|
|
Loading... | 99 | 1 | 289,808 | 
(3.36) | 3 | A modern dark fantasy classic returns with this new, Special Edition of Dawn Song, the soul-haunting novel from a Bram Stoker Award-winning author with a deeply powerful--and prescient--vision. Set in Boston at the start of the First Gulf War, a larger, supernatural battle for Supremacy in Hell takes shape . . . but plays out on a personal scale as unassuming humans careen into the path of a beautiful, terrible Succubus who has come to Earth to do her Father's bidding. Lawrence, a lonely book clerk, new to Boston, is just one wanting soul in a city full of them. His deepest desires call out to someone . . . anyone. But who will answer among the faceless crowds? A grieving son, a theology student tormented by doubt, the faithful, the mad: all are touched by the divine as the Succubus, who is both ancient and newborn, falls in love with the city even as she reaps the souls of her lovers. Her journey through our world comes at an unimaginable price. For in Hell, two powerful deities have awakened to use mankind as pawns in a monstrous conflict that will change the nature of damnation itself. In the iconic horror tradition of Clive Barker and Anne Rice, as well as of newer fantasy voices like Mike Carey and Tim Powers, Dawn Song is a dark meditation on Salvation, full of terror and tenderness.… (more) |
▾LibraryThing Recommendations ▾Will you like it?
Loading...
 Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. ▾Conversations (About links) No current Talk conversations about this book. » See also 3 mentions ▾Series and work relationships
|
|
| Canonical title |
|
| Original title |
|
| Alternative titles |
|
| Original publication date |
|
| People/Characters |
|
| Important places |
|
| Important events |
|
| Related movies |
|
| Epigraph |
Man doth not yield himself to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will.
-Joseph Glanvill
as quoted by Poe, "Ligeia"  Lord help my poor soul.
-Last words of Poe,
October 7, 1849 Qui voltur iecur intimum pererrat
et pectus trahit intimasque fibras,
non est quem lepidi vocant poetae,
sed cordis mala, livor atque luxus
-C. Petronius Arbiter
Fragmenta XXV ...spiritus carnem, et ossa non habet.
-Tratado de exorcismos,
Anonymous spanish MS ca. 1720,
concerning incubi and succubi Amor condusse noi ad una morte.
-Dante, Inferno V, line 106 | |
|
| Dedication |
To Nancy, this morgengabe, as a gift of light and hope, in remembrance of the dark mornings we have faced, and what we now leave behind. "You are wholly beautiful, my love" | |
|
| First words |
Lawrence and the Succubus were not drawn to Boston, but carried-like two branches dropped into a swift river. | |
|
| Quotations |
|
| Last words |
|
| Disambiguation notice |
|
| Publisher's editors |
|
| Blurbers |
|
| Original language |
|
| Canonical DDC/MDS |
|
| Canonical LCC |
|
▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English
None ▾Book descriptions A modern dark fantasy classic returns with this new, Special Edition of Dawn Song, the soul-haunting novel from a Bram Stoker Award-winning author with a deeply powerful--and prescient--vision. Set in Boston at the start of the First Gulf War, a larger, supernatural battle for Supremacy in Hell takes shape . . . but plays out on a personal scale as unassuming humans careen into the path of a beautiful, terrible Succubus who has come to Earth to do her Father's bidding. Lawrence, a lonely book clerk, new to Boston, is just one wanting soul in a city full of them. His deepest desires call out to someone . . . anyone. But who will answer among the faceless crowds? A grieving son, a theology student tormented by doubt, the faithful, the mad: all are touched by the divine as the Succubus, who is both ancient and newborn, falls in love with the city even as she reaps the souls of her lovers. Her journey through our world comes at an unimaginable price. For in Hell, two powerful deities have awakened to use mankind as pawns in a monstrous conflict that will change the nature of damnation itself. In the iconic horror tradition of Clive Barker and Anne Rice, as well as of newer fantasy voices like Mike Carey and Tim Powers, Dawn Song is a dark meditation on Salvation, full of terror and tenderness. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description |
Current DiscussionsNone Google Books — Loading... |
2
Dawn Song can easily pass for a simple horror story. Within its dark atmosphere you have all the workings of a leisurely romp in horrorville - an erotic siren luring men to their deaths with her profound beauty, demons vying for the souls of humankind, and characters struggling with their sanity in a brutal, discriminatory city in a war-torn country gone mad.
But what Michael Marano offers is much more than 'just a horror novel.' The prose is beautiful, poetic, and rippling with descriptive metaphor that brings to life the bleak, wintry time the book is set in. The writing really deepens the dark emotion already present in the storyline, and I found myself lured by the book like a helpless man to a succubus. His writing, in my opinion, is quite spectacular.
I did have a few minor problems with the novel, I'm afraid to say. I had a hard time keeping track of the characters early on, as there are so many of them and not all of them are terribly distinct at first, although by the end of the novel I was quite familiar with them and cared very much about their well-being! Some of the characters are abandoned suddenly in the middle of the book, which left me wondering whatever might have happened to them, and similarly, the ending felt a bit more inconclusive than I would have liked.
I might not recommend this book to everyone, but if you like the genre then I would definitely say it is worth a try, if not only for the writing. It's a good book, all-in-all. Give it a try, if you like. (