In the Face of Death: An Historical Horror Novel

by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Madeline de Montalia, the perpetually youthful and beautiful vampire, once beloved of the Count Saint-Germain, comes to America in the 1840's to live with and study the native tribes of America, desiring to document their culture and knowledge before these are changed forever and unalterably by contact with the White Man. She had not expected she would fall in love with San Francisco Banker and US Army officer William Tecumseh Sherman in the 1850's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932100296
• ISBN13: 9781932100297
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Benbella Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

GREAT HISTORY

This chronicles Madelaine de Montalia's life during the Civil War. She has an affaire de cour with William Tecumseh Sherman and is present during Shermans' March to the sea. She is writing about American Indian culture, which necessitates her spending time with various tribes. This is a great book with lots of American history. There are some vivid descriptions about San Francisco and California during the era preceding the Civil War. Sherman visits Europe and reunites with Madelaine at the end. A great historical read spanning many years.

Twentieth in the "Saint Germain" series.

Or second in the "Madeline" offshoot series, depending on how you look at things. In any case, this is one of the best of a very good series. For one thing, the character of Madeline de Montalia has been underexplored in the Saint Germaine novels, only a few of which have been set in time periods after Madeline was born, much less became a vampire. And unlike "Out Of The House Of Life", this is truly a novel centering on Madeline's life; that one split its focus between her adventures in Egypt and Saint Germaine's early history there. For another thing, the time period and place setting of this one, the American Civil War, is a fascinating focus for the story, as is the character of William T. Sherman, her lover for the story. For a third thing, the writing in this book is better than that in "Out of the House of Life", or at least the proofreading is less sloppy. There are only about a half-dozen instances of sloppy proofreading here, as opposed to the two dozen or so in that book. ("How strange that you should call white men them to me..." for instance.) Also, in this book one of the conventions of the Saint Germaine series that I've always found moderately annoying has been adjusted in a positive manner: the correspondence that has always come before and after every chapter has been replaced by entries from Madeline's journal, and instead of getting one and only one entry right where we would expect it every time (which always struck me as rather a contrived style) we get one, or two, or several; whatever better advances the plot at that point, which seems a much better system. For those unfamiliar with the basic concept behind Yarbro's vampires, a few quick points are in order: 1) they are not (neccessarily) ravening monsters. 2) they do need the blood of the living to survive, but very little of it, little enough that they need not kill or even injure anyone to get it. 3) although mere blood itself WILL suffice to keep them going, it would be a very unsatisfying life, like a mortal living on bread and water; to truly have a satisfying "meal", they must feed on the blood of a lover. Most of the time, they make do with lovers who they hypnotize into having amorous dreams of them, but even that is barely acceptable fare. What truly nourishes them is the blood of a willing lover who knows them for what they are. Not surprisingly, this sort of fare is very rare; they may go decades between such nourishing sustenence. 4) Other than immortality and somewhat exceptional strength, stamina, and speed, (and, of course, the hypnotic ability previously mentioned, which is a very mild power not at all useful in an offensive capacity) there is little to set them apart from mortals in a positive manner; on the other hand, they are more able to offset their vampiric drawbacks than many literary vampires; so long as they have their shoes lined with their native earth, they can move about unhindered during daylight, only slightly more susceptible to sunbur

So glad to have Madeline again

A new favorite to add to the list of the St. Germain titles.Madeline is bold and steadfast in the face of Danger and Death.Her first true love since becoming Vampiric is with W. Tecumseh Sherman who she meets prior to the Civil War in San Francisco. She is taking a break in her cross country studies of the various American Indian tribes traditions and belief. She felt compelled to record this living history prior to the well meaning White influence. Her interest greatly upsets Tecumseh and their banter all through their relationship is lively.She leaves San Francisco to continue her studies in the Southwest and is eventually escorted even further Southeast. She doesn't leave in time and finds with her Indian friends refuge in an abandoned Mill. The Mill become a hospital of sorts and a home for orphan children who just show up. They are reunited when Sherman visits some of his wounded who are in the care of the "French Angel". Little did he know it was Madeline aiding both the Norther and Southern wounded. As always Chelsea Quinn Yarbro has given us an insight into history as seen through the eyes of her vamparic characters.Thank You Quinn for another wonderful and rereadable tale.

Yarbro in Peak Form

In the Face of Death tells the story of Madeline's journey to the US, her involvement in the Civil War, and her studies of the Native Americans. A wonderful and moving story. In the St. Germain canon (he's in the book, but in a minor role.)

A Better Way to Enjoy E-Books

I was monitoring the list of Yarbro novels available, hoping for more information on the next St. Germain, when to my surprise I noticed this e-book. I had never before purchased an e-book and I spent some time deciding if I wanted to read a book on the PC. Not an attractive proposition, as the first reviewer of this book pointed out. Mentioned the problem to my husband who suggested that he download the book not to the regular PC, but to his iPAQ (a PALM size PC). He was less happy that he had to load a Microsoft product to effect the download, as he is strongly committed to Linux, but was finally persuaded by being promised a new iPAQ when the product is upgraded. I believe that e-books have a real future on iPAQ type devices. Lightweight and compact, you can take it wherever you like. Easy to read without a lamp as the device is self illuminated and will not disturb anyone sleeping nearby. Also, an e-book takes no space on my already crowded book shelf.As to the story, I found "In the Face of Death" much more enjoyable than the Olivia novels. Poor Olivia was always complaining how much better things were for the women during the Roman Empire. Madelaine gets on with her trials of body and spirit without Olivia's whining and less anguish than St. Germain would experience. For all that the main interaction was between Madelaine and General Sherman, I was happy not to be regaled with detailed descriptions of battles in the Civil War. I also enjoyed Madelaine's progression in her life as a vampire. She has obviously learned a lot since she was in Egypt and seems to have acquired much more of St. Germain's skill with medicines than Olivia managed. An interesting book and I hope to read more.