Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley.
Thank god for Open Road Media. Truly and completely.
Years ago, I picked up this book when it was being re-issued via a small independent press. The edition was so badly edited and produced that any reader knew it was the publisher and not the writer. I couldn’t finish it.
Thankfully, Open Road Media has re-issued the Godforsaken as an e-book.
Thankfully, they did a professional edit.
Thankfully, we can now read Yarbro’s tale of a Spanish prince who is werewolf.
I love Open Road Media. I will never get tired of saying that. We need more publishers like them.
Is the book Yarbro’s best work? No. It’s an interesting book though because the prince, Don Rolan, is not designed to gain the reader’s sympathy or at the very least to keep it. It is the supporting characters that earn the reader’s sympathy and provide reason to keep reading. The jester, the ambassador, even the bitchy love and the slightly mad queen come alive in a way that Rolan does not.
The book itself will appeal highly to those who enjoy Showtime’s Penny Dreadful series, and in many ways, Yarbro captures the horror of the Inquisition as well as the feeling of a Victorian dreadful. It is historical fantasy, though the Spanish royal family here is based on that of Philip as opposed to Philip himself. The time and place are drawn with the skill that one knows Yarbro possesses. The last 100 pages are ones that a reader will want to read in one sitting.
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