A Taint in the Blood: A Novel of the Shadowspawn

Myself, vampires or werewolves, let alone zombies, oh my!, do not resonate in the silent, "gee, wow" way that makes sf or fantasy work - think the best Twilight Zone episodes.

Steve Stirling has a gift for identifying with seriously evil villains, then making them characters that scare you to nightmares without losing that strand of understood, shared humanity (there but for grace go I).

I don't know any Twilight fans well enough to ask if Steve hits their chords, but his sorta vampire, with remarkably strong history and even a quantum/probabilistic explanation of magic, works. By volume 2, his "I loved a vampire" ladies made so much sense I was admiring their resilience, common sense and courage in a seriously weird predicament.

And he makes you smell the desert at night, and taste hand made ice cream in Paris. As I just hinted, by volume 2 the characters, their predicament and their world are all as familiar as your favorite hiking boots, enabling rather than encumbering a rollicking fine story.

If you already know and love his work, the Shadow Spawn books will stretch familiar pleasures. If not, this book could be the beginning of a friendship in books.

The latest Kate Shugak mystery begins on a humorous note, as an overzealous Kate, eager to repay her friends for favors performed in 2003's A Grave Denied, becomes an annoyance to everyone she knows. Thus, her friends breathe a sigh of relief when she becomes preoccupied with a new client, Charlotte Bannister Muravieff. A member of a wealthy Alaskan family, Muravieff wants Kate to gather evidence to help clear her mother, Victoria, who was imprisoned for the murder of her son William some thirty years prior. Unable to turn down the large fee the woman offers, Kate begins her investigation of what she quickly realizes is no ordinary cold case.

Fourteen installments in, Stabenow's Kate Shugak series remains fresh and engaging. Shugak is an impressive leading lady, an aggressive, capable, tough as nails heroine who somehow also manages to endear herself to most everyone she encounters. Stabenow has also created an impressive supporting cast for Kate to interact with, from her sage uncle Old Sam, to her lovable dog Mutt, to her romantic conquest, the increasingly enamored lawman Jim Chopin. All bring out different sides of Stabenow's multifaceted protagonist, as well as providing frequent comic relief.

It's a winning mix, one that's only enhanced by the intriguing mysteries Stabenow has concocted for Kate over the years. If you haven't experienced the charms of this series as yet, A Taint in the Blood is as good a place as any to start.

Over three decades ago in Alaska, wealthy Victoria Pilz Bannister Muravieff was convicted of murdering her oldest son William by setting a fire to their home; her other son Oliver escaped by jumping out a window. At the time of her conviction Victoria insisted she was innocent, but once in jail accepted her lot stoically.

Now Victoria is dying from uterine cancer and her daughter Charlotte, who believes her mom is innocent, wants her to come home. Her only hope is to learn what happened on that fatal day. No Anchorage based sleuth will touch the case so she travels to the wilderness to persuade Kate Shugak to find out who set the fire. Kate accepts the job because the fee is too great to refuse. Talking about refusal, Victoria wants no part of the investigation refusing to assist Kate. As the sleuth continues to dig up information, someone else wants Victoria left behind bars until she dies and that person will kill to keep what happened secret thirty-one years ago.

Shugak's fourteenth Alaska mystery is an enjoyable tale as every new piece of evidence that Kate finds confirms the conviction and the key "witness" will not help her own cause. The story line also contains a romantic subplot, but that detours the reader away from the prime did she really do it. When Kate stays within the course of her investigation, the audience receives a powerful tale of family secrets to include murder and blackmail and a look back at Anchorage that makes the love subplot pale. Fans of the series will appreciate this solid sleuthing tale.

Harriet Klausner

One of the best reasons to read current mysteries is Dana Stabenow, a wonderfully talented and entertaining author who brings to each book fascinating stories, offers an enthusiasm for her home in Alaska, has created captivating characters, and still knows how to make familiar folks seem interesting. I've watched Kate Shugak deal with people, with crisis, with love and with tragedy throughout this series.

