A Dangerous Climate
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Reviewed by Tom Morton
I have never
before been so engrossed in a book that holds so little action as I was
while
reading Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s A
Dangerous Climate. The title for this book is cunning in its
multiplicity
as the setting is early 1700s in the developing area that will one day
become Saint Petersburg, Russia,
a swamp rife with insects, marauding gangs, and deadly winters. Then
there is
the main character—the vampire, Count Saint-Germain, starring in his 22nd
book—posing as a missing Hungarian nobleman while spying for Augustus
II, King
of Poland. And as if that weren’t enough, while said missing nobleman’s
wife—on
a mission of her own—knows of his deception, she must remain ignorant
of
Saint-Germain’s true nature.
Caught up in the
layers of deception, he is confronted by a challenger to his true
title.
Knowing he cannot reveal himself as a spy, the Count must find some way
to
denounce the imposter or risk losing his lands and title.
As in other
Saint-Germain books, much of the story is told in the form of letters
from one
character to another. While this is a novel approach, it seems like a
kind of
cheat to get around laying out a more detail story.
The beautiful
imagery penned by Yarbro distracts you from the fact that there is so
little
action, so that you hardly notice the lack until you’re at the end of
the book.
And the characters are so vividly portrayed that they seem like old
friends.
I usually like my
books action-packed, like an ADHD sufferer on speed, but this book
literally,
and literarily, kept me coming back to learn more of the Count.
Long-time
followers of Saint-Germaine will love this book as an addition to his
travels,
but it could also be a stand-alone for those who are interested in a
beautifully written, historically accurate story.