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Supping With Panthers
1887. Frontera himalaya con el Imperio británico. Una expedición encabezada por el doctor John Elliot, científico especialista en grupos sanguíneos, está investigando los rumores acerca de una incursión rusa en las remotas tierras de Kalikshutra, territorio sobre el que se cierne una tenebrosa leyenda que acosará a Elliot durante el resto de sus días. Tras el éxito de El señor de los muertos, historia novelada de la vida de lord Byron, Tom Holland vuelve a mezclar realidad y ficción en una exótica novela de terror. Los vampiros y los seres inmortales se pasean por las calles del Londres victoriano, y Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde y lord Byron cobran vida y nos desvelan la verdadera historia que dio origen a la mítica figura de Drácula.
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
10 people are currently reading
898 people want to read
About the author
Tom Holland
108 books3,616 followersTom Holland is an English historian and author. He has written many books, both fiction and non-fiction, on many subjects from vampires to history.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. He obtained a double first in English and Latin at Queens' College, Cambridge, and afterwards studied shortly for a PhD at Oxford, taking Lord Byron as his subject, before interrupting the post graduate studies and moving to London.
He has adapted Herodotus, Homer, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio 4. His novels, including Attis and Deliver Us From Evil, mostly have a supernatural and horror element as well as being set in the past. He is also the author of three highly praised works of history, Rubicon, Persian Fire and Millennium.
He is on the committee of the Society of Authors and the Classical Association.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Holland was born near Oxford and brought up in the village of Broadchalke near Salisbury, England. He obtained a double first in English and Latin at Queens' College, Cambridge, and afterwards studied shortly for a PhD at Oxford, taking Lord Byron as his subject, before interrupting the post graduate studies and moving to London.
He has adapted Herodotus, Homer, Thucydides and Virgil for BBC Radio 4. His novels, including Attis and Deliver Us From Evil, mostly have a supernatural and horror element as well as being set in the past. He is also the author of three highly praised works of history, Rubicon, Persian Fire and Millennium.
He is on the committee of the Society of Authors and the Classical Association.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 14, 2024
Año 1887.
Frontera himalaya con el Imperio británico. Una expedición encabezada por el doctor John Elliot, científico especialista en grupos sanguíneos, está investigando los rumores acerca de una incursión rusa en las remotas tierras de Kalikshutra, territorio sobre el que se cierne una tenebrosa leyenda que acosará a Elliot durante el resto de sus días.
Tras el éxito de "El señor de los muertos" historia novelada de la vida de lord Byron, Tom Holland vuelve a mezclar realidad y ficción en una exótica novela de terror. Los vampiros y los seres inmortales se pasean por las calles del Londres victoriano, y Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde y lord Byron cobran vida y nos desvelan la verdadera historia que dio origen a la mítica figura de Drácula.
Una interesante lectura y casi desconocida del género. Una escritura que nos embauca a través de una prosa que contiene una sensación espeluznante e inquietante en un viaje a lo desconocido.
La historia se cuenta a través de anotaciones de diario, cartas e informes. Un clásico en el género vampiresco que le viene muy bien.
Vemos cómo se va desvelando la historia y se une el misterio a través de los ojos del narrador actual. El miedo, la inquietud, la confusión y las innumerables preguntas pasan a ser algo de gran importancia para el lector.
La historia tiene lugar en una época cuando Inglaterra todavía se encuentra en la cima del poder imperial. La frontera de la India también es un lugar que visitaremos. Todo en un camino hacia el eje central de la historia. Es un viaje lento no rebosa de acción. No es esa clase de historia.
Tenemos personajes interesantes y muy variados que cumplen su función. Y es que también incluye personajes literarios como Bram Stoker, lord Byron, Wilde y sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Original y fresco.
Una trama que trata sobre la leyenda e inicio de los vampiros. Incluso Jack el Destripador.
A ver qué tal está el señor de los muertos. En cuanto a este ha sido una lectura que no me esperaba ciertos detalles y he disfrutado de su narrativa y originalidad..✍️🧛🎩
Frontera himalaya con el Imperio británico. Una expedición encabezada por el doctor John Elliot, científico especialista en grupos sanguíneos, está investigando los rumores acerca de una incursión rusa en las remotas tierras de Kalikshutra, territorio sobre el que se cierne una tenebrosa leyenda que acosará a Elliot durante el resto de sus días.
