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Adam
Script for those who like to read or for the hearing impaired.
G’day and welcome back, epics. It’s Adam the host of Mostly Epic Fantasy.
An old mate of mine from primary school was a complete. Loose. Unit. He was intelligent, chaotic and savage. He was often in trouble because he wasn’t shy when it came to face-punching. In his defence however, he was usually defending himself when the face-punching began. However, his mouthy nature meant that defending himself was a position he found himself in more often than not. His name was Chris, and he was, at the time, a young and troubled bloke who had the feathers touch of a virtuous soul.
His convoluted morality, or justifications, seemed to be quite charismatic; it was a balance between pointing out the lies of others and backing them up a fistful of pain. He was courageous. I was a peacemaker and a class clown and would joke about anything and anyone. The truth in me was hidden behind jokes and wordplay. I would often find myself in situations which required me to either fight, or to talk my way out of it. Talking my way out of it generally meant more jokes and more laughter, as the seriousness of the situation grew. However, sometimes words would stop. As much as I tried to keep the peace, the fight would take over and when that happened, Chris had my back. I was his mate and he was as loyal as a bulldog. I was also one of the only people who could have a crack at Chris and get away with it. He would punch and cork me in the arm, which sucked, but I could do the same to him without the fear of it escalating.
Looking back, there was something about that time. It was pure chaos, it was fun and it was scary and exciting to be around this unit of a kid. One of the many things I took away from this time is a stronger backbone. I still had a people pleasing aspect to me but he gave me permission to not care and to fight back for it’s own sake.
Ultimately however, he's want for control of the unknown through beating people up got him expelled from school. After he found out, he wanted to stay, he wanted so many more second chances to change. But he couldn’t change the fight that was in him. It was so part of his being that changing would mean he would be vulnerable, which wouldn’t of happened. Chris was wrapped up in the injustice of it all. I mean, he was just defending himself, and he was, but still, the face-punching was too much for the school. Too many kids cried. The conversation I had with him after he found out he got expelled was bittersweet. He wanted to remain and be friends. To me it feel like I was his first real friend, but he was moving, again, and it was an hour and a half away to travel to his new house. It wouldn’t work. I remember promising that I would try but I didn’t mean it. Looking back at this, I think we both knew it wouldn’t work but we still wanted it to. I was getting swept away in my own shock and grief while trying to help him through his pain. It was so upsetting and hard to do. This was the building blocks of my dislike for school, it didn’t cater for broken boys.
On reflection, it was sad. I had lost a mate, a protector and someone who saw life how I saw it at the time. I think it also dawned on me, I now had to defend myself and I was alone.
So let’s change course here for a second and dive into something else.
Anne Rice's initial trilogy of vampire novels was my gateway into the captivating, dark and sorta sensual realm of these creatures. Her vivid storytelling and rich character development in these books captivated my imagination, drawing me deep into vampire lore. At the time, for me it wasn't my usual choice to read something like Interview with the Vampire. I was a normal type young bloke with a girlfriend who was brought up in harsh life of rough neighbourhoods. Even reading was a bit of stretch for my pre-destined archetype. Anne Rice's books developed different types of themes such as: complex kinships, pleasure from violence, folklore level narcissism and an almost need to see everything through the lens of sensuality. Hmmm. Maybe another way to put is, it’s a self-pleasure orientated bunch of books.
I guess to wrap this in a blood-coloured bow; it was weird, dark, mysterious, religious and interesting enough to keep me reading. It opened my mind to the fact that I could enjoy a vampire book that detailed a way of life I had never really crossed my path. Like what is this sensual stuff, and what is this being in the moment for its own sake? Weird. These books left a definite mark on me and I loved them. From this point onwards I was open to reading vampire books.
Now you all are thinking this is an episode for Anne Rice’s books and it isn’t!