In this story, the 14th in this never-disappointing series, things are going well for Shugak --- perhaps too well. She's so grateful that folks in the Park built her a new home (after hers burned down) that people are starting to avoid her, just to get away from her helpfulness. She's being way too helpful and cheerful, and it's awful. A change of scene is due, and when Charlotte Muravieff, a woman from a powerful family, comes and says, "My mother is dying, I want her out of prison," Shugak takes on the case --- a bit reluctantly, of course, because what exactly can one learn from a 30-year-old murder conviction?

Kate is facing a number of problems. The mother never once proclaimed her innocence in the horrific crime of which she was ultimately convicted: that of setting fire to the family home and killing one of her sons (the other was injured but survived). Victoria has no interest in cooperating with Kate's investigation; many other players, including powerful politicians, seem to have a remarkable interest in Kate's work here.

State trooper Jim Chopin, a Park legend and resident hunk whom we've watched over the years, is around to help Kate in Anchorage --- and he is determined not to be in love with her. He has known her for years and lusted after her, but has never told a woman "I love you," especially a monogamous, determined one like Kate. Hah. Good luck.

I admit to feeling slightly uncomfortable at times watching Kate being coy and flirtatious. She also seems a little too perfect at times; she's a wise and smart woman, so I don't expect her to make big mistakes. But perhaps she's a tad too sure of herself. I also admit that I wondered very early on who Victoria was covering for; that's not a giveaway of the plot --- most of us would wonder --- but it's another sign that maybe I read too many mystery novels.

I also miss Johnny Morgan in this tale. Understandably, as it takes place in Anchorage rather than at Kate's home in the Park, he can't be around, but he's a cool kid and at times helps explain things in his clear, adolescent "seen it all" way. Here's a young man whose mother hates him and whose father, Kate's lover, is dead; his insights into people are refreshing because there's little sentiment about him (something I think he learned from Kate).

But nothing, certainly not these minor carps, takes away from the major strengths of A TAINT IN THE BLOOD, told by one of mystery fiction's most talented and creative storytellers.

--- Reviewed by Andi Shechter ([email protected])

Urban fantasy seems to be romance novels with a supernatural bent. Dark brooding heroes with dark secrets (descendents of Mr. Rochester) who turn out to be vampires, werewolves, or something similar. Bad guy (or girl) vampires, werewolves, whatever. Often a lot of kinky sex and sadomasochism.
If anyone can do anything interesting with this type of thing, it should be Stirling. Quite imaginative, a competent writer, and as shown by books like The Peshawar Lancers and the 2 Lords of Creation books, he is really good at tackling established subgenres and taking them beyond pastiche.
A Taint in the Blood takes the basic urban fantasy elements and does fairly well in terms of developing a creditable alternative world populated by vampire-like beings and using the conventional plot elements somewhat creatively. There are the usual Stirling bits of humor, in this case the idea that human ideas of religion are inspired by the existence of a psychically powerful human subspecies, that the gruesome history of the 20th century is the result of the world being controlled by this subspecies, and that individuals like Hitler and Stalin have some genetic inheritance from this subspecies.
Unfortunately, this book is somewhat repetitive, particularly with respect to sadomasochistic-kinky sex scenes, and contains a fair bit of recycling from one of Stirling's earlier Draka books. Perhaps the sequel will be better.

I do not typically read vampire novels, but being a fan of Stirling's other work I decided to give this book a read. I was not disappointed at all! His 'vampires' are not the same old tired cliche, and they're certainly not the pretty boy vampires of Twilight.
No, these are deliciously EVIL, perverted, beings who have plausible motivations and reasons to do what they do, in addition to the expected blood drinking and sex ;) The supernatural elements are imaginative, and internally consistent enough to make it feel plausible given the context.
The characterizations and plot are typical Stirling, which is to say they are great. I particularly enjoyed the pacing, this book grabs you and never lets go, each chapter pulling you right along in a smooth, relentless, torrent. It grabbed me and captured my imagination from start to finish.