Tras el éxito de "El señor de los muertos" historia novelada de la vida de lord Byron, Tom Holland vuelve a mezclar realidad y ficción en una exótica novela de terror. Los vampiros y los seres inmortales se pasean por las calles del Londres victoriano, y Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde y lord Byron cobran vida y nos desvelan la verdadera historia que dio origen a la mítica figura de Drácula.
Una interesante lectura y casi desconocida del género. Una escritura que nos embauca a través de una prosa que contiene una sensación espeluznante e inquietante en un viaje a lo desconocido.
La historia se cuenta a través de anotaciones de diario, cartas e informes. Un clásico en el género vampiresco que le viene muy bien.
Vemos cómo se va desvelando la historia y se une el misterio a través de los ojos del narrador actual. El miedo, la inquietud, la confusión y las innumerables preguntas pasan a ser algo de gran importancia para el lector.
La historia tiene lugar en una época cuando Inglaterra todavía se encuentra en la cima del poder imperial. La frontera de la India también es un lugar que visitaremos. Todo en un camino hacia el eje central de la historia. Es un viaje lento no rebosa de acción. No es esa clase de historia.
Tenemos personajes interesantes y muy variados que cumplen su función. Y es que también incluye personajes literarios como Bram Stoker, lord Byron, Wilde y sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Original y fresco.
Una trama que trata sobre la leyenda e inicio de los vampiros. Incluso Jack el Destripador.
A ver qué tal está el señor de los muertos. En cuanto a este ha sido una lectura que no me esperaba ciertos detalles y he disfrutado de su narrativa y originalidad..✍️🧛🎩
December 7, 2007
The best Vampire story ever written, it made me fall in love with Lord Byron immediately. Go read the whole trilogy, Tom Holland's style is simply awesome!
August 30, 2016
-Técnicamente elaborado, con fondo potente pero sin ser redondo.-
Género. Narrativa Fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. Los enredos de El Gran Juego llegan a la India, donde el doctor John Eliot ha sido parte de una misión secreta para proteger los intereses del Imperio Británico. Pero cuando vuelva a Londres traerá con él conocimientos que le atormentan, aunque le podrían ser de utilidad cuando tenga que buscar a un amigo perdido.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
Género. Narrativa Fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. Los enredos de El Gran Juego llegan a la India, donde el doctor John Eliot ha sido parte de una misión secreta para proteger los intereses del Imperio Británico. Pero cuando vuelva a Londres traerá con él conocimientos que le atormentan, aunque le podrían ser de utilidad cuando tenga que buscar a un amigo perdido.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...
March 6, 2016
This book has left me speechless. Right off I have to mension that this book has beautiful writing, it also has a creepy, haunting vibe, with Alice in Wonderland/acid trip feel. The story is told in journal entries, letters, and reports. So you see the story unravel and the mystery come together through the current narrators eyes. Which means the fear, unease, confussion, and emotion is easily felt. The story takes place in the Regency time period, when England is still in the high of Emperial power. You first start out with Captain Moorfield in the frontier of India, and the return back to London where the drama really starts. While in India we meet our main narrator of the book Dr. Eliot who leads us through the main body of the story. We not only encounter interesting and uniuqe characters, but it also brings in such literary characters as Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Lord Byron,and Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with finding the legend and start of vampires. And along with that we get to find out how Jack the Ripper came to be. Overall anamazing book, while a haunting story that was a slow creepy trip, that makes you think about what makes someone a monster, what is right and wrong, can humans ever understand the devine, and what ia a god, and what is a devil. And most importantlly what is life and death. And can you be alive if your mind is lost. This book makes you question a lot of things and is a total insanity ride, I couldn't help but love this book.
December 2, 2018
An original, thrilling vampire saga set in London 1888 and in the Himalayas.
