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Sabella
This repackaged edition of a classic sci-fi tale from a master storyteller explores the life of a vampire on a Mars-like colony as she struggles to hide her true nature.
On the rosy sands of a distant Earth colony, Sabella lives a quiet life in her isolated home--carefully hiding her vampirism from society.
Sabella may not be undead, but she is painfully allergic to sunlight, possesses supernatural strength and speed, and feeds on fresh blood. In her youth, Sabella seduced a number of men, killing them all for fear of discovery. But with age comes control, and Sabella has sworn off of drinking human blood.
After four years of staying clean, Sabella receives an invitation to her Aunt Cassi's funeral--along with several thousand credits to ensure she attends the reading of the will. But when Sabella arrives at the funeral, she discovers that the funds were a ruse. Before her death, Cassi--a devout Christian Revivalist--discovered the truth about Sabella and tasked her manservant, John Trim, to hunt Sabella down. Trim hires private investigator Sand Vincent to get close to Sabella and suss out the truth.
But Sand is only human--and Sabella anything but. As Sand becomes enthralled by Sabella's charm, Sabella must combat her own instincts to keep him alive--and society's suspicions away.
On the rosy sands of a distant Earth colony, Sabella lives a quiet life in her isolated home--carefully hiding her vampirism from society.
Sabella may not be undead, but she is painfully allergic to sunlight, possesses supernatural strength and speed, and feeds on fresh blood. In her youth, Sabella seduced a number of men, killing them all for fear of discovery. But with age comes control, and Sabella has sworn off of drinking human blood.
After four years of staying clean, Sabella receives an invitation to her Aunt Cassi's funeral--along with several thousand credits to ensure she attends the reading of the will. But when Sabella arrives at the funeral, she discovers that the funds were a ruse. Before her death, Cassi--a devout Christian Revivalist--discovered the truth about Sabella and tasked her manservant, John Trim, to hunt Sabella down. Trim hires private investigator Sand Vincent to get close to Sabella and suss out the truth.
But Sand is only human--and Sabella anything but. As Sand becomes enthralled by Sabella's charm, Sabella must combat her own instincts to keep him alive--and society's suspicions away.
165 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Tanith Lee
637 books2,074 followersTanith Lee was a British writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy. She was the author of 77 novels, 14 collections, and almost 300 short stories. She also wrote four radio plays broadcast by the BBC and two scripts for the UK, science fiction, cult television series "Blake's 7."
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
Before becoming a full time writer, Lee worked as a file clerk, an assistant librarian, a shop assistant, and a waitress.
Her first short story, "Eustace," was published in 1968, and her first novel (for children) The Dragon Hoard was published in 1971.
Her career took off in 1975 with the acceptance by Daw Books USA of her adult fantasy epic The Birthgrave for publication as a mass-market paperback, and Lee has since maintained a prolific output in popular genre writing.
Lee twice won the World Fantasy Award: once in 1983 for best short fiction for “The Gorgon” and again in 1984 for best short fiction for “Elle Est Trois (La Mort).” She has been a Guest of Honour at numerous science fiction and fantasy conventions including the Boskone XVIII in Boston, USA in 1981, the 1984 World Fantasy Convention in Ottawa, Canada, and Orbital 2008 the British National Science Fiction convention (Eastercon) held in London, England in March 2008. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious title of Grand Master of Horror.
Lee was the daughter of two ballroom dancers, Bernard and Hylda Lee. Despite a persistent rumour, she was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee who played "M" in the James Bond series of films of the 1960s.
Tanith Lee married author and artist John Kaiine in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 132 reviews
February 19, 2015
futuristic tale of an alluring and depressed vampire coping with life on the run and death in the sun.
young mark monday probably should never have got a hold of this book because it introduced him to a dark, rich, and enticing new world of fuckedupedness - one that he quickly embraced. poor, naïve markmonday... innocence smashed!