Would recommend to any fan of Stirling's, and to vampire and horror fans who may not be familiar with Stirling's science fiction material. This is a 21st century dark urban fantasy/horror/vampire novel that stands on its own as a great read. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

The spectacle of gruff Kate turning her guilt ridden gratitude into helping others who don't want her help is one of the funniest scenes Dana Stabenow has ever written in the Kate Shugak series. But soon to the heart felt relief of her friends and family Kate has a new client to occupy her time.
Victoria Muravieff was convicted of murdering her son, but her daughter Charlotte has spent the last thirty years trying to find the true answer. An answer another is willing to kill to protect.
A TAINT IN THE BLOOD is an excellent addition to this fascinating Alaskan murder series.
Nash Black, author of Indie award finalists WRITING AS A SMALL BUSINESS and HAINTS. Both titles are available in Kindle editions.

A delicious homage to Jack Williamson's DARKER THAN YOU THINK, the original "unified field theory of evil" naturally evolved monster novel. (Williamson is even mentioned in the dialogue, although not by name.) Stirling updates the concept with references to DNA and quantum mechanics. I just wish the book had included an afterword, as most of Stirling's alternate histories do, delving into the evolution, history, and powers of the Shadowspawn at greater depth and length. It's fun to spot the pop culture allusions, of which "lucies" and "renfields" are only the most obvious. The dialogue, as one would expect from Stirling, is witty and fun to read. Yes, Ellen's masochism (in the ritualistic S&M sense, not the pathological sense) rather squicked me, but otherwise I loved every minute of this book. As a lifelong vampire fan, I was delighted to see one of my favorite authors take on the theme. Porn? The sex is not at ALL explicit by contemporary standards. And almost all the torture is suggested, not portrayed "onstage."

After reading much of Stirling's other works, i was looking forward on his take on the supernatural. I'lll give him credit for pushing the envelope instead of re-hashing the same kind of work, but in doing so, an author risks the work falling flat. And it did in this case. The sadistic sexual torture is repeated over and over, shunning horror in favor of voyeurism. Even the so-called victims seem blase about their captivity and abuse after some time. His explanation of the addiction to the bites falls short.

The Shadowspawn themselves, while an intriguing invention on the part of Stirling - not quite vampire, werewolf, shapeshifter, wizard but a combination of them - are more annoying then frightening. They would be better suited to play a villian in the older James Bond movies - bad guys, but you can't take them very seriously. They are shallow and pretentious and much of Stirling's narrative of their activites runs in the same vein.

I muddled through this book, hoping to see it right itself. Having bought the first 2 books of the series, I even started the second book in hopes it would get better after a rocky opening, but in a rare action for me, I tossed it after a few chapters.

Kate Shugak is looking forward to settling into her newly- rebuilt cabin in the Alaskan wilderness when she is offered a

job in Anchorage. Charlotte Muravieff asks Kate to prove that her mother is in jail on false charges that she killed her son in a fire 30 years ago. Kate somewhat reluctantly takes the case and begins her investigation into the crime. In doing so, she tangles with one of the most influential families in Alaska. Soon, people close to the case begin to die and Kate knows that she is getting close to an answer. Her own life is also put in danger. Two subplots which are woven through the main plot involve her relationship with policeman Jim Chopin (written in a surprisingly heavy-handed fashion) and two young boys who seek refuge with Kate when things get too tough at home. All in all, this book will probably please Stabenow's many fans.

The Shadowspawn were the ancient rulers of the world before Homo Sapiens emerged with masses of numbers to overwhelm and force Homo lupiens into hiding amongst the human sheep. Although cross breeding with the enemy has watered down the species with no known purebreds left, the long term strategic goal of the Shadowspawn is to return to the top of the food chain.

Wealthy Shadowspawn Adrian Breze wants no part of his hybrid species lofty endeavor nor does he want much to do with the humans. At one time he actually fought against the Shadowspawn who rules the Lupiens with an iron claw. Now he prefers to be left alone as he loathes both sides of the civil war. However, his twin sister Adrienne, though she detests her mentally weak brother, demands he use his power to further the cause of the Shadowspawn that she is a key member of. Knowing he will refuse to join her team; near Santa Fe she abducts his only vulnerable object, his human lover Ellen Tarnowski as his sibling knows he would move heaven, hell and earth for the pathetic woman.

