Better in the Dark

Held for ransom after a shipwreck in the fortress town ruled by King Otto, the Count Saint-Germain, a vampire, falls in love with the lovely lady Ranagonda, the true ruler of the fortress.

From Publishers Weekly

Set in 10th-century upper Saxony, Germany, this entertaining but uninvolving addition to the Count Saint-Germain series starts with the vampire Saint-Germain shipwrecked and washed ashore near a Germanic keep. He is found there by Ranegonda, the princess of the local castle, who has been in charge--against prevailing custom--since her brother abandoned his post to join a monastery. Cut off from his friend Roger and other potential helpmeets, Saint-Germain is held at the castle until his ransom can be paid (a standard practice of the time). While there, he comes to love Ranegonda and joins her in battle to protect her holdings from the ever more dangerous displaced hordes who threaten the castle. Smooth and well-crafted, the tale showcases Yarbro's eye for historical detail and for bringing the ways, customs and conflicts of another time to life, but the plot is simplistic and predictable. The story lacks the freshness and spark of earlier volumes in the series. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As the victim of a shipwreck off the northern coast of Saxony in A.D. 938, the Count Saint-Germain awaits the arrival of his ransom in the fortress town of Leosan. As the prisoner/guest of Lady Ranegonda, the immortal count involves himself in the intrigues of politics and the heart, treading a fine line between using his centuries of knowledge to help a people he comes to admire and revealing his vampiric nature to the servants of the White Christ. Yarbro's eighth novel featuring the urbane Saint-Germain draws on the brutality of the Dark Ages rather than on her protagonist's nature for its quota of horror. Less supernatural than most vampiric fiction, this title is recommended where the author's previous works are popular.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Yarbro's eighth novel about the intellectual vampire, Count Saint-Germain (here Latinately styled Saint-Germanius), finds him falling in love during the Dark Ages. The set-up: when her brother retreats to the monastery to repent drowning his adulterous wife, Lady Ranagonda is named the gerefa of the Leosan Fortress. In addition to the outlaws and Danes who pose a constant threat to the people under her rule, she must cope with strife within the fortress walls, particularly both that caused by soldiers who resent being ruled by a woman and that caused by her brother's second wife, who refuses to tolerate her leadership. When a shipwreck victim washes up on the nearby shore, Ranagonda abides by King Otto's policy of demanding ransom from such foreigners, but soon learns to trust and value--Count Saint-Germain. Only after she has fallen in love does Ranagonda learn the helpful stranger is a vampire. Ranagonda and Saint-Germain's adventures are packed with interesting historical anecdotes as well as dollops of intrigue perfectly timed to keep the reader turning pages. Lindsay Throm

From Kirkus Reviews

Another of Yarbro's tales of the vampire Count Saint-Germain (Darker Jewels, p. 104, etc.). This time, in A.D. 938, the Count is shipwrecked on the coast of northern Saxony. The fortress town of Leosan, held in the name of King Otto against marauding Danes, is now ruled by the Gerefa Lady Ranagonda; her brother Giselberht, nominally in charge, has retired to a nearby monastery. When the Count, washed up on the beach and near death, accidentally tastes Ranagonda's blood, he becomes bound to her body and soul. Ranagonda, meanwhile, has to reconcile the conflicting demands made upon her by the superstitious folk and soldiers of Leosan, the representative of King Otto, and the priests of the White Christ, while she nurses the Count back to health. A civilized and educated man among folk who are for the most part neither, the Count must move very cautiously to avoid arousing the enmity of Ranagonda's people. Among other complications: the Gerefa's unruly sister-in-law, Pentacoste, the latter's harking back to the rule of the old gods, and Pentacoste's would-be-lover, prince Berengar; the King's man, Margerifa Oelrih, waylaid and wounded by bandits; the vengeful outcasts who lurk in the nearby forests; near starvation and outbreaks of ergot-inspired madness. Slower and with less narrative momentum than Darker Jewels, but still inviting: Yarbro stints nothing on historical verisimilitude. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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