The story begins on the remote borderlands of the Himalayas where vampires wreak havoc. One survivor is a doctor who indulges in solving mysteries. Back home in London a body is found drained of blood and a friend disappears. The doctor uses a clinical approach to try and solve the mystery (whilst referencing Sherlock Holmes for encouragement during the tricky parts).
The story is a slow build and is told mostly through letters and diary entries.
I really enjoyed the slow introduction of pivotal information and the twists and turns. The first part gives you all the blood and gore. The middle lays out all the hows and whys. The ending provides more gore.
The style of writing was such that it felt like reading an Agatha Christie mystery. Nothing is as it seems. And the answers are in the power of observation and deduction. It was like reading a vampire mystery.
One striking negative is the author’s excessive and unnecessary use of the words “at length”. Those words are repeated every several pages to describe things that were not actually done at length.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes vampires and mysteries/murder mysteries.
The story begins on the remote borderlands of the Himalayas where vampires wreak havoc. One survivor is a doctor who indulges in solving mysteries. Back home in London a body is found drained of blood and a friend disappears. The doctor uses a clinical approach to try and solve the mystery (whilst referencing Sherlock Holmes for encouragement during the tricky parts).
The story is a slow build and is told mostly through letters and diary entries.
I really enjoyed the slow introduction of pivotal information and the twists and turns. The first part gives you all the blood and gore. The middle lays out all the hows and whys. The ending provides more gore.
The style of writing was such that it felt like reading an Agatha Christie mystery. Nothing is as it seems. And the answers are in the power of observation and deduction. It was like reading a vampire mystery.
One striking negative is the author’s excessive and unnecessary use of the words “at length”. Those words are repeated every several pages to describe things that were not actually done at length.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes vampires and mysteries/murder mysteries.
June 27, 2020
Tom Holland seems to be the rare author who can write both fiction and non-fiction with equal skill. I picked up Slave of My Thirst after reading his book, Persian Fire. I was intrigued by the premise and, as I really enjoyed his writing, I was curious to see how he handled a Vampire book. The last one I tried was the Historian, which I hated, so I figured he couldn't do as bad as that, although I admit the cover seemed slightly hokey.
I am simultaneously reading his book The Sleeper in the Sands, and enjoyed seeing the parallels in both plots. Overall I am giving it 4/5 stars. The last 50 pages became a bit overwhelmingly grisly for my taste, but the reason for including it later made sense. I enjoyed it enough that I will be hunting down Lord of the Dead and any of his other fiction I can find. I wish his books were easier to find here in the US- particularly on Audible. It's nice finding a versatile author to add to my lists.
I am simultaneously reading his book The Sleeper in the Sands, and enjoyed seeing the parallels in both plots. Overall I am giving it 4/5 stars. The last 50 pages became a bit overwhelmingly grisly for my taste, but the reason for including it later made sense. I enjoyed it enough that I will be hunting down Lord of the Dead and any of his other fiction I can find. I wish his books were easier to find here in the US- particularly on Audible. It's nice finding a versatile author to add to my lists.
March 10, 2024
After reading The Vampyre, which I loved, I wanted more of Lord Byron, which you don't get in this book. While he has some cameos, the story follows other characters and explores other mythologies.
It's well-written and pulled me through with the suspense and horror elements, but I didn't enjoy the epistolic style. Dr Eliot and Professor Huree feature as important characters in the first part of the narrative, but they are not presented as main characters, while the officer whose perspective this first part is told from, doesn't feature in the rest of the book. This was confusing and uncomfortable to my modern mind. The exchange of letters as the story continued felt like misdirection, expertly done, but left me all the more frustrated
The Victorian setting was masterful, as was the connections made between known celebrities of the times for the purpose of a fictional narrative. And perhaps, if I myself had been versed in this period, I would have picked up on the hints that led to the rather painful twist.
It was a good book, but my expectations were all wrong. But it was also a demanding read, which didn't suit my work-burned brain in the evenings.