This is a terrific urban fantasy that starts with a strong opening scene as readers meet the two females in the lead triangle when Adrienne kidnaps Ellen and takes off from there as S.M Stirling establishes his new realm. Although Adrienne introduces herself as his "evil twin" detracts from her belief that her species even "dumbed down" by intermingling with inferior sapiens blood is superior to the human purebred, fans will enjoy the threesome do their expected deadly tango. Well written and fun to read even with nothing new added to the sub-genre landscape, fans will enjoy the action-packed opening Shadowspawn act.

Harriet Klausner

Harlequin Romance? I have them all over the place. The other half reads them and so do I when out of other books. Hey it's printed right? Kate and Jim isn't even near that genre. From everyone crying and whining about Kate I assumed Stabenow suddenly got hit on the head on the way in from the oil field and took off with some strange writing style. She didn't.

It was well done. It worked in nicely. Put me in mind of a relationship I once had and I can understand why it was there. It worked with the developing relationship of Kate and Jim. It also worked with their personalities. I wouldn't have been expecting them to hold hands over the ice flow and blush at each other. They are too red blooded full of life people for that.

Why not the five star? Because by the end of the book I wanted to knock some of the side characters on the head and dump em into a river never to be found. They were more annoying than anything and not because of plot. They were just annoying.

So if your idea of great sex is holding hands over the ice flow.. yeah you might be shocked. Some of us go for more than that. Now excuse me, I am going to go get in trouble with my other half because of "You have that grin on your face again..." Memories

I've never read much vampire fiction or seen more than the most basic movie/tv offerings, so I don't have a strong base of comparison except my own prejudices. But it's hard to imagine Taint not being at the top of the heap.

The book begins with this smart, strong, gorgeous female lead with power-bottom tendencies, who just happens to be a high-couture foodie and art maven with an intensely practical moral and ethical aesthetic and a killer game of tennis. Not that you get hit over the head with all of this at once -- you discover it piecemeal and delightfully, just the way you get to know a really cool friend. The other three major characters (and a host of minor ones) are also well and seamlessly crafted. They're real . . . even when they're not.

Shining through it all is Stirling's drive to explain the unexplainable. (Like Tolkien's version of the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle.") That is, he makes perfect sense of the nonsense left behind by all the other writers: he makes a world. Not only do we get vampires and werewolves explained, but all the legends and god-stories, modern and ancient history, and an all-too-believable explanation of good and evil. You want grue and horror? It's all in there too. But now it makes sense! The paranormal is now simply normal. The horror is now real.

I won't tell you more because Steve Stirling tells it so much better, and why should I spoil a story that I love? Because this is the first of a planned series, it lays the groundwork for an entire world to come. I'm definitely going there. I've enjoyed all the other world's he's made, not least because they are geographically precise and historically exact, and this one describes much of the San Francisco that I love.

I have given Dana Stabenow's Kate Shugak books five-star reviews until now. A Taint In The Blood contains distracting errors. Chopper Jim is suddenly eight inches shorter. Bar owner Bernie's wife has a different name. All this in the first few pages. Very disappointing.

I stopped reading this about 325 pages into it. When it comes to the point I'm just skipping over stuff, I'm done. Tired of reading about their blood, food, etc. It is one reason I don't really get into vampire books to begin with, just didn't realize this was that type of book.

