Of Masques and Martyrs

Shadow Saga #3

by Christopher Golden

Led by Peter Octavian, the Shadows must drink blood. Yet they do not steal life. New Shadows are created only by individual choice. Peace is their only hunger. The minions of Hannibal have a different goal: the enslavement of humanity. They kill for pleasure and for thirst. They indiscriminately create more of their own. And they embrace the title of terrible legend: vampire. Shadows and vampires. One and the same. Their war continues...

Genres: Horror, Vampires, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Novels

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Marianne Boutet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really thrilled with the ending. And I see that the next three books are going to have more or less the same story arc. I liked the first two books immensely, but I don't like where the series seems to be going. Maybe after awhile, I will pick it up again -

[Brett Grossmann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of the worst song quotes I have ever seen used in a novel. Every chapter started with a lite fm song quote that directly tied to the chapter in the weakest way possible. Hmm something ironic happens..maybe I'll quote alanis morrissette ironic song. The blues singer in New Orleans is singing the whitest lames blues songs ever. The story itself plays out exactly like the previous. Big battle at end..a vamp that peter ignored for hundreds of years us now sad cause why? They have been friendly now for the last couple? Pffft

[Thee_ron_clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the first two books in this series to be great reads. With that said, this one was a great let down to me. I found it unfortunate that the third novel was so weak to me compared to its two predecessors. This will not stop me from reading the last in the series when I get around to it however. As a stand-alone novel, I might have enjoyed this more. Too bad it was the continuation of a great story.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuing saga of Peter Octavius and the shadows battle with the sadistic vampire , Hannibal and his large force of vampires. Well laid out series of events. Good over evil has always been the war from eternity. Character driven and well told story from New England's own best selling author Christopher Golden. A must read for all readers. Action, romance, history, horror, all included .

[Siamy · Rating 1 out of 5]

C'était pourri et mal écrit. Des répliques cringes à souhait et des personnages sans aucune profondeur. 2/10

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Getting a bit bored with the series now. Author did the "Game of Thrones"-thing in this one, or maybe G.R.R.M. did the "Christopher Golden"-thing in GoT? I would have preferred if the first three books were in one large novel; divided into two would have been fine also.

[Shell Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the third in the series, but I finally recognize the writing as Christopher Golden's. The story is a little weak and the characters overdramatic at times, but dang I love Golden's voice so much.
It's a fun ride on the bitter war between shadows and vampires with Hannibal.
😍

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Necroscope series aside, this is the most unique vampire series I've ever read. The best part of this book and the series thus far is the fact that I never know where the story is going.

[Lucas Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was mediocre at best. Although it did a pretty good job of wrapping up the brilliant and intriguing plot the first two books had set up it really failed in doing anything else but providing a somewhat satisfying conclusion. Christopher still maintains his brilliant style of writing and the fight scenes in this book are all brilliant and exhilarating to read but that being said some of this book just doesn't cut it. For example, the author seems to have a penchant for ruining certain characters in this book and taking good characters away completely... he starts the book by killing off two brilliant and developed characters from the previous book. One he destroyed literally by killing them off and the other he just ruined to the point she became insufferable for the rest of the book. Other characters, such as the villain Hannibal, partake in some of the most grotesque (and not in a good way) sex scenes that make the book sometimes painful to read. It is established Hannibal has his perversions but the amount of time the book spends on them is awful and the sex scenes themselves (thankfully they're few in number) are crude and lack all the goodness his usual writing has to the point they are just plain disgusting to read. My main issue is what Christopher does with the characters and although I have no problem with characters dying or being driven insane the way he does it just doesn't seem well executed; the death at the start is just one example of this. The series has been established to be a unique take on the tale of vampires and although the third one follows up well on this it feels like it slips into more and more cliches as the plot progresses with oh so bland heroic speechs and some infuriating instances of deus ex machina that really don't fit at all. If you were a fan of the first 2 I'd read this for closure but if you didn't find them anything special then I'd recommend you're wary of wasting your time by reading this one.

[Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished this book and I must say that I am very upset! While it was brilliant and an amazing story I just could not wrap my head around a few of the things that happened. Now normally I don't delve into the plot of books because I don't want to spoil it for other readers. However, HOW COULD YOU KILL ROLF!!!!!! He was my favourite character and he died at the very start of the book. I can sort of understand the reasonings behind it but I just kept expecting him to pop up somewhere and come to everyones rescue. He was such a brilliant character and I believe would have benriched the story more if he had not died. There are other things that I am disappointed about but I don't want to spoil everything. It really deserves 3 1/2 stars but I marked it up because I am in general a huge fan of Christopher Golden and it truly is worth reading. I am hoping that the next in the series does not disappoint me as much. If anyone else of value (Not that there are many surviving characters from the first 3 books) dies I think I may have to have words with Christopher! I'm not sure how I would go about it but I'll get in touch with him somehow!So Chris, you have been warned! And now I'm off to read the fourth in the series.

[Louis Carvalho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the world and vampire mythos the author created, but this series is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Sex and gore (sometimes at the same time) are not only present but described in what I consider to be an unnecessary level of detail.

[Kendra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book by the author. He pulls no punches and is brutal about it. You get involved in the characters and that makes it hard sometimes. Thoroughly enjoying this series!

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

i've got the Ace edition, Dec 1998. It was a good read but somehow after having read the previous 2 books this one appeared a lot less "huge".

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but I could have had more fun with the shape-changing.

[Donna Fowler · Rating 2 out of 5]

quite disappointing. I expected a better conclusion after the first two books.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

To avoid spoilers, I'll just say that this was a let-down after all of the build-up in the two previous books in the series.

[Bunny]

Was hesitant to get this, but it is Christopher Golden, so I went for it.