Fiction Reviews
Damned
(2025) Genevieve Cogman, Tor, £20, hrdbk, 339pp, ISBN 978-1-529-08382-8
1794. Eleanor, once a lowly English maid, is now a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and a promising conjuror. With a vampire plot thwarted in Paris, the League's next daring rescue is of the Pimpernel's beloved wife, Lady Marguerite, imprisoned in her London townhouse on unjust charges of treason and espionage. But Lady Marguerite’s captivity is only the first threat from the League's vampiric enemy. With the King known to be ill, possibly mad, England is not as it should be. Vampires conspire to take control over the whole country whilst challenging Eleanor and the League at every turn. But then using her growing magical powers, Eleanor uncovers a devastating, centuries-old secret that is so steeped in blood, it will change not only England, but the entire vampire world forever...
For the uninitiated Damned is the third of Genevieve Cogman’s 'Scarlet Revolution' series. This is the second series of books she has written, the first being 'The Invisible Library Books' series, comprising of eight books which came out between 2015 and 2021. So far, The Scarlet Revolution Series consists of three books – Scarlet, Elusive, and now Damned, I have always been a – ouch – sucker for vampire stories, particularly where the story tries to do different things with the vampire legend and keeps them true to their blood-sucking nature. In particular, I am a big fan of Kim Newman’s Anno Dracula series with the books spread throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries (fingers crossed that we will get one set in the 21st century soon), but also the series by the late, great, Les Daniels, featuring undead Spanish nobleman Don Sebastian de Villanueva who appears in five novels, the third of which is Citizen Vampire set during the French revolution and has a scene in it that is so horrific I lurched out of my chair when reading it – seek it out. Suffice to say that Cogman has put her own spin on the vampire myth with her books and very entertaining they are too.
However, rule number one of trilogy reading is to make sure you have read the first two books in the trilogy, so new readers should go back to Scarlet, but for those brave souls who want to plough right in, it might be useful to know that during the French Revolution it is not just aristocrats that are being executed, well, not just human aristocrats, but vampire ones too. Eleanor Dalton gets involved with the Scarlet Pimpernel and his League who are rescuing both sets of aristocrats from the guillotine and because of her uncanny resemblance to a French aristocrat she ends up in Paris and the chaos of the French Revolution. In Elusive, Eleanor finds herself involved in the disappearance of a French politician and diplomat and uncovers a feud between two warring vampire clans, but it is not just Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand who has gone missing, the Scarlet Pimpernel has gone missing too, and the League must find their leader and deal with the distraction of the house arrest of the Pimpernel’s wife under charges of treason.
Which brings us neatly to Damned. Before we get into the action we have a little note about “The French Revolution and the English Terror”, followed by “Dramatis Personae” which lists the major characters under the headings such as The Blakeney household, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Inhabitants of England, Visitors from France, and (da, da, da) Vampires, This is quickly followed by a prologue and twenty three chapters of story. But what is the story?
Well, here the action moves firmly to England with the major characters dealing with the machinations and plotting of the vampires. England isn’t as chaotic as France during the revolution and Cogman keeps things focused and rattling along nicely. One of the plusses of these stories is the way that Cogman portrays vampires as horrific creatures rather than romantic ones. Lady Margeurite steps up to the plate, becoming more involved with the story, and perhaps, as a consequence, Sir Percy is more or less in the background. Eleanor is a bit whiny in part three, bemoaning her place as a mere servant, something which she seemed to grow out of in the previous book, Elusive, but at least there is some romance for her on the horizon. Everything is brought to a neat conclusion, although it does seem a bit rushed towards the end, and perhaps the characterisation and motivation of the main villain – no spoilers here about who that is – is a bit lacking, though Cogman leaves the door open to the possibility of future stories set within this world, but until then, fangs for the memory, Genevieve.
Ian Hunter
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