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Sins of the Blood
The worlds that Cammie and her brother Ben live in collide, when she, a vampire slayer, and he, a beautiful and deadly predator, find each other after many years, separated since she drove the stake through her own father's heart. Original.
388 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1994
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About the author
Kristine Kathryn Rusch
1,382 books722 followersKristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists –even in London– and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.
In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".
She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 10, 2010
vampires
*note to self. Copy from A. different cover. scan later.
*note to self. Copy from A. different cover. scan later.
December 16, 2007
I liked this imaginative take on the vampire genre. I found the writing to be of Rusch usual high standard and although the subject matter was somewhat dark the characters shine through. Enjoyable and I felt original take on a very old and overwritten genre - worth a read if you like vampire books or just good character writing.
March 13, 2009
I don't know if I really liked this book. It dealt with a lot of issues like, child abuse, molestation, addiction, incest, and sexuallity. It didn't end on a good note. It's message seems like there wasn't hope of recovery or a happy life if you suffered and survived through these things. It was a strange story. Plenty of action though, and you can take that how you will...
April 5, 2008
Horror novel linking vampirism with child abuse. Very different, and it works surprisingly well.
October 17, 2019
I like Rusch's style, but this book felt off-kilter throughout. It's about vampires (more to the point, it's using vampirism as an allegory for abuse and how it runs in the family), but there are parts of the mythology that don't make much sense. Vampirism is commonly known in the world, but the laws about them are unconvincing. They're legal, but only to a certain point, at which they're legally executed, guerilla-style, by teams of eradicators. Plus, when one of the characters begins to turn, it's like he's unaware of vampires, even though he's known about them for all of his life.
The pacing feels off, too. The exposition (especially when Ben is being introduced to the vampires that will assist him for much of the book) feels rushed, and the ending feels likewise. Worse, the ending feels unfinished, but that makes me wonder if Rusch intended for the book to be the first in a series. Other parts of the book move along slowly, and Rusch chooses the oddest things to describe or focus on. There's a section of the book where she describes the airport in Eugene, OR in such detail that it feels like it's become a travelogue. Most of the sections that feel out of place are the ones where she's devoting particular attention to the cities in the northwest.
Still, Rusch knows how to keep the reader's interest. She uses the main character's lost history as a maguffin for the first third of the novel, and that kept me reading. Rusch's style is nonchalant, and it throws you off when it comes to determining how engaged you are in the story. It doesn't feel gripping, but when you have to stop reading, you become aware that you don't want to.
It also feels strangely misogynistic, which threw me, since the book was written by a female author. Rusch uses a strong woman as her principle character, but she also has characters who are disposable, the most prominent one being a woman. She includes men and women as being disposable (e.g., for use by the vampires), but the one that matters the most, story- and emotion-wise, is barely developed, and then killed off because she's pregnant.
I went back and forth in how I felt about the book, but in the end, it was disappointing. Rusch has a tremendous reputation (having been the editor of The Magazine of F&SF is no small achievement), but this book didn't show that. Facade also felt off in certain ways, but somehow Sins of the Blood is worse in that respect, despite the ambitious theme.
Abyss #43
The pacing feels off, too. The exposition (especially when Ben is being introduced to the vampires that will assist him for much of the book) feels rushed, and the ending feels likewise. Worse, the ending feels unfinished, but that makes me wonder if Rusch intended for the book to be the first in a series. Other parts of the book move along slowly, and Rusch chooses the oddest things to describe or focus on. There's a section of the book where she describes the airport in Eugene, OR in such detail that it feels like it's become a travelogue. Most of the sections that feel out of place are the ones where she's devoting particular attention to the cities in the northwest.
Still, Rusch knows how to keep the reader's interest. She uses the main character's lost history as a maguffin for the first third of the novel, and that kept me reading. Rusch's style is nonchalant, and it throws you off when it comes to determining how engaged you are in the story. It doesn't feel gripping, but when you have to stop reading, you become aware that you don't want to.
