“Animal lust for blood” or the Black Swan review by M. Księżyk

I judge a book by its cover

I write this part immediately after picking up the book, without reading the actual content. I find it great that we have sites like Pexels from which you can download different images to use to make interesting covers. The first impression is pretty good – the photo of the scared eye and feathers suggests a thriller, maybe with a twist of some fantasy. Fortunately, there aren’t any weird flattering reviews on the front cover. I believe that you should not put any subtitles there, except for the title, author and publisher. And an interesting graphic design that should attract the attention of readers.

The back side has a lot of text. The description on the last page of the cover indicates that the author is writing under a pseudonym, which in turn suggests that she probably will not try a career abroad, but maybe I am wrong.

Laura and Modus, the names of the heroes

I don’t want to characterize the characters here – nothing in a school essay – but I like to look deeper into the author’s intentions. That is why I am now focusing on some of the names appearing in this work.

Laura is a name that many writers willingly give their heroines. Maybe because it’s nice, short, and sounds good in many languages. In Poland, it probably started with such works as Laura and Filon , then there were e.g. Early spring , and recently – 365 days . I have read two of them, and now I have carefully considered the daring debut by Małgorzata Księżyk. In the book Black Swans , the main character, as you can guess, is also Laura. Let us hope, however, that the author chose it because of its meaning, because it signifies a person who has been recognized with a symbol of victory, i.e. a laureate.

Fortunately, another major character, Modus, has a less played name. This particular title was certainly chosen on purpose. Modus operandi means, according to Wikipedia , “a characteristic and usually repetitive way of behaving in an offense”. No wonder, he’s a bloodthirsty vampire who doesn’t care about the feelings of people he sucks blood from. In turn, the supporting role Azazello is a character taken directly from “The Master and Margarita”, a red-haired henchman of the devil.

History

There was an average girl. At first glance, it seemed like the others, but of course it was not. Well, Laura had strange dreams. And in those dreams there was a man who spoke Latin. He seemed to haunt her, but also attract her. He was disturbingly handsome, otherwise it couldn’t be. Strange things start to happen around Laura. At some point, the action moves back in time. It turns out that some women have had the same experience as Laura in the past. It is not known exactly what it is about, but it seems to be a rough scandal … The aforementioned man appears to the girl, what’s more – he is brutal, but it probably makes him more attractive. In any case, the heroine does not protest … But this is just an introduction to a history that has been dragging on for thousands of years …

I was wondering where the title came from? In addition to its obvious meaning, “black swan” is also an unexpected event that has serious consequences. However, the author came up with her own definition of this expression.

My opinion

I believe this book would benefit from expanding it, better defining the background, introducing more side characters or giving depth to those already presented. This is best done not by just telling about them, but by showing their actions, how they react to certain things. However, then there would probably be at least two volumes.

Besides, I like when there are no logical holes in the book. For example, if “piles” of people die, how come nobody is interested? After all, there is no way to hide something like this, even if the perpetrators move. However, I admit that, after several dozen pages, I was hooked by the story. I began to wonder what the author would come up with, so that it would not be another book about a vampire and his human chosen one, whom she loves – nomen omen – more than life? Where will this story go, too, I thought. And I was surprised – we have a suggestive description of hell and a woman famous for her beauty from ancient times. Ah, and one of the most famous saints, but I don’t want to reveal too much. I admit, I did not expect these characters.

I am probably not in the target group that loves such books. However, I appreciate the effort to create an interesting story, descriptions of great love and emotional outbursts, inventiveness in “building a new house from used bricks”, great audacity in telling a turbulent story and the author’s somewhat familiarity with the story. It’s good to know that a writer also reads, not just writes. I would love to welcome more details, make the story more vivid, so that you can enter this world and stay there for a while, not just slide over the surface. I have the impression that some threads have not been properly used, eg what about other “black swans”? We know nothing about them. Who knows, maybe another novel from this world will be created. Creating a universe is fashionable now.

Summary

In the end, a book is judged by how much impression it made on the reader and whether he or she will forget what it was about an hour later. Okay, maybe it won’t stay in my memory for long, because it’s more like a vampire romance written for entertainment, but I read it without much pain or delay. The author spins the story smoothly, taking full handfuls of, among others, from the Catholic religion and our Western culture full of various “Ruthven Lords” and “Dracula Counts.”