It's well-written and pulled me through with the suspense and horror elements, but I didn't enjoy the epistolic style. Dr Eliot and Professor Huree feature as important characters in the first part of the narrative, but they are not presented as main characters, while the officer whose perspective this first part is told from, doesn't feature in the rest of the book. This was confusing and uncomfortable to my modern mind. The exchange of letters as the story continued felt like misdirection, expertly done, but left me all the more frustrated
The Victorian setting was masterful, as was the connections made between known celebrities of the times for the purpose of a fictional narrative. And perhaps, if I myself had been versed in this period, I would have picked up on the hints that led to the rather painful twist.
It was a good book, but my expectations were all wrong. But it was also a demanding read, which didn't suit my work-burned brain in the evenings.
September 7, 2025
Ar Supping with Panthers (alternatīvs nosaukums Slave of My Thirst) autors Tom Holland izvēlējies pievienot savu balsi vampīru izcelsmes stāstam. Turklāt ne tik vien izpildīt savu stāstu modernā variantā un izklāsta manierē (publicēta 1996.gadā), bet teju kā odu un veltījumu agrākiem gotiskiem un cita veida šausmu stāstiem no žanra pirmsākumiem, to veikt arīdzan attiecīgajā manierē. Fakts, kam reizē savi plusi, bet jo tuvāk grāmatai beigas un vairāk sižeta aiz muguras, jo vairāk arī pamanāmu un grūtāk ignorējamu gan notikumu attīstības loģikas, gan cita veida caurumi.
https://poseidons99.com/2025/09/07/to...
https://poseidons99.com/2025/09/07/to...
August 20, 2018
This book did take me a very long time to read, but definitely one of the best vampire books I’ve read in a while. Also really good to enjoy a different style of book that I haven’t really been reading this year
January 19, 2023
The closest my experience compares to the experiences of the characters in Slave of my Thirst was visiting the Gateway of Indian monument in Mumbai (once known as Bombay). Even that was dedicated some years after the events recounted in the first section of this book, but the monument was built during the British Raj. This section describing events on the frontier of the Raj began as a solid pulp adventure, told in first-person by a British officer but introducing two major characters who would continue in the final two portions of the book. One character was Dr. John Eliot, an agnostic medical doctor (former classmate of A. Conan Doyle), while the other was a professor of Sanskrit at Calcutta (now Kolkata) University with a penchant for occult investigation, Professor Huree Jyoti Navalkar. This first portion of the novel reveals to the reader the strange phenomena discovered in the rare and mostly avoided region of Kalikshutra, mostly avoided because of the slavish devotion to the destroyer deity, Kali. Much of this section reads like the offspring of something Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, or H. P. Lovecraft would have written mating with something H. Rider Haggard or Edgar Rice Burroughs would have written.
The second portion of the novel is much more ingrained with the tropes and descriptions of gothic horror. This makes perfect sense because author Tom Holland is known as a scholar who specializes in the life and work of Lord Byron. To make things both more interesting and ironic, Holland introduces the stage manager of Henry Irving’s and Ellen Terry’s theater, the Lyceum. Abraham Stoker, aka Bram Stoker, allegedly receives his inspiration for both the play and novel, Dracula, from the investigations conducted in the last two portions of the book. However, one might only recognize a couple of names from the famous gothic horror novel: the head of an asylum named Renfeld, an actress named Lucy with a surname beginning with West (but not the same as Lucy in the classic novel), and a doctor named John (though that takes quite a different direction than that of Seward in the classic).
To further enhance the gothic feel, the second portion is entirely narrated in the form of journal entries and correspondence. This is a very appropriate conceit for a gothic novel and I generally enjoyed how well-written and compelling it was. Alas, though, the conceit had one other effect on me. Unfortunately, the shorter entries gave me lots of exit points to put the book down. So, as a result, I took a lot longer to read this novel than I would normally have taken.
Yet, the description of one vampire’s mental state sounded hauntingly like some folks I know (including myself) with Attention Deficit Disorder: “…the desire for mental exaltation had always been a feature of my character; yet now I was becoming its absolute slave, for the more I sought to banish the threat of boredom from my brain, the more my search for fresh excitements would grow.” (p. 389) I should warn the squeamish, though, that the final portion of the story is rather replete with descriptions which make it a rather modern horror story. There is overt lewdness and more than enough blood and gore to satisfy any slasher movie fan. It’s quite disconcertingly effective in one way, but it rather decreases the artistry in the conceit that the novel is written contemporary to its era.
