Damned by Genevieve Cogman

I would like to thank Tor for an advance copy of this novel in exchanger for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Tor

Published – out Now

Price – £20 hardback £9.99 ebook

1794. Eleanor, former English maid, is a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel - and now a promising mage. With a vampire plot thwarted in Paris, the League’s next daring rescue is that of the Pimpernel’s beloved wife, Lady Marguerite, imprisoned in her London townhouse on unjust charges of treason and espionage.

But Lady Marguerite’s captivity is only the first threat from the League's vampiric enemy. With the King known to be ill, possibly mad, England is not as it should be. Vampires conspire to take control over the whole country whilst challenging Eleanor and the League at every turn.

But then, using her growing magical powers, Eleanor uncovers a devastating, centuries-old secret. It is one so steeped in blood, that it will change not only England, but the entire vampire world, forever . . .

Please note Damned completes a series of books starting with Scarlet  and Elusive by Genevieve Cogman

Fantasy is quite keen on us choosing sides. This is good, that is evil, they must be a hero or s villain. Is that too simplistic? Well, we humans like firm answers even in real life so perhaps not surprising stories echo that. Delving into the moral ambiguities is hard. In Genenvieve Cogman’s Damned we return to a tale exploring the power of revolutions, the dangers of status quo and attitudes to class which completes a very entertaining sequence of tales.

To recap Eleanor was once a simple servant but an uncanny resemblance to Marie-Antoinette brought her into the realm of Sir Percey Blakeney otherwise known as The Scarlet Pimpernel who work to rescue aristocrats from the threat of the guillotine in France. However, Eleanor’s adventures over there also cast doubt on that well known and trusted group of immortals - the vampires. Their motives no longer seem noble and instead are suggesting strings are being pulled both in France and England. As well as her wits and bravery Eleanor has also discovered she has the ability to perform magic of her own and a dying mage has told her that the clue to the Vampire’s destruction lies in England. On her return though the team the Pimpernel and his men are shocked to discover Sir Percey’s wife Marguerite is now being accused of treason.

This is a sequence of tales that have examined the way that Revolutionary France was posed as a huge danger and only in British culture could we imagine a series of books where rescuing aristocrats from working class revolutionaries is popular entertainment. Cogman has poked this several times in the previous two novels and that this time we have an English setting for the novel allows us t use the real history of the period to explore the green and pleasant land’s own failings. Eleanor finds now with her growing knowledge of the world that clearly those in power (living and undead) don’t want the people getting their own revolutionary ideas and so this time its English authorities cracking down on protest, free speech and seeing university towns as dangers to the world. This may seem weirdly familiar to modern readers too. It adds to the theme across the books that those in power be they aristocrats, new government or vampires are reluctant to then be challenged and lose that power. It adds something disconcerting that now the Pimpernel’s team find themselves up against the classes they themselves come from. Where even just being from a different country is seen as evidence, you’re very likely a traitor.

This is a story where throughout there has been a theme of shifting sides. Eleanor has moved from servant to pretending to be royalty. She has seen all the classes and the artifice of these structures and is now working out where she fits or not. The love of her life the academic yet brave Charles is from a very noble family and part of the story is Eleanor confronting how she realistically can fit into such a society that treasures bloodlines and wealth. She puzzles over does Sir Percey think of her as a friend, a servant or just a tool and that ambiguity shifts across the book. We also find some former foes return who now may just possibly share a common agenda. Let’s stop the vampires!

The main storyline rolls along at a very good pace with rescues, imprisonments and ancient secrets coming to life. Eleanor is front and centre of this and we get to see how powerful the Vampires in England have become and there is a fascinating way of how they move to discredit Eleanor which plays into the power of telling a good or terrible story about someone from a different class to meet your own agendas. But it is also a tale of bravery, magic, fights and witty dialogue. Lots of fun is had while at the same time the Vampires here are shown to be indeed sometimes evil, always cunning but most of all corrupting. The idea that here are some groups who will always follow the power to their own ends is a persuasive one and builds them up as a foe to watch out for. The resolution therefore matches the threat and indeed has a few moral dilemmas of its own. Everything has a cost even for Eleanor.

Cogman rounds up the story we have in these three books evolve but leaves some room for more tales in the world changed by these events. I would not be averse to reading those. Funny, exciting, inventive and thoughtful this is entertaining fantasy that explores subjects with a little more weight than you’d expect in a simple adventure novel. A series I definitely recommend!