don't get me wrong, it's not like this book is full of graphic sexual violence. but what it does do is position what is usually seen as 'perverse' as something understandable, even defensible. when Sabella has to deal with an annoyingly sexist postman, weirdly clinging relatives, a charming stalker, his tough older brother... the reader is resolutely on the side of the blood-sipping killer. nowadays this is typical for vampire novels. back in the 17th century when I was a pre-teen... well, not so much. I'd never read about a sexy, appealing killer before, one who made decisions I could see myself making, up to and including prostituting herself so she could obtain her regular fix of the red honey. I certainly had never read a novel where masculinity - in the form of the older brother mentioned above - was made both unpleasantly brutal and sinisterly appealing. such things are common in the realm of romantic fiction, but not in the science fiction that I actually read. it was all so new to me, this heavy-breathing reduction of the genders to their most essentialist, disturbing, and still deeply erotic parts. it felt wrong when I was reading it, like the author was doing a bad thing and I was somehow able to watch. and so I loved it. the fact that this was a sleek vampire novel set in the far future on another planet made it even better. and its weird happy ending made it perfect.
reading it again years later, the queasy-sexy-uncomfortable charge is greatly reduced because I am of course an adult with a whole host of adult experiences under my belt. but it is only reduced - not absent. the novel is still a wonderfully perverse experience. the futuristic setting is fantastic and as an adult I can particularly appreciate the stripped-down qualities of the minimal narrative. the prose glistens in a typically Tanith Lee fashion. she's a stylist, one to rival other genre stylists like Vance or Valente. Sabella is still strange, cynical, and attractive. her tormenter is still brutal, cynical, and attractive. the relationship still makes my skin crawl in the best, most guilt-inducing way. nice to see that the magic remains, whether reading the novel as a kid or as an adult. although I am definitely not recommending this for kids. young mark monday should have had this book taken away from him and sent right to bed without dinner.
young mark monday probably should never have got a hold of this book because it introduced him to a dark, rich, and enticing new world of fuckedupedness - one that he quickly embraced. poor, naïve markmonday... innocence smashed!
don't get me wrong, it's not like this book is full of graphic sexual violence. but what it does do is position what is usually seen as 'perverse' as something understandable, even defensible. when Sabella has to deal with an annoyingly sexist postman, weirdly clinging relatives, a charming stalker, his tough older brother... the reader is resolutely on the side of the blood-sipping killer. nowadays this is typical for vampire novels. back in the 17th century when I was a pre-teen... well, not so much. I'd never read about a sexy, appealing killer before, one who made decisions I could see myself making, up to and including prostituting herself so she could obtain her regular fix of the red honey. I certainly had never read a novel where masculinity - in the form of the older brother mentioned above - was made both unpleasantly brutal and sinisterly appealing. such things are common in the realm of romantic fiction, but not in the science fiction that I actually read. it was all so new to me, this heavy-breathing reduction of the genders to their most essentialist, disturbing, and still deeply erotic parts. it felt wrong when I was reading it, like the author was doing a bad thing and I was somehow able to watch. and so I loved it. the fact that this was a sleek vampire novel set in the far future on another planet made it even better. and its weird happy ending made it perfect.
reading it again years later, the queasy-sexy-uncomfortable charge is greatly reduced because I am of course an adult with a whole host of adult experiences under my belt. but it is only reduced - not absent. the novel is still a wonderfully perverse experience. the futuristic setting is fantastic and as an adult I can particularly appreciate the stripped-down qualities of the minimal narrative. the prose glistens in a typically Tanith Lee fashion. she's a stylist, one to rival other genre stylists like Vance or Valente. Sabella is still strange, cynical, and attractive. her tormenter is still brutal, cynical, and attractive. the relationship still makes my skin crawl in the best, most guilt-inducing way. nice to see that the magic remains, whether reading the novel as a kid or as an adult. although I am definitely not recommending this for kids. young mark monday should have had this book taken away from him and sent right to bed without dinner.
October 26, 2021
Read for my resolution to read Classic Sci-fi AND because it's spooky season.
5/5 stars
Sabella, or The Blood Stone is a Gothic sci-fi novel set on Novo Mars--not the Mars of our universe. It follows a young woman named Sabella Quay who is allergic to sunlight and needs to drink blood every so often. Yes, she's a vampire, and we know right off the bat. Sabella has been invited to her maternal aunt Cassi's funeral, where she meets a mysterious young man named Sand Vincent and is gifted a mysterious miniature coffin by her late aunt. Her aunt reveals to her, via a will, that she knows what she is and God has ordered her to destroy her. Pursued by Sand, Sabella tries to live as normal as a life as she can. But she's a vampire. So, Sand is entranced by her, and she needs to feed. And the wolves of Novo Mars call to her.
