REVIEW: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan
A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption.
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.
Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.
Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.
But Gévaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.
CW/TW – described horrific deaths
Dear Mr. Sullivan,
I don’t know who did the cover but it got me interested in finding out more about this book. The Beast of Gevaudan + the start of the French Revolution + an immortal MMC with an embedded demon + what the MMC will do for love + a look at social imbalances and religion. That covers the basics of this book but as it clocks in at 544 pages, there is more. Much more. It started out as a five star read for me but ended with some issues. Still for a debut book, it’s more than worth a look.
Readers who don’t know the historical facts about the Beast of Gevaudan, might want to read up a bit about it before starting the novel or perhaps watch “Le Pacte des Loups” (Brotherhood of the Wolf) though it tells its own version of the story and devolves into a glorious “what the hell” mess before it’s over. This book takes a somewhat different approach. Here immortality is mixed with Ares and Mars Vigila to give the Beast’s origin story a different spin.
I love this book yet at times it drives me insane. It is rich in description and characters plus the writing is succinct and gorgeous. I truly felt the 18th centuryness of it. It’s packed with morally gray characters, awful actions that lead to even worse repercussions, and a tender love story. There is also a great deal of wonderful, sardonic humor. At times the interactions between and among Sarmodel, Livia (a succubus), and Sebastian had me laughing just when I needed it to get through another blood drenched scene. The story takes no prisoners and gives no quarter.
There are things about it that I still don’t understand as they weren’t actually ever explained. There are other parts that seem bizarrely out of place – for a while – until they get slotted into position and make sense. It is told in a ‘twenty years apart’ back and forth dual timeline in Gevaudan with pieces of the 100 years war between France and England (think Joan of Arc) tossed in. Religion and religious fervor gets kicked around a bit. The body count is staggeringly high and there are somewhat graphic descriptions of how some of these people die. Some of the scenes in Gevaudan also make me want to take up arms and shout “A la barricade!” The French nobility characters are, generally, not nice.
The magic system is explained and yet also not explained very well. There are about 3-7, on average, footnotes per chapter and often these pick up on something that happened in the chapter and give a few more details about it or serve to explain why this and that can or can’t work in a particular situation. It helps but there is a lot that doesn’t make sense such as the fact that Sebastian “reads” a lot younger than a 2-3000 year old person should. Given the fact that he’s supposed to be that old, is Antoine the only person Sebastian’s ever loved this deeply? Really?
But this is an epic love – for Sebastian at least. He and Antoine have basically 3/4 of a year of blissful sexual discovery and shagging in the woods. Of note, from what is said, they’re both bisexual. Antoine is pretty but to me he’s pretty much an idle rich French upperclass twit. Neither of them had any expectations of carrying on an exclusive relationship, though, as this is the 18th century and Antoine must marry and carry on the line. Their young breakup has a wowzer of a ‘fair-enough’ reason but for much of the two 18th century time-lines of the story, it’s Sebastian feeling “heart eyes” for Antoine and willing to risk everything because — “Antoine!” I guess this is true love never runs smooth or true love conquers all but I never warmed to the relationship as, from what we see and are told, it felt so one sided.
I’m also annoyed that most of the female characters in the book are barely there or are demonized. Livia is a succubus whose very nature is to be lustful but she’s often played for laughs as she literally sucks a man’s life forces out when he climaxes. At least his husk is still smiling while Livia gets castigated. Jeanne D’Arc isn’t a young maiden who receives visions from God but a stupid peasant. Dayane and Cecile try to help but see where that gets them. Lorette however does get some of her own back.
And yet. And yet I couldn’t stop compulsively reading this book and finished it in two days. I had to know what was going to happen next. It’s a wild ride of a story that sucked me in, spun me around, and made me want to get back in line for another go. Is there going to be a sequel that will shine light on what exactly Sebastian is and follow up on how the book ends? I sincerely hope so because “Sim Sala (not) Bim” – I opened, I saw, but there’s stuff I still don’t understand. B
~Jayne
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Okay, I was served an ad for this just today and was intrigued! Definitely will check it out.
@Tanya: I’ve read a few GR reviews that all mention, as happened to me, how well the book started for them but that the book faltered along the way so go into it with expectations slightly damped and see how it works for you.