Review: A history lesson and mystery all rolled into one
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 9, 2012
3.5 StarsIn February 1476, the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad III, leads a conquering army upstream of the Drina River. His 5000 troops can see Serbia on the left bank and Bosnia on the right. The conquerors leave a path of misery in their wake, murdering, raping, burning down villages and destroying crops in each village and town they come across. Prince Vlad is sure his triumph will, at last, give him entrance into the Order of the Dragon as they did his father. He will secure not only his future but that of his son, Dracula.Five hundred years later, August 1991, in San Diego, Professor Doctor Marko Slatina prepares the students in his Medieval Balkins History class for the year to come. He introduces them to his teaching assistant Steven Roberts, informs them what will be expected of them during the year and even jokingly answers the question from a student as to whether they will be studying vampires in the class with an extra credit assignment to answer some silly questions.After class he is visited in his office by one of his students, Katrina Lazarevic, a beautiful young Yugoslav who is his god-daughter. Katrina informs him her father has passed away leaving a package for Marko. As Marko looks over the contents of the package, Steven comes to his office to discuss his dissertation. Since the war has broken out in Yugoslavia all grants and scholarships have been frozen, access to the archives in Yugoslavia has been closed, Steven worries he will not be able to finish his dissertation without this access.Professor Slatina comes up with a solution, he knows of a foundation that will fund research for a year in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia, if Steven will transfer to the study of ethnography. Steven agrees and plans are made for him to leave after Christmas. In the mean time, Steven spends a great deal of time with the Professor and Katrina, by the time he leaves, feelings between the two young people has grown beyond friendship.Steven's trip to the Balkins will turn out be much more than he expected. As he gets further into his research he discovers that not everyone is happy with his discoveries. People who have helped him start disappearing and dying, the government seems unusually interested in his research, and he gets cryptic phone calls from Katrina and Dr. Slatina. Where do reality begin and old myths and folklore end? Steven, and friends he has made along the way, will search for the answers and the world they know will never be the same.Mr. Lyon places the reader right in the middle of current affairs in the Balkan region, showing us the political climate and its effects on the people. Not only do we follow Steven through his research, Mr. Lyon gives us interludes throughout the book taking us back through time in different periods that coincide with what Steven is discovering. Mr. Lyon handles the switches between time and different POVs well; the switches were always clearly defined and easy to follow.While Steven is the main character, there are a number of secondary characters and I found it difficult at times to keep up with all the names and to keep everyone separate in my mind, but I'm sure part of the problem was just dealing with unfamiliar names. Steven is a smart young man, torn between his feelings for Katrina, his own past heartbreak and his feelings for a young woman he meets while abroad. He figures out early on that things might not be exactly as they seem and quite possibly Professor Slatina had a different motive for sending him than he was told. Throughout the book we get glimpses and hints as to what that motive might be and learn more about Professor Slatina.This is not your usual vampire book. It shows a different vampire than people are used to seeing; there are times when it isn't easy to read. A lot of time is spent on history lessons, current affairs, and even a lecture or two in religion. I'll admit that I actually skipped over a bit, I even had to put the book aside a time or two and just let me brain rest.  When one gets past all the lessons though, there is a very good story hidden underneath that is well worth reading. The story itself is rich and fascinating and I'm hoping we haven't seen the last of Steven and company.Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team