certainly ain't.
"What do you mean, why doesn't my skin sparkle?"
While I have given this book four stars, I must stress that this is in the context of it being a (presumably) self-published work that costs less than a latte: definitely worth downloading if the above description intrigues you, and the author is clearly a talented lady. The prose is polished and flows well. Yet it suffers (in my uneducated opinion), from a lack of relatable/sympathetic characters - something that might have been addressed by a professional editor.
(Having said that, this lack of sympathetic characters could be completely intentional: a la American Psycho).
It is to the author's credit that I cannot think of a similar work to compare it to. Possibly We Have Always Lived in the Castle? Twilight it certainly ain't.
"What do you mean, why doesn't my skin sparkle?"While I have given this book four stars, I must stress that this is in the context of it being a (presumably) self-published work that costs less than a latte: definitely worth downloading if the above description intrigues you, and the author is clearly a talented lady. The prose is polished and flows well. Yet it suffers (in my uneducated opinion), from a lack of relatable/sympathetic characters - something that might have been addressed by a professional editor.
(Having said that, this lack of sympathetic characters could be completely intentional: a la American Psycho).
May 17, 2012
A well written book with an intriguing premise. It's easy to see how Elizabeth and Vlad grow from children to powerful rulers--and ruthless murderers. I found myself empathizing with them both, so much so that the end was severely depressing. I strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys slightly paranormal historical fiction.
December 7, 2019
A genuinely enjoyable book. I'm disappointed to find that Christo considers this written when she was a 'kid' and thus removed it from purchase online, as it is one of my favorite stories to date. An avid reader of sci-fi and speculative fiction on an adult stage for near fifteen years now, I found that opinion disheartening.
Still, I read this novel at least once a year - I purchased it in late 2012 and have read it at least six times since. It's excellent. I urge Christo to rethink their stance on Count and Countess, embrace it for what it is, and allow others to enjoy it as well. I re-read it just the other day and it is still snarky, amusing, and dark despite it's glaring historical inaccuracies which, frankly, make me, the reader, believe that this is an alternative history and thus have anything is possible.
Still, I read this novel at least once a year - I purchased it in late 2012 and have read it at least six times since. It's excellent. I urge Christo to rethink their stance on Count and Countess, embrace it for what it is, and allow others to enjoy it as well. I re-read it just the other day and it is still snarky, amusing, and dark despite it's glaring historical inaccuracies which, frankly, make me, the reader, believe that this is an alternative history and thus have anything is possible.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews