States of Grace: A Novel of the Count Saint-Germain [Hardcover]

This book in the St. Germain series fills in a spot between the time periods of two other books, being set not that long after St. Germain's time with the Medicis in Fiorenza. Set at the middle of the beginning of the Protestant Revolution, the story deeply involves religion, yet I felt it was somewhat less anti-religious than some of the other volumes have been. In some respects the book resembles others that have had clergymen as active characters: there are both good and bad clergy, but the scheming and greedy ones seem to outnumber the good ones, and to win more of the struggles within the church. On the other hand, they don't win ALL the struggles, and there are some of the clergy who appear to be men who are just men who are ambitious within the constraints allowed by the times, a mixture of good and bad.

For those not familiar with the series, I would say that parts of the book would be difficult to follow if you have not read any of the other books. At the very least, you'd want to read "The Palace" before reading this one - and even those who have read other books in the series might want to re-read "The Palace."

One might also want to brush up on one's history in order to get the book in context; if you have no recollection whatsoever of when the printing press and movable type burst on the scene, and what the issues surrounding Gutenberg's press were, and don't remember a thing about Martin Luther and the 95 Theses, you might want to find a history-notes web site and refresh yourself on these issues. (I had, as it happens, the fun of seeing one of the Gutenberg Bibles, the one in the Library of Congress in Washington DC, only a week or so after reading this book.)

Because of the printing press, and because this is high Renaissance, literacy is far more widespread than it was even a century prior to the setting of this novel; in a review of another recent volume, I noted that I really didn't think it realistic, even within the constraints of this historical fantasy, that ship's captains, for example, would have been that literate, that wordy, and that wasteful of paper.

And the expansion of St. Germain's shipping business makes a lot of sense too - the last decade of the 1400's had seen the inventions of double-entry bookkeeping and marine insurance and the first half of the 16th century was a golden age of expansion for shipping as a result.

There are some parts of the plot that are slow. Perhaps some people will be more interested in the the itemized tailor's bill than I am; historic costuming is not really my thing, but if it's yours, there's some fine opportunities for visualization and imagination here!

A couple of small peeves: at one point Yarbro describes St. Germain as going up stairs that are both steep and shallow. It took me a few minutes to figure that out, which interrupted the narrative flow. I think that a few more words expended on that description would actually have saved me time. And that St. Germain still starts out each book ignoring Roger's premonitions of trouble - it's almost a cliche, like ominous music in the movies immediately followed by a girl going alone into a dark basement. Roger feels uneasy; St. Germain reassures him; trouble starts up shortly thereafter. One would think that after a few centuries of this, St. Germain might pay more immediate attention to Roger's hunches. Oh well.

Some of the things I particularly liked: Roger and St. Germain discussion how the various religious sects came to be referred to as factions, after the Roman racing corporations. The competent spy explaining the craft to the incompetent one - a timeless craft, very funny reading the exchanges and thinking that they could as easily be 1932 as 1532. A quick throw to the "I do not drink... wine" vampire cliche; I like such almost-not-there references to the rest of the genre.

A short epilogue takes care of a detail that would otherwise leave some continuity errors for volumes previously written but set in later historical periods; I suspect we'll see more of that as Yarbro fills in time slots in between the eras we already know. It's difficult to make canon and continuity perfect in a series that runs as long as this one has (in both senses) and generally Yarbro does it well, but occasionally it requires a bit of gratuitous plot twist.

In the early sixteenth century Conte Franzicco Ragoczy di Santo-Germano lives a comfortable lifestyle in Venezia, but as the owner of Eclipse Press knows the Church and others spy on him and his mistress, composer Pier-Ariana Salier. However since he has strong connections to the papacy and the aristocracy and the money for bribes he is for the most part left alone. Because of problems in the Spanish owned Netherlands, Saint-Germain as he is known on the continent travels there to protect his business interests when his publishing firm and writer Erneste van Amsteljaxter are accused of heresy.

To his surprise Ragoczy finds himself attracted to Erneste and vows to keep her safe just like he does for his lover back in Venezia. However, a clever person learns the vampiric secret of Saint-Germain and much more that enables this thief to embezzle the vampire's fortune. Upon coming home, he is accused of murder so with his loyal servant Ruggier the Conte seeks to uncover the identity of the agent who stole his fortune and has set him up to take the fall.

STATES OF GRACE is as much a great historical novel as it is the usual fantastic Saint-Germain thriller as the insightful story line provides a vivid window on early sixteen century Europe during a time of religious upheaval. Thus the "prime" plot involving the vampire trying to regain all he lost takes a back seat to the vibrant look at the publishing industry, heresy proclamations, and religious assaults on the papacy. Still, this is a fine tale with more historical background than most of the author's backlist.

Harriet Klausner

Another winner from CQY. I love this series most of all for the exacting hsitorical settings, and States of Grace deliver in abundance.

The cultural schizophrenia of the Reformation is deftly mirrored in the characters St-Germain is forced to assume in Venice and in the Netherlands. Quinn-Yarbro's characters remain vibrant and fascinating, with St-Germain at the center of it all, the antithesis of popular vampire myth (instead of anti-hero ...anti-vampire?).

Although I thought the ending was a little dissappointing, it was an excellent read and well worth the price. I definitely reccommend this book, and I am eargerly anticipating the next installment in the count's long career.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 10 reviews  3.3 out of 5 stars