Stalking Tender Prey

Grigori: 1

ISBN: 096583454-9 Order from: Amazon.com

Atmospheric, gothic novel documenting beginning of a series, full of ambiguous sex and ancient forces.

Reviewed by David on September 27, 1998

Genre: Fantasy (Occult, Conspiracy Theory)

Synopsis: A mysterious, tall and magnetically attractive stranger comes to an English village. His strange actions affect many in the village, recalling some half-forgotten traditions of the long departed masters.

Meanwhile, a hidden society of ancient, human-like magicians is hunting down a renegade whose periodic attempts to invoke ancient power climax in orgiastic rituals that leave deaths in his wake, endangering the secrecy of the race.

Full Review: First of all, I must admit I am not a fan of the "New Orleans Gothic" style of fantasy, frequently used by authors such as Anne Rice and Poppy Z. Brite. Characterized by an atmosphere of lush decay, and mixing up the ever-fascinating forces of sex, pain and death, this style is not particularly attractive due to its emphasis on atmosphere over plot or sympathetic characters. Its tone of inevitable decadence is also at odds with my generally romantic (in the classical meaning of the term) preferences in fantasy.

Having said that, Stalking Tender Prey features prose considerably more spare and plots more streamlined than many other members of the sub-genre. Therefore, I was modestly pleased with the book.

This novel begins a series about Grigori, a hidden race descended from hybrid matings of angels with mortals, almost ten thousand years ago in the country of Eden, somewhere in Mesopotamia.

The distorted legends of these times, especially that of the Prometheus-like Shemyaza, affect much of our ancient myths. Shemyaza was cruelly punished for giving the ancient secrets of magic and technology to the primitive humans. His soul was imprisoned in a magical trap somewhere in the heavens, doomed to remain in torment, when the angels have departed from Earth. Meanwhile, the long-lived hybrid descendents have secretly influenced much of human developments, and assumed the role of Watchers, or Grigori.

The remote village of Little Moor in England seems the perfect sample of its kind. However, the memories of odd rituals, along with the haunted ruins of the departed noble family, seem to wait for a right stimulus. When a tall stranger, Peverel Othman, mysteriously attractive to both sexes, comes to the village, the old memories start to wake. Lily and Owen, the orphan twins growing up in the village get deeper and deeper involved in the ancient mysteries hidden in Little Moor, and some that are hidden in Peverel.

Meanwhile, another plot-line shows a young Grigori woman, bitterly recounting her painful affair with the mysterious and deadly Peverel, who seems driven by his own ancient memories, twisted and hidden by agony and time.

The plot lines are interspersed by occasional dreams that hint of reincarnation, mystical portals, and ancient history of the fall of Eden.

The book is the first of a trilogy. While all three books have been published in the UK, only the first one is currently available in the US. The edition also includes a foreword, explaining the origins of the Grigori myths, and giving a bibliography. It also includes an appendix, introducing Constantine and summarizing her works.

While interesting, the novel's concentration on style diminishes the interest in characters and plot. The motivations of sex and inchoate longing lack the true clarity of passion. Only the human "dependents'" desire for youth comes across strongly and unambiguously.

In addition, the mystical, occult underpinnings of magic are somewhat too fuzzy. For instance, the multiple prophetic visions, the mysterious parallels between the ancient actors in a tragedy and the characters in the novel, are left annoyingly vague. This is unfortunate since it leaves major motivations unclear.

On the whole, this novel is not to my taste; others may be more charmed by Constantine's literate, atmospheric writing.

Overall: 5.5; Plot: 5; Characters: 5; Style: 6; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;

ISBN: 096583454-9 Order from: Amazon.com