I just finished reading this novel for the second time and I must say that it is an interesting mix of the exotic and the alien world views. I mostly enjoyed it because of the wonderfully described "rich and famous," settings that the Shadowspawn prefer. Because of their heightened senses, when compared to humans, they prefer the "rich" life of fashian design, luxerious homes and expensive food, in addition to blood, pain and death. This makes the Shadowspawn race an interesting mix of the sophisticated and the disturbing.
There were some things that were disturbing to me about the setting of the novel. One is that, apparently, only the most purbread and evil of shadowspawn survive death while all others ether face oblivion or are Captured in powerful Shadowspawn minds to suffer in Hell forever. And the other disturbing thing is that these vampire-like beings have secretly ruled the world for about the last 100 years and want to solve overpopulation by either EMP attack or plague. The Brotherhood, which is a secret group of vampire hunters, seems powerless to prevent the end of the world. However, these do not detract from my enjoyment of this novel; they just make the stakes that much higher for the protagonist and his kidnapped girlfriend.
The reason why I gave four stars instead of five, is because there is one S and M scene that was a little too graphic for my tastes. And also the kidnapped woman, Ellen, is too powerless and wimpy to be an enteresting character. I got tired of her whining. Hopefully in the sequel, she would have gained more power and self-comfidence. The open ending also has me anxious for the next book in this series to come out.

Kate is one of my favorite characters; she's tough, independent, funny and, with her sights set on Chopper Jim, very sexy. Excellent dialogue, suspense and wonderful secondary characters are a hallmark of this series. Anytime I open one of Stabenow's books, I know I'm going to have a great read, and this certainly was no exception. This is a wonderful book in a great series.

Vaammpiires er. Shadowspawn and their subculture... Vampires and Sex and Sex... Really Exotic Food, More Vampire Sex..Male vs Female Females not liking Vampire Females but falling in love with them anyway.. Throw in New World Order and Global Climate Change and I guess you have a book!
Don't get me wrong, but SM Sterling is on my top five authors, and I wish he would spend his writing time on something else historical and yet with some of the flavors of this book.. I like the Change Series!

Dana Stabenow was suggested to me because I enjoy Nevada Barr (Mysteries in National Parks) and Sue Henry (Alaska Mysteries). This was the second Stabenow book I've read. Her writing style is different but I'm adjusting. I've enjoyed the plots and the pages keep turning, but I can do without the descriptive sex scenes, especially when I am reading in the lunchroom at work. I prefer something similar to Sue Henry's style. One scene comes to mind..... "I noticed you have a new bed." "Oh, you did, did you?" That makes me smile instead of turning beet red in public. But what will keep me coming back for more is the Alaska scenery and history.

Dana Stabenow is one of the handful of authors who has created two great series

This latest addition to her Shugak mysteries lives up to the previous ones. A delightful read full of her usually wild, wacky, and lovable characters and fast moving plot with surprises.

When I found that I disagreed with the penalty for piracy that this author espouses, I quit reading him for some time. Then hearing that he has written a vampire novel, and being in love with SUNSHINE by McKinley, I tried this. There is not one cardboard cut out that is worth caring about. Not one reason for the behavior. even Alice Hong in the change series has some interesting issues and a chance of redemption. and the S&M made sense there.
Bad Book No more purchase for me.

Vampires are hot right now, and some authors who previously didn't even dabble in the vampire genre are hopping on the bandwagon.

And though he doesn't actually use the word "vampire," S.M. Stirling is the latest to bounce on with "A Taint in the Blood," the first book of a new urban fantasy series. It's a series with plenty of promise, but the whole thing eventually crumbles into a very long, rather boring stew of exposition and a rather vague, cliched vampire mythos. Plus, I never could warm up to the whiny anti-hero.

Adrian is a Shadowspawn (aka Homo sapiens nocturnus), part of the bloodsucking subspecies that has quietly ruled the human race since prehistoric times (and is sort of interbred with them now). But he lives a peaceful "human" life, for the most part. Then his evil sister Adrienne appears in town and kidnaps his ex-girlfriend Ellen, and makes her into one of the sex/blood-donating "lucies" who serve her and the other Shadowspawn.

Unsurprisingly Adrian is determined to both rescue Ellen and kill his evil twin, so he sets out with his old buddy/mentor Harvey to find both women. But the Shadowspawn are launching a new scheme to dominate the human race, using a new disease to gain control of the entire human race.

"A Taint in the Blood" is a frustrating book -- it feels like S.M. Stirling had all sorts of awesome vampire concepts that strayed from the norm. Then he just slapped them together with a lot of shopping porn, architecture porn, clothing porn, S&M sex, and a plethora of vampire cliches that have already been done to death (example: Council of Shadows, bucketloads of money and sex/bloodletting).

