Imperial Purple

Jason Nahrung
The Darkness Within
Hachette 2007

This vampire novel has it all: vampires (well duh); young woman who does not yet know she is a powerful witch; young girl ditto, about to come into her powers; Cabal of evil magicians; villainous head of said Cabal who sucks blood from vampires (now there’s a twist); well meaning nerd who lives next to witch woman and is falling in love with her; insane mother who escapes from lunatic asylum; brother-in-law possessed by demon; and probably other things I’ve forgotten. The boy vampire is suave and devoted to the heroine; his sister vampire is evil and depraved and not nice to anyone.

So the elements are all there. The story isn’t a bad one either albeit not startlingly original. The problem I had was with the narrative itself.

The narrative slides rather oddly over the story in an almost frictionless manner. It has very little affect and makes it hard to get a grip on it. There is little sense that the characters are engaged with the world around them or even with their own internal lives. Also I was irritated with the heroine’s periodic lack of perception (should I believe this evil magician who is trying to kill me when he says not to trust the ‘good’ vampire?) although I will admit that this is a prerogative of heroines everywhere.

The book feels a draft or so short of publication standard. The author can demonstrably do better (the ‘nerd’ character for instance is reasonably successful) and a lot could have been fixed up with a little rewriting and a greater sense of engagement. Fans of vampire novels may still enjoy it but I found it disappointing. Two and a half stars.