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff is a rollercoaster of action that’s on par with Matthew Riley. The non-stop pull between ultra-violence, fear, sex, lore and self-centeredness is unholy and utterly engaging. The world has this deep, wanton, insatiable hunger. It wants to devour your hopes and crush your spirit with its unrelenting inhumanity. The beginning of this book sidesteps your sense of a peaceful beginning, and it rattles your morality about what is good and right in the world. It sets the tone that you’re about to go through life’s depravities whether you like them or not.
With an intro like that, you may ask why I kept reading. That’s a good question. The pull of it, I guess, is the promise of deep religious lore, nuanced good and evil, and breakneck action. There’s also a journey to atone for sins and a rich world. There’s a breadth and depth that you can bury yourself in, so to speak.
The main character, Gabriel De Leon, is severely broken; he’s intelligent, chaotic and savage. Like Chris, he chose the path of violence to solve his problems. They were both expelled for different reasons, but the parallels around injustice strike true for me; as I read this book, I would often shake my head, and my eyes would defocus as I went back to those memories. Both couldn’t be vulnerable because the world around them would’ve eaten them alive. It’s a shared tragic story of doing things they shouldn’t have.
The world of Empire of the Vampire is intricately detailed, with timelines running back and forth throughout the book. The sub-characters have backstories and motives that you can connect with. They fit and they’re compelling. The main religion has ties back to Christianity but is bent to the purposes of the book and yet it still remains interesting. The tragedy of corruption is so built into the structure of the world it leaves you with disgust at the depravities of it all. It’s hard to be vulnerable and read this book, it really does strike you at your core.
Love and loss push and pull you between the characters as your hopes rise and and then are dashed. Gabriels relationship has both love and loss. It is so broken and hopeless that your brain becomes twisted trying to hope for him while simultaneously feeling the bittersweet loss of his situation.
His broken spirit is justified and you’re brought along the painful journey with him. Gabriel is an ass and annoying but you feel for him. You do hope it works out.
At this point, I feel like I’ve been overly visual and emotive, so for my own sanity, I’m going to try and switch up the rest of the episode.
The degenerates, or let's call them vampires, are broken up into different branches and have their own special abilities. This is on top of being generally stronger and faster than your normal humans, which are used like pigs in this book. The tropes of other vampire books are also relevant here: sunshine hurts vampires, they’re narcissistic in nature, you know, blood this and blood that. Different societies and folklore have sprung up around vampires and it’s all so interesting. A meme comes to mind and I love it, it’s a person in an army style mask that is used for gas leaks or bombs and he’s riding through a demolished country side on a car with guns pointing outward. The caption is Hey friend, listen. I know the world is scary right now but… then the bottom half of the meme is a close up of the mask and it then follows on, Its gonna get way worse. This meme represents this book and I love it. I also imagine that talking to a vampire would be similar to talking to one of those blokes who seem good, but you always leave thinking bad about yourself and feel like you’ve done something wrong when you haven’t; it’s weird.
There are some points along the way where I felt disjointed in the story, like stuff was either moved around and it didn’t flow or that the author was trying to jam in more high impact writing to keep the reader going. Like the author felt a particular part was going to lose the reader and he needed to ramp it up. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it though. It wasn’t a deal breaker but it did throw me out of the story a couple of times.
So to close this out:
I have often wondered what Chris’ life was like after we departed and looking into this world and how Gabriels worldview turns out gives me pause. This worldview doesn’t end up in a happy place. It’s a constant reinforcement of protection and vulnerability is non-existant. Look I know this is a stretch as they’re completely different worlds but if I match up the personalities then all I can say is I’m worried about my old mate and hope that he has found a bit of peace and happiness in his world.
I stuck with being a peacemaker. I have always had a way with high stress situations and being able to talk my way out. I understand fighting is often a release of energy for some and offers a quick closure but I have always preferred peoples hands giving me a high five to my outstretched hands, instead of a high five to my face.
This book was not only a fantastic and an engaging read but it reminded me of a old mate along the way.
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