Sisters of the Night Edited by Barbara Hambly and Martin H. Greenberg

Warner Books, Inc

Review by James Walton

Do stories about vampires fall under the heading "dark fantasy" or are they considered "horror?" While you are thinking about it, define the two genre and send me the definitions.

Sisters of the Night is an anthology of original stories about female vampires and the people they prey upon. I wish I could say it is a must have collection, but I can't. Very little new territory is covered here. Most of the authors stick to the standard European vampire myth, completely ignoring the wealth of tales from Africa and Asia. Only the stories "La Dame" by Tanith Lee and "Food Chain" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman offer something a bit different. (The only reason "La Dame" worked was I can totally understand why someone would not believe what was killing him.)

All the stories here are well crafted by highly respected authors but none of the stories did anything for me. If you are one of those who are hopelessly enamoured with the Vampire mystique you may enjoy Sisters of the Night. The rest of us will await another anthology with a bit more bite.


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