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Book Review: Invisible Chains by Michelle Renee Lane

Invisible Chains by Michelle Renee Lane

Haverhill House Publishing, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-949140-03-3

Available: Hardcover, paperback

 

Jacqueline, an enslaved Creole growing up on a Louisiana plantation in Michelle Renee Lane’s Invisible Chains, learns all too soon what it means to be black and female. She is beaten, raped, and terrorized but manages to survive by using the secrets of Vodun her mother taught her and by tapping the powers of the vampire and werewolf who assist her on the flight toward what she hopes will be a rescue.

Even though monsters help Jacqueline, she is still threatened by them and in constant danger, even from love. Lane uses these relationships, including a flirtation with the vampire, to highlight the suffering, marginalized groups depicted in this novel. This includes enslaved people and monsters but also mixed race people, Spanish Jews, Irish immigrants, circus performers, Gypsies, seers and couples in interracial relationships. People who are considered different by the larger white society are powerless and can survive only by appeasing and imitating their oppressors or using magical or supernatural powers against them.

Although the book often moves quickly from one terrifying event to the next, Lane effectively traces Jacqueline’s growing sense of her own talents and strengths. Jacqueline learns that each horrific experience enhances her abilities as a conjurer and intensifies her understanding of herself, thus making it possible for her to voice her demands and choose what she needs to live. She also learns that she must protect her mind and soul most of all and that she has a certain power in knowing the future in which her true freedom will never be a reality. However, she continues to be brave, heroic, and unstoppable. Recommended.

Contains: Graphic violence including rape and torture; sexual situations

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

Editor’s note: Invisible Chains was nominated to the final ballot of the 2019 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in a Novel.

Posted on April 12, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Shapeshifters: A History by John B. Kachuba

Shapeshifters: A History by John B. Kachuba

Reaktion Books Ltd, 2019

ISBN-13: 978 -1789140798

Available: Hardcover

 

 

Do you know the origin of the word berserk?  Have you heard about a community of vampires in Buffalo, New York? Do you think of Jesus as a shapeshifter? These are some examples of information from the ancient past to the present that you will find in John B. Kachuba’s Shapeshifters: A History. This is a short book packed full of interesting details from myths and legends from around the world, historical research that sifts through the beliefs about shapeshifters in different cultures, and many brief stories of the exploits, drama, and dangers associated with these sometimes frightening creatures whether animal, human, or supernatural in form.

 

Kachuba presents a wide-ranging array of shapeshifters that stretches the definition of the word from physical transformations to psychological anomalies. He branches out to consider masks and costumes as ways people attempt to shape shift. Individual chapters suggest narrow categories such as the shapeshifting powers of gods, goddesses, and faeries, even gender transformations, but within the chapters, there is an attempt to pull in so many different categories, time periods, cultures, and religions that some sections become descriptive lists interspersed with storytelling and repetitive analysis. The vampire and werewolf chapters contain mainly information that will be familiar to most seasoned readers, but even so, there are fresh perspectives and analysis.

 

As Kachuba takes us back and forth through the centuries, he provides historical perspective and takes time to examine the origins of the beliefs and how they have been related to morals, values, education, and parenting. He notes the positive and negative influences that a belief in shapeshifting has had around the world and over time. The section on literature and the media provides young adult readers with information on related books, films, art, and television shows that will reveal how shapeshifting is still interesting to us today. Overall, this entertaining book is the type you’ll want to dip into according to your whims and use to further your own explorations on the topic. Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Nova Hadley

 

Editor’s note: Shapeshifters: A History was nominated to the final ballot of the 2019 Bram Stoker Award in the category of Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction.

Posted on April 7, 2020 by , Reply

Book Review: Vampires of Lore: Traits and Modern Misconceptions by A.P. Sylvia

Vampires of Lore: Traits and Modern Misconceptions by A. P. Sylvia

Schiffer Publishing, 2019

ISBN: 978-0-7643-5792-3

Available: Hardcover

 

Vampires of Lore: Traits and Modern Misconceptions by A. P. Sylvia is a readable, concise deconstruction of vampire legends. Sylvia compares vampires in modern-day fiction to superstitious beliefs about vampires in folklore. The author describes vampires in literature and movies of the 1800s and later, such as Bram Stoker’s 1897 Dracula, the German 1922 movie Nosferatu and the 1990’s television series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, as well as creatures in folk tales from around the world.

 

Sylvia defines vampires in fiction and folklore as “undead corpses of once living people, who are harming the living is some way, and are killed via taking action against the corpse itself”. The author examines 18 traits of modern-day fictional vampires, ranging from blood-drinking to transformation into bats and other animals. Surprisingly, fangs are inventions of fiction, whereas compulsive counting, exemplified by Sesame Street’s Count Von Count, is described in folklore.

 

The book has 120+ pages , footnotes and handsome illustrations on its cover and pages. However, it is not a dense, scholarly book. The author’s style is conversational and wry. Sylvia’s book would be a good addition to any vampire fan’s library. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Robert D. Yee

Posted on December 2, 2019 by , Reply
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