It also feels strangely misogynistic, which threw me, since the book was written by a female author. Rusch uses a strong woman as her principle character, but she also has characters who are disposable, the most prominent one being a woman. She includes men and women as being disposable (e.g., for use by the vampires), but the one that matters the most, story- and emotion-wise, is barely developed, and then killed off because she's pregnant.
I went back and forth in how I felt about the book, but in the end, it was disappointing. Rusch has a tremendous reputation (having been the editor of The Magazine of F&SF is no small achievement), but this book didn't show that. Facade also felt off in certain ways, but somehow Sins of the Blood is worse in that respect, despite the ambitious theme.
Abyss #43
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2018
Sins of the Blood is an American vampire book. There are no sparkly emo vampires, or ones that speak with Eastern European or even Scottish accents. No cloaks, no shapeshifting Carpathians, no telepathic connections with a soulmate. Rather, there's family dysfunction, abuse of power, and misguided people. And that's without the vampires.
Set in a slightly different version of present-day America, vampirism here is a known element. In the Midwestern states, assassination teams are sent to "eradicate" vampires during the day while the vamp sleeps in his house. Along the Pacific Northwest, killing vampires is illegal and vampirism is treated as a disease with treatment centers. Most vampires are made, and their life span is bright but short as the blood/sex lust makes them sloppy and easy targets for human hunters. More rare and more powerful are hereditary vampires, who often leave behind their orphan children once they are caught by the eradication teams.
Cammie and Ben are the adult children of a slain vampire, and they are the alternating voice of the story. Both characters are seriously flawed, and unlikeable, which made reading this book difficult. So too did the dark themes of this book, and I do not mean the paranormal element of vampires and all the consequent blood that comes with such. Rather, this book is rife with child abuse, rape, incest, and murder. Add vampires on top of that. It's dark.
Cammie and Ben are products of this darkness, and struggle to come to terms with it, each in their own way. Cammie grows up to become an eradicator; Ben turns into a vampire. There is no happy ending, or even a hopeful one. But it is realistic.
Very recommended to fans of dark, speculative fiction.
Set in a slightly different version of present-day America, vampirism here is a known element. In the Midwestern states, assassination teams are sent to "eradicate" vampires during the day while the vamp sleeps in his house. Along the Pacific Northwest, killing vampires is illegal and vampirism is treated as a disease with treatment centers. Most vampires are made, and their life span is bright but short as the blood/sex lust makes them sloppy and easy targets for human hunters. More rare and more powerful are hereditary vampires, who often leave behind their orphan children once they are caught by the eradication teams.
Cammie and Ben are the adult children of a slain vampire, and they are the alternating voice of the story. Both characters are seriously flawed, and unlikeable, which made reading this book difficult. So too did the dark themes of this book, and I do not mean the paranormal element of vampires and all the consequent blood that comes with such. Rather, this book is rife with child abuse, rape, incest, and murder. Add vampires on top of that. It's dark.
Cammie and Ben are products of this darkness, and struggle to come to terms with it, each in their own way. Cammie grows up to become an eradicator; Ben turns into a vampire. There is no happy ending, or even a hopeful one. But it is realistic.
Very recommended to fans of dark, speculative fiction.
October 19, 2011
Cammie is a vampire killer who is discovering that the secrets of her past are being kept from her by her employer. Ben has begun the weird changes that mean he is turning into a vampire despite never being bitten by one. The destiny of these two people are linked in a world where vampires are using breeding to increase their numbers.
The book was ok but it was just so damn SLOW to get anywhere. First you had Cammie finding that she is in the dark over vampires having children-so she asks her partner why she didn't know that. She is told to speak to the boss. The boss is not available so she goes to the deputy boss who after a long winded conversation tells her that it is 'classified' and Cammie must speak to the boss. So she goes to the boss who tells her nobody is keeping anything from her and its all in her vampire handbook...and this pantomime lasts for 80 pages in between Ben's sexual exploits. No thanks!