In fact, Stirling seems rather bored with his own story, since most of the book revolves around Adrian and Harvey trekking.... very... slowly... towards Ellen, and Ellen getting used to life as a lucy. Only a small amount actually involves the Evil Vampire Plot Against Humanity. Stirling also heavily spatters the story with painfully awkward pop culture references (the "I drriiiinnnk yooouurrr miilllkshake!" thing wasn't funny the first time, let alone the second) and horribly cheesy EEEEEVIL dialogue ("It's not food unless it screams in despair when you bite it").

In fact, the best part of the novel is Ellen exploring the world of the lucies -- think a perfect little suburban town filled with pretty houses, children and friendly people. It's incredibly chilling, and Stirling is at his best when he explores how a subsociety revolving around vampires would work.

Adrian is pretty much a standard wangsty vampire -- he hates what he is, drinks "dead" blood from bags, and whines a lot about Oh The Woe Of Being A Hot Immortal With Immense Quantities of Money. And the female characters are a pretty lousy bunch. They tend to be passive trembling damsels, creepy half-crazy "lucies," or depraved lesbian rapist/murderers who apparently want to have incesty sex with their twin brothers. Or kill them. Whatever.

It has some brilliant ideas at the core, but "A Taint in the Blood" just ends up meandering into an aimless stew of cliches -- most notably the angsty vampire-who-hates-himself.

Where to begin? Take the Draka from Stirling's earlier books, add fangs, throw in some porn and stir. One instant vampire book. Then there is the Kindle price vs hardback, so this one is double trouble.
Even at 6 bucks plus for the hardback I can't suggest this one. What a shame Stirling couldn't have spent his time writing another Peshwar Lancer book instead.

I believe that Stirling is just about the best living writer of speculative fiction working, but I'm personally sick to the point of regurgitation of the current fascination with sexy supernatural wackiness. Stirling, here, seems to just be feeding at the same hog trough, though, as usual, the writing is great.

Mr. Stiriling, please get back to the Change series, or, better yet, compose some sequels to the excellent Mars and Venus tribute books.

This was just an awful story. I came in expecting the magic I found in Dies Irae and instead found a weak plot that starts in the middle and goes nowhere fast! It seems Stirling read some LK Hamilton and S. Kenyon and tried his hand at that genre, but to no avail...

Kate Shugak has gone from the tough as nails woman we liked and admired to an urban tease. Her blatant admission of trying to drive Joe crazy with her sexual prowess is sluttish. That is not the Kate we knew and respected. She is now interchangable with dozens of other female main characters. Very disappointed.

One of her best yet with a different sizzle. Dana's dedication of the book to Janice Weiss was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful and dedicated human being. A message to other readers; the other are just as great. Buy them all and read them at once...

R. C. Fisher

Rajun Cajun

I love this author. I have enjoyed every other book except this one. I don't know what exactly was the issue but it just didn't pull me in. It took forever for the final confrontation and then it was over. It just didn't seem like the whole story was set up well.

Soft porn, vampires, wealth beyond all reason and characters that are barely two dimensional. Anne Rice did it so much better 20 years ago. I like Stirling's change novels as well as the Emberverse series. But this just left me cold. I didn't care if our protagonists succeeded or not. I hate to suggest it, but it seems like the author just jumped on the Twilight bandwagon. Twilight was a bore. This is worse.

The title is very misleading. After spending several hours pouring over this book I realized by the 8th page or so that this book doesn't discuss the dangers poor taint maintenance at all! It was Very disappointing... She didn't even mention a taint in the graphic sex scenes either. It would have been nice to see a "She fondled his taint with the vigor of a lumberjack." thrown in there. Now as for the omission of the dangers of taint maintenace I do have a solution. I am going to start giving motivational/awareness speeches across the country giving an instructional discourse on proper taint maintenance. Keep a lookout at your local schools, businesses and town halls for more details.

Thanks,