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| View Larger Image | Dark of the Sun: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain (St. Germain)
by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
| | List Price: | $27.95 | | Price: | $21.80 | | You Save: | $6.15 (22%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks | | | | | Sales Rank: | 682891 | | Studio: | Tor Books | | | Binding: | Hardcover | | Number Of Pages: | 464 | | Publication Date: | November 01, 2004 | | Publisher: | Tor Books |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
It is the 6th century of the common era. The vampire Saint-Germain, known in this time as Sangi-Ragozh, is peacefully doing business in Asia when, unknown to him-or anyone else in most of the world-Krakatoa explodes in a massive volcanic eruption. The island is nearly completely destroyed; tidal waves swamp harbors hundreds of miles away, ravaging trade ships and their cargoes; tons of ash and dirt are flung into the air.
In the months to come, the world grows colder and darker as the massive cloud of dust and ash spreads across the globe, blocking sunlight. Sea trade is ravaged. Crops fail. Livestock, and then people, begin to starve. Disease spreads. Panic rises.
What has caused the sun to go dark? With his scientific bent, Sangi-Ragozh suspects a natural cause, but most people assume a supernatural explanation-and begin to seek supernatural remedies.
As always in times of trouble, foreigners-and the vampire is always a foreigner, wherever he travels-become targets. Fleeing toward the West, where he hopes to find safety and sanity, the vampire travels with a nomadic tribe led by Dukkai, a female shaman who soon becomes Sangi-Ragozh's lover-and main source of sustenance.
But Sangi-Ragozh's problems are far from over. His vampire nature is discovered by an enemy; he is separated from Dukkai and begins to starve; he has lost everything, including his last sack of his native soil.
With death no longer a distant possibility, Sangi-Ragozh desperately tries to reach sanctuary in the one place he truly belongs-his homeland, the country he first left centuries earlier.
A land we now call Transylvania.
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 11 reviews)
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Not the best Saint Germain story 
The historical part of this book is interesting because it's global history that I didn't know anything about. The details of how the eruption of Krakatoa affected crops, herds, and populations all over the world is an interesting read but the story of Saint Germain's journey from China back to his native land is painfully slow. The detailed conversations are dull and long and (I'm sorry) boring. Much like the Olivia Clemens novel "Crusader's Torch", "Dark of the Sun" is just a plodding account of the characters going from point A to point B. There are no rich relationships, no one foe, and it seemed to me that the Count just wasn't as likable a guy as in other Saint Germain books I've read.
Unlike those others, this will be one I do not read again and again.
October 09, 2007 | |
And A Darkness Covered The Earth 
The violent mega-eruption of Krakatoa in AD 535 threw enough volcanic matter into the earth's atmosphere to blot out a huge portion of the sun's rays, and this was the start of several years of almost ice-age-like conditions. Written records and other tangible evidence exists from China to the Americas of the tragic effects this event had on humans everywhere. Crops failed, famine came to pass, stillbirths increased, disease became rampant, trade slowed, and internecine wars were waged for food and also out of a paranoid sense of horror. Most of all humans became reactionary and turned to their gods for answers and for comfort. From Byzantium to India, Saxon England to Coptic Ethiopia, xenophobia reigned, foreigners were persecuted as possible offenders of the gods, and order disintegrated on a frighteningly vast scale. Life across the globe was disrupted as by the tens of millions people wondered if they were truly witnessing the end of the world.
This is the scene of Yarbro's seventeenth Saint-Germain novel. In the pages of Dark of the Sun, the perpetually-exiled Carpathian nobleman goes from a prosperous life as a merchant in Liang-era China to the life-threatening undertaking of traversing the Silk Road, a journey of three-years' duration, in order to return to the west. With Saint-Germain, as always, is his faithful companion Rogers, and along the path of the dauntingly perilous expedition west, Germain witnesses a world gone mad in the wake of unimaginable cataclysm.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro revives a global catastrophe we had somehow forgotten, and uses it as a backdrop for a slow but detailed novel that takes her readers on a trip across nearly the whole of east and central Asia, from China to the Carpathians, sparing no detail or sociological observation along the way.
September 10, 2006 | |
The Really Dark Ages 
One of the most recent in the St. Germain series and also one of the most satisfying to read. Set in the early Sixth century (can you name one thing that happened in the Sixth Century?) with the cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa, blotting out the sun for nearly two years. The effects on the entire world were profound, since nothing was able to grow. Like other books by Yarbro, I feel as though I had slipped through a small window into this world and could experience what was actually happening. Also, this was historically I period I had no knowledge of whatsoever, which added to the mysterious quality of the novel.