The book was ok but it was just so damn SLOW to get anywhere. First you had Cammie finding that she is in the dark over vampires having children-so she asks her partner why she didn't know that. She is told to speak to the boss. The boss is not available so she goes to the deputy boss who after a long winded conversation tells her that it is 'classified' and Cammie must speak to the boss. So she goes to the boss who tells her nobody is keeping anything from her and its all in her vampire handbook...and this pantomime lasts for 80 pages in between Ben's sexual exploits. No thanks!
January 3, 2013
It was good. I wouldn't call it Urban Fantasy though. I'd call it Horror. The vampires are the villains of this story. They're not romantic sex symbols. There is a lot of taboo sex which at first I was eating up like a kid in a candy shop. I don't usually read such so at first it was titillating. After a while I was just straight EWE!!! But I kept reading. By that time I was hooked into the story. It's not Charlaine Harris or even the darker written Laurell K. Hamilton. It's more Bram Stoker. The ending was good. If this were to be a series, I'd probably read the next one.
May 14, 2023
The novel is a bizarre imagination of vampirism. Despite the exciting first chapter, the rest of the story went downhill with a strange plot and difficult characters. Camilla is the daughter of a vampire who spaded her father in the heart in one of his abusive outburst in-front of her toddler brother Benjamin. Cam, as she is widely known has become a formidable vampire eradicator while her brother was adopted. They lost contact for no less than 15 years until Cam kills a vampire in front of his young daughter and started inquiring about her own brother.
This plot could have been a thrilling mystery, but it turned into erotica unnecessarily. It was too bizarre to grasp sometimes and the plot was so slow that I have no idea how I managed to be sane while I kept turning the pages. There was a comment that the ending was open because it appeared the author planned a trilogy which thankfully was a fruitless Wish.
This plot could have been a thrilling mystery, but it turned into erotica unnecessarily. It was too bizarre to grasp sometimes and the plot was so slow that I have no idea how I managed to be sane while I kept turning the pages. There was a comment that the ending was open because it appeared the author planned a trilogy which thankfully was a fruitless Wish.
February 19, 2024
Obvious metaphor for addiction is obvious. And wildly entertaining, provocative and thoughtful. I'm not sure anyone has read this book in the last 15 years, but you absolutely should if you're a fan of fantasy, horror, and characters dealing with real issues. In this book, vampirism is a disease that you can catch from making friends with the wrong people, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or become drawn in by the ecstatic, warm numbing feeling you get whenever bit by a vampire. Or, worse, a parent can pass it to a child. Sounds a lot like heroin addiction to me. Same with the seedy, poorly lit bars that vampires and their victims hang out in.
It also has a lot of True Blood-like sex scenes, which may either delight or disgust the reader, so be forewarned. I wonder if this book was ahead of its time when it came out in 1994, but I think it would be a huge hit if it came out today.
It also has a lot of True Blood-like sex scenes, which may either delight or disgust the reader, so be forewarned. I wonder if this book was ahead of its time when it came out in 1994, but I think it would be a huge hit if it came out today.
May 30, 2017
Holy crap! This was an intense read! There's definitely some things could trigger anyone who's been the victim of abuse or rape... Mrs. Rusch really delves into what a world with vampires might be like in a modern world - what with our attempts to rehabilitate drug and alcohol users - why wouldn't that be something we'd try? And if that didn't go well, what would could happen where it's legal to get rid of those vampires that prey on others? And what would happen if vampires were able to have kids in their early stages of turning? And what would life be like for kids after they'd been liberated such horrors? Seriously, this was such an engrossing and amazing read. I think it would be awesome if Mrs. Rusch decided to write in this world again - there's so much that can be explored even more and it would be really interesting to see what happens to Cammie in the future.
October 23, 2025
Interesting premise, hereditary vampires and a vampire executioner trying to find her maybe vampire baby brother. What it ends up is a lot of talk about the brother’s…appetites. Also be warned there is p*dophilia, rape as vampire saliva basically acts as a roofie, and incest.
January 23, 2023
Interesting different take on vampires living, unknown, amongst mundanes. Not a feel good story. But well written. Listened to audio book which always takes longer.
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June 21, 2009Horror
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