Now, while it is awkward to speak of these without overtly giving away any spoilers, I have to say that the identities of some of the monsters (for so there would have to be in a gothic horror story would there not?) were rather unexpected. One particularly twisted manifestation was very expected by me because I have learned not to trust the seeming innocent in such stories. Of course, that general mistrust might apply to more than one seeming innocent in Slave of my Thirst. These twists are fascinating, but when I consider the entire work, I feel ambiguity in evaluating it.
Slave of my Thirst was an intriguing book, but it is not my favored genre. As a result, it was probably not as satisfying for me as it would have been for another.
The second portion of the novel is much more ingrained with the tropes and descriptions of gothic horror. This makes perfect sense because author Tom Holland is known as a scholar who specializes in the life and work of Lord Byron. To make things both more interesting and ironic, Holland introduces the stage manager of Henry Irving’s and Ellen Terry’s theater, the Lyceum. Abraham Stoker, aka Bram Stoker, allegedly receives his inspiration for both the play and novel, Dracula, from the investigations conducted in the last two portions of the book. However, one might only recognize a couple of names from the famous gothic horror novel: the head of an asylum named Renfeld, an actress named Lucy with a surname beginning with West (but not the same as Lucy in the classic novel), and a doctor named John (though that takes quite a different direction than that of Seward in the classic).
To further enhance the gothic feel, the second portion is entirely narrated in the form of journal entries and correspondence. This is a very appropriate conceit for a gothic novel and I generally enjoyed how well-written and compelling it was. Alas, though, the conceit had one other effect on me. Unfortunately, the shorter entries gave me lots of exit points to put the book down. So, as a result, I took a lot longer to read this novel than I would normally have taken.
Yet, the description of one vampire’s mental state sounded hauntingly like some folks I know (including myself) with Attention Deficit Disorder: “…the desire for mental exaltation had always been a feature of my character; yet now I was becoming its absolute slave, for the more I sought to banish the threat of boredom from my brain, the more my search for fresh excitements would grow.” (p. 389) I should warn the squeamish, though, that the final portion of the story is rather replete with descriptions which make it a rather modern horror story. There is overt lewdness and more than enough blood and gore to satisfy any slasher movie fan. It’s quite disconcertingly effective in one way, but it rather decreases the artistry in the conceit that the novel is written contemporary to its era.
Now, while it is awkward to speak of these without overtly giving away any spoilers, I have to say that the identities of some of the monsters (for so there would have to be in a gothic horror story would there not?) were rather unexpected. One particularly twisted manifestation was very expected by me because I have learned not to trust the seeming innocent in such stories. Of course, that general mistrust might apply to more than one seeming innocent in Slave of my Thirst. These twists are fascinating, but when I consider the entire work, I feel ambiguity in evaluating it.
Slave of my Thirst was an intriguing book, but it is not my favored genre. As a result, it was probably not as satisfying for me as it would have been for another.
October 11, 2020
This is a novel with many moving parts-- and the author does an excellent job of juggling ideas, atmosphere, vampire lore, Victorian life, and a mystery. The author's design is to create a story out of journals, letters, notes, and Scientific reports. This manages keeping the reader a bit disoriented at times, which is perfect for this story is all about being disoriented. Whether it is due to the oddity of circumstances or the mesmerizing power of apparent vampires-- the reader is able to feel the bombardment of the senses, the confusion, the horror, and even the humanity.
Jack Eliot joined a military expedition in the Himalayas some years before the real story begins. There, he sees horrors beyond the imagination, as he sees what are either Vampires or zombies, or both. Blood and superstition are everywhere, but Jack, a medical doctor, is certain that there must be a scientific explanation.
Years later, Jack is contacted by the wife of an old friend and wades into his friend's involvement with some very unusual characters. Along the way, he joins forces with Bram Stoker, working as a writer and theater manager, but they form a friendship and delve in it together. The premise is that their adventures form the basis for Stoker's most famous work, Dracula... While there is some truth to that, there is so much more depth to the "vampire conspiracy" than a simple story about thwarting a vampire.
