Sean Barrs 's Reviews > Fevre Dream

Abner March looks strangely like George R.R Martin. They are both overweight men. They both have long beards and wear sea captain’s hats. I’m not sure who came first. Perhaps Martin modelled the character off of his own appearance or perhaps he liked his creation so much that he was compelled to try the style himself. It’s a little bit weird really, though the book is still quite good even if the protagonist is somewhat laughable in his resemblance of his creator.

This is the French cover:



They just look very similar.



A tub full of blood

George R.R Martin Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain and he, quite naturally, longs for a majestic steamer that will outpace all others. But, he has no money. Conversely, Joshua York is a very, very, rich man who needs a boat to help him conduct his nocturnal lifestyle. He lacks the skills of the trade, so the two pair up. They provide the other with what he lacks though creating a mutually beneficial friendship. Abner gets his boat and Joshua gets his hideout; they both win.

Well, not entirely because Joshua has a dark past. His is a vampire. I think he is characterised superbly in this; he is strong and intense, but at the same time he is open and capable. With his dark powers he could carry out great evil, if he so chose, but he has transcended the limitations of his body and become a morally superior being in the process. He has devised a way to satisfy his thirst without harming anyone. He is a good vampire rather than the demonic blood sucking maniacs that infest this world. And when these said maniacs begin to sniff around Abner’s boat, the two friends have their dreams crushed. So much for a lovely steamboat adventure, the very walls turn red in the action.

A pointless bad guy



Now here comes the book’s massive hindrance. Its antagonist, Damien Julien, is an ancient vampire and his ethos is in direct contrast to Joshua’s. He loves blood and he doesn’t care who he tears open to get it. The man’s practically a god. He’s top of the food chain. He can have what he wants when he wants it. He is a typical vampire; he is dark and brooding, but he is also fundamentally flawed. He has no reason to exist. As he himself admits, he has no reason for anything. He just does it because he can. I think for him to be a more effective and dramatic opponent of Joshua’s, he needed to have a dark motive or a hidden evil that drove him. At the moment he has no reason to do anything.

I found him to be completely disappointing. He had no drive or passion even to do evil. He just does it. The character could have been so much more than he was. I’d rather he was just a basic evil architype than this. It would have been better if he just wanted to rule the world or something. At least that way, he would have a reason to get out of bed at night (see what I did there!) Joshua and Abner were well rounded characters whose actions actually had a reason. They saved the book in my estimation even if the final conflicts were a little bit flat. It should have been a battle of polar opposites.

A good three stars