Fevre Dream

Good read and tough to put down. Vivid characters with vampires mixed in with riverboat life. An original plot that will stay with you.

I wanted to try some of George R.R . Martin's earlier works because I had just finished the last "Game of Thrones" book and was curious to see what his earlier books were like. I was a bit leary of reading "Fevre Dreams" as it a Vampire Novel . I did enjoy many of the early ones that became movies and that the reading world got so caught up in but I had had enough. I thought I might as well go one more time to this particular well. I am quite happy I did. I liked the fact that he handles the vampire society differently than the more typical. Yes, their is a lot of "bad" vampires in it.. you know, the "black Hats" but also there is a vampire who is trying very hard to make the world of the vampire easier to get along with for the typical human. He feels that human and vampire are different branches of the same tree. He has spent a great deal of his life on creating a drink that will keep the race of vampires from getting the "Blood Fever" ever again. He wants them ,as a race, to live on the earth with their own people. Developing a self supporting colony and avoiding the fight between the humans and his "people". It is an unusual idea and one of the reasons I liked this book! Such a different outlook. Your two main characters are multifaceted and interesting in their details. Joshua York is our white hatted vampire and his wonderfully written, "diamond in the rough", partner is a human by the name of Abner Marsh. The villain in the "black hat" read black heart here... Is Damon Julian. Oh and I almost forgot another written large "character" who is very much front and center, the side paddle boat "Fevre Dream". Glorious in her newness and Abner's perfect paddle boat. Bigger, more beautiful and faster than anything on the water. This was his bribe to partner with Joshua. These two people, human and not so human developed a true partnership in every sense of the word lasting for years on and off the river. Bathed in blood though it was. Well written and fast paced, Martin has done a great job. The end is pushing it a bit but the epilogue is pretty cool. So I was glad I put aside my predjuice of vampires for a moment or so.

Like so many others, I was first attracted to Martin's novels because of  A Song of Ice and Fire , and after finishing that series, decided to look into some of his other works. FEVRE DREAM is the first I've tried, and I am completely impressed. Martin's style always evokes strong emotion and his ability to bring unique and powerful characters to life is unparalleled. FEVRE DREAM would have to be called a "vampire book", though the style and plot stray from the more common gothic romances of the genre. This stand-alone novel reads more like a historical fiction, being set in the mid-1800's along the Mississippi river and mostly focusing on the booming steam boat river trade.Abner Marsh and Joshua York are the characters that carry this story, a pair of unlikely partners on a history-defining journey. Marsh and York's excellent adventure along the Old Muddy and centers around each's most intimate desire. In the case of Abner Marsh, he dreams of captaining the grandest and fastest steam boat to ply the Mississippi trade. Fame and fortune are his driving forces, though by mid-book he's shifted his focus to the more practical aim of surviving the vampire politics he finds himself enmeshed in. Joshua York, on the other hand, considers himself a sort of Vampire King that will lead his dwindling species into a more peaceful and open future. He is an ideologue who's task (and instinctual drive for killing and feeding on humans) may be too much to conquer. Especially when the more entrenched powers within vampire society would rather things not change so drastically.FEVRE DREAM is definitely an enjoyable book for casual reading. Martin is a master of his art. He keeps the story moving at a comfortable pace with plenty of emotional stimulation all along. His characters come to life and give this rather simple story the impact and reach to achieve a full 5-stars on my sometimes-too-generous rating scale. Highly recommended.

This is the first George R. R. Martin books I've read. I've not even seen any of his tv series. This was a hard decision between 2 and 3 stars. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either.I was always struck by Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire", (not so much her others) and was hoping this would pull me in as well. It didn't.The setting and atmosphere is well done. The place feel real, full of history and edgy. The time frame also felt deep and real. It was some very hard, and sometimes very ugly, times and areas to life in.But the characters felt... stiff and flat. There are two POV's in this book, and neither are vampires, but men who come at the whole vampire situation from different angles. One completely unlikeable and the other... with morals and a strong will, but just not a character I could get into very well. He also had his faults, and his blindnesses.The horror scenes were horrific, with nothing later to balance them out. Everything kept getting darker and deeper, and felt like it was all swirling the drain, with no point. I guess the ending wasn't supposed to be upbeat, but it didn't actually address much, and felt like even the author was unclear about what it meant.Great on the settings and atmospher, but none of the characters drew me in. By the end, I didn't really care about any of them.

Seres ardilosos e medonhos, é como eu descrevo as criaturas de mitos depois de ler Fever Dream

I decided to read this book as I’m a fan of George’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and wanted to read more of his work as I wait for The Winds of Winter. I’m glad I have, it has been a real page turner and I’m not one to usually care for vampire stories. George once again managed to make characters come to life with seeming ease, and I never felt a page was wasted. I’m likely to now look for more of George’s work to read.

Great expectations led to greater disappointment. Unlike the game of Throne series, George R R Martin didn't impress with this tale of two warring species. Somehow the protagonist's lofty idealism seemed contrived and his nemesis not sinister enough. The narrative lacks the fluidity of his earlier work and the characters apart from the Captain, seem to be mere shadows rather than real flesh and blood.

I made the mistake here of leaning on the GOT storytelling pedigree. This book comes nowhere near as captivating.

Nach dem großen Vampir-Hype, der viele Geschichten, die die Welt nicht braucht, zur Folge hatte, hatte ich erst meine Bedenken ein Buch über Vampire zu lesen.Doch da bisher alles was ich von GRRM gelesen habe genial war, entschied ich mich doch dafür.Wer hätte es gedacht, es war einfach nur traumhaft.Besonders hervorzuheben ist es meiner Meinung nach, wie Martin es schafft, das Wesen der Vampire von einer bisher unbekannten Seite zu beleuchten. Dass dies nach all den Geschichten über Vampire in der Art noch möglich war, hätte ich nicht gedacht.Außerdem hat es sehr viel Spaß gemacht die Reise im Buch entlang des Mississippi nachzuempfinden, was sich als sehr leicht herausstellte, da es sich um reale Schauplätze handelt.Weiterhin fande ich es sehr gut wie Martin die gesellschafftlichen Probleme der USA im 19ten Jahrhundert im Rahmen der Geschichte verarbeitet hat.Insgesamt ist das Buch sehr empfehlenswert, da GRRM wie immer höchste literarische Qualität liefert.