The mystery portion of this novel is excellent. What is the plot? I almost gasped when one of the secrets was revealed... But of course, I said to myself.
This book is a fine work. It's greatest success is putting a Dicken's type spell on the reader as he describes a dualism between the glory of Victorian England and the filth of it at the same time. The gothic flavor is rich and the reader is almost mesmerized himself. The author's ability to describe the mists, the carriages, the clothing, the workers is nothing short of wondrous.
And by the time the reader gets to the conclusion, he will be truly surprised that he didn't know the direction the author was really going.
Jack Eliot joined a military expedition in the Himalayas some years before the real story begins. There, he sees horrors beyond the imagination, as he sees what are either Vampires or zombies, or both. Blood and superstition are everywhere, but Jack, a medical doctor, is certain that there must be a scientific explanation.
Years later, Jack is contacted by the wife of an old friend and wades into his friend's involvement with some very unusual characters. Along the way, he joins forces with Bram Stoker, working as a writer and theater manager, but they form a friendship and delve in it together. The premise is that their adventures form the basis for Stoker's most famous work, Dracula... While there is some truth to that, there is so much more depth to the "vampire conspiracy" than a simple story about thwarting a vampire.
The mystery portion of this novel is excellent. What is the plot? I almost gasped when one of the secrets was revealed... But of course, I said to myself.
This book is a fine work. It's greatest success is putting a Dicken's type spell on the reader as he describes a dualism between the glory of Victorian England and the filth of it at the same time. The gothic flavor is rich and the reader is almost mesmerized himself. The author's ability to describe the mists, the carriages, the clothing, the workers is nothing short of wondrous.
And by the time the reader gets to the conclusion, he will be truly surprised that he didn't know the direction the author was really going.
November 25, 2020
I read halfway through the book and decided to put it down. It may not be the right time for a book such as this but I will give it two stars for the beginning. I very much enjoyed the story line and gory details as my usual genre of choice is true crime but I wanted something more fictional for now. As the book transitioned overtime I felt it became redundant about the vampire characters.. such as she was overwhelming beautiful but also repulsive.
Anytime the author mentioned her or any other vampire characters its was oh so much beauty but such grotesqueness of their pale skin, over and over and over.
The other factor of the book I didn't like was that he portrayed women negatively. Women are to be seen (objectified) not heard. Women are hysterical, over emotional, dramatic, and bothersome. Women were whores and prostitutes while men go for and walk about the earth to multiply...Oh how I disliked George Mowberley. Even a powerful vampiress was reduced to nothing but a man's play thing... I will give the author credit though, the book is set in the 1800s so I can understand the dismissiveness of women.
Anytime the author mentioned her or any other vampire characters its was oh so much beauty but such grotesqueness of their pale skin, over and over and over.
The other factor of the book I didn't like was that he portrayed women negatively. Women are to be seen (objectified) not heard. Women are hysterical, over emotional, dramatic, and bothersome. Women were whores and prostitutes while men go for and walk about the earth to multiply...Oh how I disliked George Mowberley. Even a powerful vampiress was reduced to nothing but a man's play thing... I will give the author credit though, the book is set in the 1800s so I can understand the dismissiveness of women.
January 22, 2018
This I give 3.5 stars but rounded, begrudgingly to 4. I have carried this book around for years. I originally bought this book in 1996 when it first came out, and I am not going to lie I bought it for the cover. It is traveled around with me from house to house and has stayed in storage for years. I also at one time started it and didn’t get past 50 pages.
You follow through the book , Dr Jack Eliot, Bram Stoker and a small amount of a Professor Huree. The story is told from journal entries and letters written back and forth between characters in the book. It really is a fantastic tale of Lilith, Dracula and Jack the Ripper rolled into one. It has an old British feel to the writing style which I think may have been most of my troubles, but in the end I admit it was a good story. Will I read it again? No.
You follow through the book , Dr Jack Eliot, Bram Stoker and a small amount of a Professor Huree. The story is told from journal entries and letters written back and forth between characters in the book. It really is a fantastic tale of Lilith, Dracula and Jack the Ripper rolled into one. It has an old British feel to the writing style which I think may have been most of my troubles, but in the end I admit it was a good story. Will I read it again? No.
