Review – Incarnation

Title: Incarnation

Author: Emma Cornwall

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publication Date: September 18, 2012

ISBN-13: 978-1439190357

Available at: Amazon – Kindle – Barnes and Noble

From Goodreads:

In the steampunk world of Victorian London, a beautiful vampire seeks out the author of Dracula–to set the record straight . . . If one is to believe Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire tale, Lucy Weston is Dracula’s most wanton creation, a sexual creature of the night who preys on innocent boys. But the real-life Lucy is nothing like her fictional counterpart—and she demands to know why the Victorian author deliberately lied. With Stoker’s reluctant help, she’s determined to track down the very fiend who transformed her—from the sensual underworld where humans vie to become vampires, to a hidden cell beneath a temple to madness, and finally into the glittering Crystal Palace where death reigns supreme.

Haunted by fragmentary memories of her lost life and love, Lucy must battle her thirst for blood as she struggles to stop a catastrophic war that will doom vampires and humans alike. Ultimately, she must make a choice that illuminates for her—and for us—what it means to be human.

Review:

Lucy Weston awakes in the earth with a stake in her chest. All she can remember is a strange man luring her from her window one night. From there she discovers Bram Stoker has written about her plight in a grossly exaggerated tale. She goes on a quest to not only find out why Stoker has written such lies, but also to find out what he knows about the truth.

Along the way she comes across Marco di Orsini, a Protector who is sworn to protect humans from vampires. They become allies as the hunt for the vampire who incarnated Lucy takes on new meaning. Lucy also stumbles across Lady Blanche and Felix, fellow vampires. One of whom becomes her ally, the other becomes her enemy.

I instantly took to Lucy. She regretted her departure from her human life, but she didn’t let that stop her from accomplishing her goals. She was resilient and she had strength of character. Seemingly overnight she finds herself a vampire thirsting for blood and she adapted well. She did what she needed to do to survive even though there was no one there to show her how to survive in her new life.

Marco was another strong character and the romantic interest in this book. He was not without a certain mystery. Who was he really? How did his interests as a Protector coincide with Lucy’s? All these things ran through my head as I read on.

Lady Blanche was a consummate vampire. She truly had the sense of a creature who had lived for centuries. She also had more of Machiavellian mind. Felix was much more sympathetic and human. You could instantly tell which one to trust and which one not to.

I could never quite get a handle on Mordred, the vampire who incarnated Lucy. He was a complete mystery to me. Was he sympathetic to the human plight or was he impervious to human feeling after centuries of having seen their petty struggles? I was very conflicted as to which Mordred to believe in.

In the beginning of the book I found the prose a little cumbersome but I soon fell into rhythm with it and began enjoying it. The pace of the book kept up throughout the book. There’s enough happening to keep you engaged yet it’s not so much that you find yourself overloaded.

The London Lucy lives in is filled with Watchers on Teslaways and floating dirigibles. There are monstrous foundries where men slave their lives away. There are even more inventions then that. More then I can name, all adding to the wonderful steam punk feel of the novel. I truly enjoyed that facet of the book.

On the whole I enjoyed this novel tremendously. It was a fun adventure with a great romance. I loved Lucy and I hope there will be more books with her in the future.

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