Twelve
(The Danilov Quintet 1)
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
On 12th June 1812, Napoleon's Grande Armee forded the River Niemen and crossed the Rubicon - its invasion of Russia had begun. Charged with delaying the enemy's inexorable march on Moscow, a group of Russian officers summon the help of the oprichniki, a band of mercenaries from the outermost fringes of Christian Europe.
As rumours of a plague travelling west from the Black Sea reach the Russians, the Oprichniki - twelve in number - arrive. Preferring to work alone, and at night, they prove brutally, shockingly effective against the French. But one amongst the Russians, Captain Aleksei Ivanovich Danilov, is unnerved by the mercenaries' ruthlessness...and as he comes to understand the true, horrific nature of these strangers, he wonders at the nightmare they've unleashed in their midst...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kent's sprawling historical horror debut, the first of a quintet, brings blood-gushing brutality back to vampire fiction. As Napoleon's army nears Moscow in 1812, four Russian spies meet with a dozen uncanny marauders who agree to harass the French. By the time Aleksei realizes that the fiends are literally bloodthirsty, the 12 have begun feeding on Russian civilians. Aleksei instinctively despises the vampires, while his friend Dmitry insists they can be useful allies, and his mistress is tempted by endless youth. Aleksei's sometimes plodding self-examination doesn't impede densely detailed, hard-driving action as winter and the vampires drive the invaders from the ravaged city. The novel's earnest conviction saves it from being mere ghastly melodrama, and the vampires are genuinely scary villains, more vivid than most of the living characters. With no romantic yearning or teen angst in sight, this is just a bloody good tale.