September 13, 2021
This book was a roller-coaster for me.
It started off in fantastic horror fashion in the depths of the Himalayas. It then slowed down considerably once the main characters return to London. What follows afterwards is a hallucinatory and sometimes primordial mystery thriller involving vampires and some real-world characters.
It starts off being a straight-forward vampire novel, but quickly escalates into something I did not see coming.
It started off in fantastic horror fashion in the depths of the Himalayas. It then slowed down considerably once the main characters return to London. What follows afterwards is a hallucinatory and sometimes primordial mystery thriller involving vampires and some real-world characters.
It starts off being a straight-forward vampire novel, but quickly escalates into something I did not see coming.
November 10, 2020
Love it absolutely, completely. The way Tom Holland is toying with our common knowledge of this folklore and literature classics and create something totally addictive. I should be fully ashamed to discover this author/historian so late, but « mieux vaut tard que jamais » and he is now on my stalking list 😇
July 29, 2017
Otra novela de vampiros. Empieza genial, como una gran novela de aventuras, estilo Indiana Jones en el Templo Maldito, pero pronto degenera en un pastiche de novela de misterio y novela gótica clásica, para acabar en un galimatías total. Me ha costado acabarla.
March 19, 2024
This was a tough read! The beginning is just brutal! It was so grisly I had to put it aside for a week or so. The middle of the book bogged down a bit and was dull. But the second half of the book picked up and the ending was satisfactory.
Read
November 2, 2019DNFd for now. I'm not sure if I'll ever pick it up again...
December 24, 2019
Wow. Just wow. This sequel to Lord of the Dead was even better than its predecessor. And I didn’t think that could be possible.
April 9, 2020
I read this book back in 1998 and it still haunts me.
June 24, 2020
originele invalshoek, pageturner
February 17, 2022
Immersive, well written, and the ending makes it all worth it.
September 14, 2024
C’était loooooooooooooooooooong
January 21, 2025
Meh. Too gory and dark for my taste.
July 2, 2025
a very fun read
October 26, 2025
Edit: Changing my score to a 4/5 ⭐️ from the previous 3/5 ⭐️ simply because it’s been a month since finishing and I am STILL thinking of this book often! That doesn’t happen usually.
I was going to give a bit of a lower rating until the last one hundred-ish pages when it got super intense! That upped the score for me. Some parts of the book had me feeling confused/seemed weird which is why I didn’t rate it higher but other parts were fascinating! It makes me want to reread it again at some point, knowing what I know now, though I still have some questions at the end! I really enjoyed that the book intertwined with Bram Stoker/Dracula/Jack the Ripper/etc. It adds to the fun of it all!
I was going to give a bit of a lower rating until the last one hundred-ish pages when it got super intense! That upped the score for me. Some parts of the book had me feeling confused/seemed weird which is why I didn’t rate it higher but other parts were fascinating! It makes me want to reread it again at some point, knowing what I know now, though I still have some questions at the end! I really enjoyed that the book intertwined with Bram Stoker/Dracula/Jack the Ripper/etc. It adds to the fun of it all!
September 29, 2014
When I first read this, I was really impressed - so much so that I tracked down a lot of the author's other novels. Strangely enough, when I started reading it for the second time, I could barely remember anything about the story! Maybe I was being mesmerised by an ancient vampire goodness? Or maybe the book wasn't as good as my first impressions!
I loved the first part - the journey through the Indian jungle, the worship of Kali in the ruined city, the 'jolly hockey sticks' attitude of the officers. But then it kind of looses focus. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the story - the introduction of Bram Stoker, the menace of Lilah, the mysterious science behind the vampire's 'curse'. But the nature of writing in letters and diary entries, is that the story then becomes a bit disjointed. Still good, but just as you got into the action, another missive from a different character pops up. I also didn't get Eliot's attitude and the way he seems to ignore his experience in India, while occasionally musing on it, and not recognising what is happening around him...almost as if the author were reminding the reader, rather than our heroes sorting through their problems!
