‘Vivia’ feels very much like the mid-90s book that it is. Published in the wake of the big budget Hollywood movie adaptations of ‘Dracula’ and ‘Interview with the Vampire’, both the novel and the cover aim for a decadent, sensuous vibe and mostly achieve it. It’s an interesting counterpoint to the other vampire novels I’ve reviewed recently for this column. Far removed from the aggressive Victoriana of ‘Anno Dracula’ or the yuppie satire of ‘Suckers’. Instead, ‘Vivia’ is a much more gothic affair, and none the worse of that.
The book tells the story of the title character Vivia, a young woman in an unnamed medieval land beset by war and plague. Vivia is set upon by a member of the undead and transformed into a bloodsucker, feeding on young women that are enslaved for her.
To be honest though, the story matters little. This is far more an exercise in style and atmosphere than it is in plot It’s a novel rich in dark imagination and explicit sex. It’s graphically violent and erotic from beginning to end, with the dreamlike, bloody eroticism of a Jean Rollin film, and a frank earthiness. Whilst the characters and situations are fantastic and largely unrelatable, the prose is so enjoyable that I found the book hard to put down. This might well be the first Carry on Screaming book that I read for the words rather than the story.
‘Vivia’ is a book unlike any other I’ve reviewed for this series. It’s definitely a horror novel, but closer to the dark fairy tales of Angela Carter than Herbert or Hutson or even Clive Barker. Lee was a prolific author who wrote in numerous genres and her wide ranging talent is very much on display here. This is a grim and challenging, but at times beautiful book and very much worth reading.
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Tanith Lee is a master of twisted fairy tales and this one springs from Sleeping Beauty - in this version the beauty is a vampire and prince charming is anything but. Vivia is one of Lee's signature unlikable amoral heroines and the lush horror of her story is exactly what I expected (in a good way) - Fair warning: it's dark and violent. ( )

I was thrilled to find a copy of this Tanith Lee book (she's one of my favorite authors), which I don't believe has been published in the US - and, as a bonus, the cover art is one of my favorite paintings ("Sappho" by Charles-August Mengin, 1877)! I was not disappointed by the writing either - it's a purely sensual experience, and a wonderful addition to the vampire fiction genre.
I rarely like books that don't have any sympathetic characters - but this was an exception! ( )

The appropriate cliché to characterize this fantasy/vampire novel set in a parallel medieval world, is, I think, ‘not her best work’ – not as an euphemism, however, but to express that while in the hands of any other writer this story about a cursed, abused, but annoyingly passive young woman probably would have become a mediocre book, Tanith Lee’s singular writing skills and psychological elaboration make this still a compelling, convincing and rewarding read. ( )

Vivia, the daughter of a small, provincial lord, escapes to hidden underground caverns below her father's castle during a bout of the plague. There she encounters an ancient being who seems intrigued by her and changes her into some kind of vampire. Vivia then must learn to survive without the support of her now dead family, servants, townspeople, or even the one who changed her.

I have never met a less likable group of characters in a long time. Vivia is so passive that she is practically inert. All the action in the story happens to her, and she is engaged in it only as a helpless observer. Dull. This book was excruciating to read. I am surprised I finished it. ( )