I could wish that Madelaine's character had a slightly fuller background - it seemed barely credulous that a girl of her upbringing, no matter how spirited, should so rapidly accept Saint-Germain's vampirism, simultaneously admitting to emotional desire and capitulating physically to accommodate his needs. Only the eternal Saint-Germain is fully cognizant of her danger and he reveals his true identity to open her convent-taught mind to the realities of the world as he knows it, so that she may be on guard against the evil hiding under the veneer of well-bred nobility. Raised to be devout and demure, she is in ignorance of the depth of her father's former involvement with the satanic circle and his horrific blood oath to Saint-Sebastien, its ambitious and depraved leader.

Madelaine is a spirited and intelligent young woman, unhappily aware of her duty to marry and in dread of the attendant conventional restrictions. The innocent and beautiful Madelaine de Montalia makes her debut in the wealthy circles of courtly Paris, attracting prospective suitors, arousing unexpected desire in Saint-Germain and setting in motion the machiavellian designs of the foul and sinister Saint-Sebastien and his dissolute coven of devil-worshippers. Within minutes, an avaricious traitor is exposed, and from then on, while aware of which characters are definitely not to be trusted, we are never quite sure whom we may trust - other than Saint-Germain. Prinz Ragoczy of Transylvania keeps an assignation with a group of sorcerers, promising them the alchemical secrets to make diamonds in return for the anonymous purchase of the Hotel Transylvania. Refuse, rats and ordure are hazards on a journey for a nobleman dressed in black velvet, brocade and white lace, wearing a ruby of unimaginable worth at his throat.

Set in Paris of 1743, during the reign of the 'Sun King' Louis XV, the novel quickly sets the scene of a time of great contrasts: filth and squalor piled cheek by jowl with fantastic luxury and splendour.

In him there is the gentility, infinite sorrow, eternal loneliness and driving passion portrayed by Gary Oldman in Coppola's film, yet although there is also no loss of ruthlessness, the blood and horror engendered by Dracula is absent within the character of the fastidious and gentle Compte. Saint-Germain is akin neither to Christopher Lee's Dracula nor Tom Cruise's Lestat. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of writing, the lush descriptions of the era, its costumes and mannerisms, and the delicate way in which Yarbro deals with vampirism, embodied by her hero, le Compte de Saint-Germain. Hotel Transylvania was my introduction both to author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and to vampire novels in general.

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