Slave of My Thirst

This was a great book !! The first chapter or so was slightly boring but it picked up and after that I just couldnt put the book down. Tom his so expressive and detailed in his writtings that it just makes his readers want more. My favorite book of his is LORD OF THE DEAD!!!

This is one of my all time favorite books. Holland's mastery of the english language and ability to paint such a vivid picture of the 'underworld' and realm of the undead is unparalleled, in my opinion. The book commences in India and deals with the rituals that take place in a remote area that villagers deem to be cursed. It then migrates into the streets of England and into the lives of several vampires, gods, and immortals. Check it out!

I read this book in the British version, with alternate title _Supping With Panthers_. It isn't exactly the most inspired of plots and the characters are pretty derivative (as others have noted)--John Eliot, the protagonist, is a pretty-thinly disguised version of Sherlock Holmes, for example. But there is something undeniably gripping about this story. I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly that Holland has brought to the table, only that I found myself unable to stop reading. Maybe it's the epistolary structure (the novel is told through letters, diaries, and journal entries), each fragment given a suitably unique voice as it pushes the story forward. Perhaps the strongest part of the book are the early scenes in India, as a group of "stiff upper lip" British soldiers are sent to a mysterious region on the frontier and find themselves face to face with Russian zombie/vampires. Holland's attempt to bring real-life characters (Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker) into the story to mingle with his fictional creations has been done better elsewhere (notably, Tim Powers' _The Stress of Her Regard_), but the whole package, ultimately, shapes up as something pretty memorable. Recommended!

*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.

This was a novel which touched many points of the adventurous spectrum, traveling from India to England. But, underneath all of the main plot, there is a sub plot which is superb. The fact that Holland was able to work in Lillith as a character is astounding. Lillith has a house which all are subject to a metamophasis. You had to have read the Lord Of The Dead to understand the Lord Ruthven lines and Holland's "rules" on vamparism. The part in India is pretty boring and simple, but necessary. The instance where Stoker and Elliot go into the Opium den was cool, not many other vampire writers touch on that. The ending is so completely great. I loved it...I've never read a book with a more complex and intrical ending. I give this book two thumbs up anyone's rear who says that the ending was bad. This book is definetely for the Elizebethan reader. READ IT TODAY!!!