For me, the St. Germain series has always been a guilty pleasure, with an emphasis on the pleasure. There is something slightly old fashioned about the writing, but not stilted. It is true that much of the book is dialogue between St. Germain and his (eternal) companion. But I did not find that to be a problem. All in all, Dar of the Sun is a far better book than some of the other "historical" novels coming off the factory lines recently (you know what I mean).
September 21, 2005 | |
Count St Germain remains one of the best vampires in fiction
After more than a dozen novels of the life and times of Count Saint Germain, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro still manages to make his story both relevant and spellbinding. Her beautifully written stories are masterpieces of historical fiction -- being meticulously researched and finely told -- and I never fail to learn something new about the world, and about St. Germain.
In this newest adventure, the Count is a trader in Yang-Chau (Shanghai) China in 535 A.D., a year known as the Year of the Dark Sun. It was named this due to the eruption of Krakatoa -- a rare, once in a millenium scale event that blocked the sun to varying degrees around the world, and caused starvation and panic where ever the clouds of ash prevailed. A fine novel, full of energized plotlines and well rounded characters. Highly recommended.
June 06, 2005 | |
How a Vampire Survives after a World Cataclysm 
This is the first "vampire" genre book I read and it nearly became my last. I was fascinated by the cover, the title and the praise on the cover jacket for the "Saint-Germain" novels. I was open to a new reading experience. Being captivated by the music of the Silk Road countries, the most recent of which is Yol Bolsin (CD), I was ready to read some fiction and 'escape' to this exotic locale. My anticipation was further fueled by the "author's introduction" where she describes the research which went into describing "Year of the Yellow Snow" approximately AD 535-6 when the volcano, Krakatoa, erupted and caused worldwide famine. The maps of China and Southeast Asia further whetted my appetite for this novel ... so I looked forward to an adventurous vicarious reading experience.
The book begins via a letter to Zangi-Ragozh, whom we learn is a foreign merchant in China, who owns many ships and a trading company. The captain of one of his ships reports a catastrophe which could have disastrous effects on trade and shipping in Kuang-Chou (Canton). He describes men dying due to a yellow powder in the air ever since the volcano on an island erupted and caused tidal waves and rough seas. Zangi-Ragozh notices the sun is less bright ... There is fear in the air. The local Chinese magistrate is expected to take strong measures against foreigners in the region. The decision by Zangi-Ragozh is to inventory his merchandise, close his home, leave his servants to run the established trading company and return to his homeland ... the Carpa-Ti (Carpathian Mountains). Much of the book chronicles the journey of this vampire and his traveling companion as they go across China, traversing the Silk Road back to Romania, the ancestral home of Saint-Germain, who in this life is named "Zangi-Ragozh".
The main creative device the author uses in this novel is letter-writing, she alternates chapters chronicling Zangi-Ragozh's travels-adventures with detailed letters (some sent to him) by captains of his ships, servants who run his trading house, or a love interest, others are letters written by local magistrates sent to government officials describing the difficulties of the times, unfortunately this technique becomes rather tiresome. Additionally, too much of the book consists of conversations between the vampire and his traveling companion, it becomes a real chore to continue reading. I nearly gave up. Had the author interspersed descriptions of action packed 'man-against-nature' adventures on the ships or had she connected some past life experiences of Saint-Germain with Atta Olivia Clemens (a past love interest), the novel would have been more interesting. This book has all the trappings of a wonderful sizzling 'unable-to-put-it-down' novel but it *nearly* fizzles out. Luckily three-quarters of the way through, the novel *finally* comes to life, is successfully rescusitated. The book is worth reading to discover how the author salvages a dull beginning and middle with an unexpected explosive dramatic event.
In all honesty I can not give the book rave reviews (I really wanted to). The author should have described the natural scenery along the Silk Road, the storms at sea, and the life of that era much better, even the many letters written to Zangi-Ragozh some of which never reach him, seem like a substitute for what is seriously lacking in the plot: creative design (which arrives *almost* too late). The essential story-line is simple and straightforward therefore it needs something exciting to hook the reader's imagination *throughout* the novel, not just at the end. Despite the often flat affect of the supporting characters, the star, Zangi-Ragozh shines very brightly. He has fully developed personality and is very likeable - there is much depth to his actions and behavior. Another huge plus is the book could be made into a film with breath-taking natural beauty and unforgettable action-packed scenes because on film the contents of the letters become *visual*. The suspense and drama would be magnified on film. My prediction is, as a movie it would be a multimillion dollar winner. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
March 22, 2005 | |
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