FTC Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

Tim Powers is one of a few authors whose works I collect and keep in my home library. I couldn’t wait to read Hide Me Among The Graves, especially with its connections to The Stress of Her Regard. I highly recommend reading them back to back to get the full effect of the ‘secret history’ Powers has created. The Stress of Her Regard came back into print in 2008, it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

You could read Graves on its own, but not having the backstory for some of the characters and their motivations may make it harder to follow some plotlines. Since you’re going to become a Tim Powers fan (if you aren’t one already), might as well get both books.

I admire the author’s skill at infusing historical fact with fictional elements instead of the other way around. It’s refreshing to read a book whose uniqueness is not only in its narrative, but the care taken to craft a story that never fails to entertain. The world he creates becomes frighteningly believable. His characters have a depth and complexity that you’d usually see in literary fiction, and works well in this story of phantoms and vampires.

If you haven’t read any Tim Powers, may I recommend The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides in addition to The Stress of Her Regard and Hide Me Among The Graves. Then you’ll truly see how gifted this author is in melding genres or really, transcending them. He writes for the story, not the niche it’s supposed to belong in.

I like that. And you will too.

No One Is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel
ISBN: 1594487944
Genre: Historical Fiction

After reading this book, no one can deny that Ramona Ausubel is an amazing storyteller. She crafts a tale out of her own family history in a voice that is at times poetic, the style much like a fable.

The characters were a little hard to connect to, however, this book is about the story and “the bigness of being alive”, according to the author.

. . .  it is about the stories we tell in order to survive, the stories we vow never to tell, and they way those tales mix with the chemistry of the world we think of as real, and change it. The way the story, told enough, becomes the truth.

Life is like that, or at least the tales we tell ourselves and our children. Great and horrible events overshadow and sometimes take over, making it seem as if we are not in control. In order to have this control, or at least the illusion of it, some people take extreme measures in order to deal with the hardships and tragedies they are facing.

But deep down, we remain the same and find strength in the truth of being us.

“Everything stays true. You are yourself, no matter how much you have to change.”

Until a long time later, until I was a mother myself, until I lost everything, until it found me back, I did not believe the stranger’s words. Everything stays true. Now I know that. Now, it’s all I know. And knowing it saves my life again every time I wake up.”

I’m not sure how much more I want to say about the story, as it really should be read, and discerned individually. Each person may feel something different that resonates with them. There is tragedy, as it is set during WWII. Some may be disturbed by it, but considering the setting, it cannot be avoided.

As I was explaining to someone, this is not a read that should be undertaken lightly. This is a book that will leave a lasting impression and must be read deliberately in order to get the most out of it. And I recommend that this effort be made. It’s worth it.

If you’d like to learn more about the background for this book, the following is a clip of the author discussing the it and her family.

Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys
ISBN: 9781402253515
Published by Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc.
Historical Fiction, 416 pages

FTC Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher

When I was pitched this book, it almost sounded to good to be, well . . . good.

How many times have you bought a book (or asked for a review copy) and wanted it to be as good as the blurb, yet past let-downs jaded your hope?

I’ve never been so happy to be disappointed.

Historical Fiction can be a challenging genre to read if the author hasn’t take care to do their research. It also takes skill to weave that knowledge into a story seamlessly, never allowing it to detract from the overall storytelling, but to enhance it. When done well, it entertains and informs, tells a story of history with enough credibility behind the fiction to support and feed it.

Humphreys does this with his main character as well. Vlad, known by other names including ‘Dracula’, is a man many think they know much about, but in reality, the truth is overshadowed by unflattering propaganda. He fictionalizes Vlad’s life using as much truth as he could gather and uses it in a way to be as fair as possible, while clarifying the forces which drove him to such brutal extremes in order to do what he felt was best for his country, his people, his faith.

This brutality was not innate. At least this is what the reader comes away with after reading Vlad’s story. It was learned, then reflected back at those who had used it against him as well as his enemies.  This is the hardest part of the read and very disturbing.

Although Humphreys does not go into a great amount of detail, the heinous acts perpetrated upon Vlad, and the ones he inflicted on others is shocking. As much as I was prepared for it, it still had a powerful impact. It gives a complexity to the man that forces a re-evaluation of all that you have learned previously.

The most interesting aspect of this novel is the narration.  It is told using the third person however, it is actually three people – those who knew Vlad best who are telling it. The writer mixes each voice to become one: Vlad, making his voice strong throughout.

The story is told in a linear fashion, allowing the reader to grow in understanding as Vlad descends in depravity. Not that it is to be excused, but at least there is a basis for it  – a method to this dark Prince’s madness. The reader is left to decide if Dracula deserves his infamy, is misunderstood, or in a way a bit of both.

I have to warn you, this is a challenging read, not so much for some of its content, but the feelings that remain afterward. It makes you think harder about what is good, what is evil, and what happens when the two collide and combine within the soul.

I love this book. One of the best historical fiction novels I’ve read. It gets my highest rating and a strong recommendation.