#grave importance

[freckles-and-books]

Weekend reading: more Dr. Greta Helsing!

[sb-reads]

In the graveyard

[lumau]

<3 Greta and Varney <3

the monster doctor and the melancholic vampyre

[binjiarts]

hey where the FUCK is the fandom for the Greta Helsing trilogy like that shit HURTED ME and I want MORE

[ninja-muse]

Finishing today! And now I’m in that horrible mood where I don’t want to read anything but know I’ve got to read something….

What are you all reading right now and how do you kick this feeling?

[pellicano-sanguino]

In my Long Varney the Vampire Post, I mentioned the one and only time this character has been adapted properly; in the Greta Helsing - series by Vivian Shaw. I have just finished the third (and possibly last) book. I liked it, but I’m sad that my time with this new and improved version of Francis is over, and I was a bit disappointed that the rumors I heard about this book turned out to be false.

The two rumors that hyped up my expectations for this book were: 1. Carmilla was going to appear as a character and 2. Sir Francis Varney’s dark past would be made a plot point. When writing this book, Vivian Shaw mentioned on her site that she was re-reading Feast of Blood to better understand Varney’s backstory. Sadly, she used the Gutenberg project of the book, which only has about a third of it and never gets past the Bannerworth’s part of the story (screw the Bannerworths, they are boring as fuck). The most interesting parts are at the very end of the book, where sir Francis tells about how he became a vampire, it’s also at the very end where his depression starts to get to him, he attempts suicide, fails and for the only time in the book passes the curse of vampirism to someone else. I know it’s a long book and a rather difficult read just to get some background research done, but I was hoping Vivian Shaw could use the better material in the later chapters instead of the boring stuff.

Well, Carmilla isn’t in the book. While I am disappointed not to get one more adaptation of my favourite vampire, I’m fine with this. Dracula and Carmilla have had their fair share of adaptations. Letting lesser known blood drinkers like Varney and Ruthven a chance for a comeback is refreshing. It was just a little frustrating to keep reading chapter after chapter and expecting Carmilla to show up and she didn’t. I wish I had known ahead of time that this rumor was false.

When Vivian Shaw mentioned she was doing research for Varney’s backstory for the third book, I imagined that something from his past would be an important plotpoint. That he’d run into someone who recognized him (say, Clara Crofton, who has been revived by moonlight in this universe?) or something would happen that would draw attention to the horrible things he did, forcing him to face the fact that he can’t escape his past, can’t undo anything, can’t wash the blood from his hands. And, well, nothing like that really happens. 

Varney’s depression, the choking guilt that lies heavy on his heart, is still there. It was one of the reasons I so fell in love with the first book, how accurate this version of the reluctant vampire was to the original. But it’s all inside his head. No one else knows anything about his past and he will not speak about it to anyone. Everyone knows he’s done some ethically questionable stuff, but no one seems to care. Everyone is all too happy to be all “what’s in the past doesn’t matter.” Which, yes, I understand is a very touching and encouraging message to someone who is doing his best effort to change and become a genuinely good person. We should try to help people who regret the evil they’ve done and want to try to correct the mistakes they have made.

But Varney doesn’t do anything to repair the damage he’s done. Everyone he’s ever hurt has been long dead and gone, how convenient. This was why I was hoping for vampire Clara Crofton to make an appearance. This would have forced sir Francis to reveal to Greta at least one of his crimes (the killing and turning of Clara). And he would have had to face someone he’d hurt personally. He would need to confess his regret, to apologize and offer to do whatever he can to make up for what he did. And he would have to accept the possibility that Clara might not forgive him.

Whenever sir Francis looks back at his past, it’s all just vaguely hinting at things. Clara Crofton’s murder is the only bad memory specified. I wished he would have recalled his failed suicide attempt by drowning. It would have driven home the difference between his past self and current self - now he has something worth living for, friends and a budding romance, and a purpose in life as helping Greta with her work. Remembering that there was that lowest point where he wanted to die would have more clearly explained why memories of his past are such a sore spot, why they have a tendency to drive him into depression, why he will not speak of them.

Spoilers incoming: I liked the ending, where Varney is given the chance to drink the water of Lethe, forgetting all of his miserable past so he could begin his romance with Greta without any skeletons hiding in his closet (though he might have those literally, his mansion already has some screaming skulls...). And yet, Varney decides against it. His memories are painful, but he must take responsibility for what he’s done and since he can’t undo any of it, the least he can do is pay the penalty by carrying this burden and remember it all so that he will remember never to allow it happen again. Good for you, sir Francis, for not taking the easy way out. You may deserve a second chance, but that does not come at the expense of handwaving away your past crimes as if they never happened.

There were a couple parts that made me laugh. First is when Varney proposes to Greta, who is all “well, I guess Varney’s an old fashioned type and refuses to get intimate with me outside wedlock.” Pffft. No. Greta, no. You just don’t know his past. Proposing to women he hardly knows is one his bizarre habits (well, everybody needs a hobby). Dude is more thirsty for a legal wife than he is for blood. 

And then there was a scene where shit is mildly close to getting real, and Varney feels helpless because there’s absolutely nothing he can do, and in his despair he decides to pray. Of all things, he prays, for the first time in centuries. It’s all very intense and moving, such an emotional scene, when a monster bound for Hell doesn’t know what else to do but pray. It hit me hard in the feels. And then I turn the page and read how God himself answers the vampire’s prayer. And despite all the intense feels, I just burst out laughing. 

Good job, Vivian Shaw. I know I nitpick your work (I’m a vampire nerd, nitpicking vampire fiction is what I do) but I loved the ride and I’m very sad it’s over. I wish you’d write more books about these characters, but if this was it, thankyou for making one Varney fangirl very happy.

edit: Oh, and Ruthven turned out to be gay. Which I approve of.

[thedeadwalkers]

[lumau]

Sam and Fass, likely preparing for the quaterly video meeting with Heaven. (As we know, Samael likes to be the snake to annoy the hell out of Gabriel.)