Cathedral of Vampires

Marquis de Sade #3

by Mary Ann Mitchell

An immortal young woman, along with her half-vampire companion, searches the world for the Marquis de Sade, the perverse incarnation of evil who turned her into a vampire, to put an end to his reign of terror, but she soon discovers that killing a master vampire is no easy task. Original.

Genres: Vampires, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy

355 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

As a child, Mary Ann Mitchell wrote short stories, essays, and poetry. When she was twelve she sent her short stories to the night editor of The Journal American, who encouraged her to send more. Her mother intercepted the letters and forbade her from writing. Seems some of the family’s dark secrets were oozing onto Mary Ann’s written pages. Her writing became secret and sporadic. Once she completed graduate school, she became a civil servant. Years later her husband asked her what her dream career would be. She quickly answered that she always wanted to be a novelist.

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are many kinds of bad books (in fact, their numbers are legion), there are ones with poor characterisations and clumsy writing so that the reader never knows who is who, who saying what or what is meant to be happening. Others are bad because they childishly over-dramatise and fail to make anyone or anything believable. Others are immature, where the writer is trying to write about something they know nothing about, and so remain unconvincing.

Cathedral of Vampires, is ALL of these things. All of them, and more faults besides.

However, despite or possibly because of all that, to begin with it was a actually quite fun. The two dimensions, ridiculous characters posturing like cardboard cutouts made me laugh quite a bit. You could say it was so bad it was funny.

Eventually however, the kitschy, cheesy confusion and inanity wore thin. This is a DNF on page 274 because it was so repetitious I had ceased to laugh. There was complete indifference in me as to how it turned out or what clumsy cliches happened to or were committed by the cardboard figures.

[Camille Dent · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a wild and confusing ride! The writing is very amateurish and convoluted, but I can tell she had fun writing it! Between a half-vampire with a savior complex and a scorned vampire lover with a need for revenge, I was excited about an adventure filled with cheesy banter and sexual tension. I got none of that. The “main” characters introduced at the beginning are quickly separated, and the POV bounces between so many different people that I honestly have no idea who’s or what’s story this is. There’s a lot of buildup for a very sudden and unsatisfying ending, and I still don’t know exactly what happened.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why, oh, why did I read this book? So pointless...

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thank you Ms. Mitchell, for providing me with an excusable reason to remain the anti-social degenerate I am. Sure, the book is a bit campy, but hey, it's the sugar to my Kool-Aid. A story filled with gore, blood, sexuality and enough debauchery to fulfill any reader's needs.

Now, on with the show, shall we? The plot is sadistically entertaining; keeping it simple, with a good dose of graphic goth. The atmosphere is disturbing and aggressive. It oppresses you with a sense of pain and vengeance. The pace in the story is hypersonic and rugged. For this I suggest some tums. Mitchell's style of writing is in your face, straight forward and intentional. Here is an author who knows what she's doing

Now on the other side of that rainbow, the characters were as convincing as a politician's smile. They proved to be vapid and contrived. I found myself repeatedly banging my head against the wall yelling, "You were so close, why"? Picking up the slack, the author did chose to never weigh the book down with excessive descriptions. For that, I am eternally thankful.

My rate? I give this book a 3 . It's fun, raw and satisfies the reader's secret need to dance with the devil.

-As reviewed for Horror-Web.com

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent. The Marquis de Sade did not die in France as many believe. He is a vampire, terrorizing the streets of France. Cecelia is chasing after him, hoping to destroy him. Justin, a half-breed, is chasing after Cecelia to keep her safe and make her love him. Marie, Sade's mother-in-law, is after Sade. She wants to kill him and sate her own bloodlust. The action was good, but the ending was disappointing. I hate it when I don't know what happens to a character or two. Guess there will be another one following

[Gregg Chamberlain · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read for vampire fiction. This is the third in a series in which the overall premise is that the Marquis de Sade has survived the decades since his alleged death as a vampire and is continuing his sadistic indulgences, despite opposition from others, both human and vampire. I am not enthused enough to want to find and read the first two books in the series or pursue the later books. So this is going into the "book recycling" box for the next visit to the library for donations to its book sale fundraiser.

[Tiara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting continuation of a group of books focusing on the premise that Marquis de Sade is a vampire and has created a female vampire who won't rest until she kills him or something. You know the usual "I'll get you for turning me into a vampire" fare. Pretty standard stuff (vampire angst, etc., etc.) aside from the Marquis de Sade being a vampire.

[Laura]

I could not finish this book. I tried giving it a shot (reading the first fifteen chapters) but I gave up. Reading should be a pleasure, not a burden. I just could not sympathize with any of the main characters, perhaps in part due to this being the third book in a series. I also expect that this book was not written for people like me. Sade's sadism was too much.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like the ending at all. It was the worst ending I feel that I have ever read. It just didn't go how I thought and hoped it was going to go. When I was finished I could have just thrown it away....

[colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

read 05.06.07

[Kammie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3rd book in series. Hard to press on hard to keep reading. Wasn't as good as before books.

[Travis Nacke · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book even though it wasn't that deep. It was a quick easy read. I haven't read the first 2 books but I may at some point in the future. The authur's writing style is very good.