The Empire Of Fear by Brian Stableford
01/06/2002 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

pub: Ballantine Books, NY. 469 page paperback. Price: $ 5.99 (US). ISBN: 0-345-37757-5.

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A greater part of the story concerns the life of Noell Cordery as after his father kills his vampire lover, has to hide and then forced to flee with the pirate Langoisse and his band to Africa.

Later, a large part of the book in fact, is spent finding and recovering from sickness in a place called Adamawara, the source of the vampire legend.

Discovering what causes vampirism, members of the group themselves become vampires and return to Europe and take the reins of power from its current leadership of Richard the Lionheart. He in turn is forced to team his vampires up with Dragulya’s group for a battle to decide who rules the world.

Descriptively, this sums up the plot. The problem lies with all the gaps. We don’t see enough of vampire England to appreciate how the vampires hold over the nation or why no one applies commonsense and attacks them during the daylight hours.

Then again, it’s also hinted here that other than a taste for blood and virtual immortality except in serious body damage, the vampires aren’t that much different from humans and can go around during the day. There’s hints these vampires are despots but no worse than other rulers of this time period.

Leaving the seclusion of a monastery with Cordery, we don’t really see much to see what this ‘empire of fear’ is all about. Much of the time, the vampires just have the occasional drink of blood without killing the humans. They don’t bite and just use a knife to open the chest a little to suck blood.

In Africa, the contrast between their benevolent vampires to Europe’s hostile vampires is noted but never really illustrated why. These are much older vampires who get on well with their human followers although their great age shows a lack of interest in life as a whole. They will kill to protect their homeland but that’s about all.

The upsurgence and removal of Richard the Norman aka Lionheart as ruler of England is noted only as a side-note and much has to be inferred. Considering this is a major aspect of the plot, this is really a vast disappointment. Whether this was a publisher decision to keep the book down to a manageable length or writer Stableford’s decision is unclear but it is a gaping hole that Dragulya’s attempt to win it back seems pale in comparison.

This doesn’t mean to say this isn’t an interesting story in here. Stableford’s use of characters are three-dimensional enough to be interested in what happens to them. It’s just the background reality that hasn’t really been serviced sufficiently. There’s also the sly name humour. Phonetically, ‘Langoisse’ is obviously actor Bella. There’s no need to say who Dragulya is. No doubt vampire aficionados will recognise any other names dropped in.

I didn’t read this book with any expectations other than seeing a world run by vampires. The opening sections gave no real hint that the story would swing so far from the cover hype. It’s almost as though Stableford had a change of mind as he wrote and winged it rather than give a real look at this world.

It’s interesting to note that Stableford restored some semblance of SF rule structure at the end as to what causes the vampires to happen even if it is a little contrived. Vampire story lovers will probably get some enjoyment out of this book. Reality lovers beware.

GF Willmetts