But there was a lot to like to. The whole discussions on the nature of Byron's blood and how the vampire's condition was caused was great. I liked the echoes of the DNA structure in the double helix staircases in Lilah's lair too. The identity of Lucy's tormenter is a nice twist and is the discoveries at Whitby. So in all, an enjoyable read. Maybe after liking 'Lord of the Dead' so much, this one just made me overly picky!
I loved the first part - the journey through the Indian jungle, the worship of Kali in the ruined city, the 'jolly hockey sticks' attitude of the officers. But then it kind of looses focus. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the story - the introduction of Bram Stoker, the menace of Lilah, the mysterious science behind the vampire's 'curse'. But the nature of writing in letters and diary entries, is that the story then becomes a bit disjointed. Still good, but just as you got into the action, another missive from a different character pops up. I also didn't get Eliot's attitude and the way he seems to ignore his experience in India, while occasionally musing on it, and not recognising what is happening around him...almost as if the author were reminding the reader, rather than our heroes sorting through their problems!
But there was a lot to like to. The whole discussions on the nature of Byron's blood and how the vampire's condition was caused was great. I liked the echoes of the DNA structure in the double helix staircases in Lilah's lair too. The identity of Lucy's tormenter is a nice twist and is the discoveries at Whitby. So in all, an enjoyable read. Maybe after liking 'Lord of the Dead' so much, this one just made me overly picky!
December 5, 2014
Slave of My Thirst is an engaging trip through a number of narrative styles, from an hilariously oafish British colonial officer, to Bram Stoker's journal, to the diary of the Sherlock Holmes-like hero, Jack Eliot, and beyond. Each voice is distinctive, advancing the plot from its own point of view, making for an interesting journey from the remote mountain passes of India to the slums of London, from the vampiric worshippers of the goddess Kali, to the prostitutes and opium addicts of Whitechapel. Although overall I would say this is a "ripping good yarn," it transforms itself over the course of its varied narratives from a 19th century adventure story into something else, quite rich and strange.
Jack Eliot, accompanied by Bram Stoker, tries to rescue one of Jack's old friends, and also to protect a young actress of Stoker's acquaintance from a web of intrigue which boggles the rational, Victorian minds of the two men. Holland has written passages of almost hypnotic sensuality (which were also interesting in his other vampire novel, Lord of the Dead), interspersed with a claustrophobic sense of being trapped in a life not of one's choosing, and with deliciously amorale characters. Slave of My Thirst seduces with a plot which masquerades as a linear adventure story, then broadens out into nearly hallucinogenic fantasy, and ultimately returns to being a thriller. Dr. Jack Eliot and friends may start off as fearless vampire killers, but they end up being transformed by their experiences—sometimes quite literally.
Jack Eliot, accompanied by Bram Stoker, tries to rescue one of Jack's old friends, and also to protect a young actress of Stoker's acquaintance from a web of intrigue which boggles the rational, Victorian minds of the two men. Holland has written passages of almost hypnotic sensuality (which were also interesting in his other vampire novel, Lord of the Dead), interspersed with a claustrophobic sense of being trapped in a life not of one's choosing, and with deliciously amorale characters. Slave of My Thirst seduces with a plot which masquerades as a linear adventure story, then broadens out into nearly hallucinogenic fantasy, and ultimately returns to being a thriller. Dr. Jack Eliot and friends may start off as fearless vampire killers, but they end up being transformed by their experiences—sometimes quite literally.
October 9, 2013
A sensationalistic title and cheesy book jacket nearly made me pass this excellent novel by. I'm so glad I ignored my instincts and read it though, because Tom Holland has created here a true gothic masterpiece. The vampire myth is so overused, it's amazing to think anyone could freshen it up, but Holland does it by weaving Indian legends and characters familiar to vampire aficionados into one impressively complex story. Slave of My Thirst held my in its blood-soaked talons from start to finish and actually surprised me with a cleverly designed end that though shocking at first, in retrospect, shows itself to have been building all along and to be almost inevitable. SO good. I must read his other vampire book, Lord of the Dead.
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