This is something completely different; and it's a great treat to my first Tanith Lee read. I consider this book the precursor to Gideon the Ninth, being a proper mishmash of Gothic and science fiction; albeit Gideon the Ninth is more Lovecraftian than Sabella. Lee makes it work for this genre mashup, and her lush, beautiful prose is the fine thread that is able to stitch everything together.
There are some of the traditional Gothic tropes found in the novella. A madwoman, an old house with a tragic backstory, and dark, undergrown (Martian) caverns that hold terrifying secrets. However, Lee does something different with them. The madwoman, Sabella's mother, is long dead and Sabella reflects on what happened between the two of them from when she was eleven--when she emerged from an old Martian cavern after her first period--up until her death. However, Sabella's mother still haunts the story, or at least Sabella herself. Her ghost haunts the old house where she died, metaphorically speaking. The Martian caverns themselves are different as they are the source of the vampire.
Ultimately, this is the story of woman wondering at her monstrosity, her Otherness, if you will, and wondering whether to flee from it or embrace it. When she was younger, Sabella would lure boys who catcalled and hit on her to drain their blood. She killed the first handful by accident and was terrified, but she eventually taught herself to only drain so much without killing. Some of these earlier encounters ended more horrifically for her. One man even raped her outside her house while her mother watched and did nothing. Her mother, too horrified by Sabella's initial ignoring of the catcalling boys and then further horrified by her vampirism, eventually became mad. This one fear hangs over Sabella and makes her question embracing her monstrosity.
Sabella is a fleshed out character. She is hiding a lot, she has to, but her spikes of rage and sorrow can really be felt throughout the novella. She is a literal monster wondering if she is to be considered beast or human. She even puts forth this question under religion. The religion on Novo Marts is Christian Revivalism; truthfully, it is just a slightly futuristic Catholicism. Nonetheless, Lee employs Christian symbolism and language around Sabella's journey. Sabella is a vampire with religion, though she isn't the most reverent follower. In fact, at one point Sabella calls Jesus a vampire (hello Midnight Mass); He shed His blood for the world so all could drink from it and be freed, and when people did not understand Him they drove (many) wooden stakes through Him. Sabella considers this thought blasphemy, but from what you learn about her along the way she also hopes that it's true. She wants a savior.
Sabella's desire for a savior ties into into her emotional reactions, and also her relationship with all the men in the book. As stated before, Sabella is often catcalled and hit on by men and some of those interactions end disastrously for her, other times disastrously for the men. There is a commentary about men being dangerous here, though it is more shown than told and not beaten over your head. Sabella being a vampire turns the danger against the men, but Lee's commentary goes more deeper than simply "Men are dangerous to women by default and women would have to become monsters to be actually dangerous to men" (a mouthful there, but you know what I'm referencing). As Sabella lets us into her mind behind these interactions with these men, particularly her uncle, Sand, and Sand's alluring brother Jace, we eventually see the power dynamics between men and women, but also, what Sabella truly wants out of these men.
She wants a savior. She wants someone not afraid of her monstrosity. Someone who she doesn't have to take from for selfish needs nor simply give him pleasure to satiate his typical male desires. Sabella wants what any person would want out of another: to be actually loved, to be actually seen. And, not to spoil things, Sabella eventually finds that through her monstrosity.
The other characters in the book, again mostly all men, do not get as huge a focus besides Sabella. Sand and Jace are pretty fleshed-out as is Sabella's mother despite being dead, but I think they fit into their roles well. Some of the smaller side characters like Sabella's aunt don't get much development but I wasn't totally bothered by that. I do wish that Sabella had more positive interactions with other women in the book.
This is an interesting study of a woman embracing her monstrosity. I've seen a lot of authors, even today, of any gender struggling with this. Sometimes they even back out of the descent into monstrosity. The vampire is a good choice for this motif because of the vampire's near constant sexualized Otherness and how its blood-sucking nature can tie into a woman's menstruation but also the blood of Christ in Catholicism. Additionally, there is some added imagery with the Martian wolves Sabella used to hunt with as a child. Feral creatures with base needs who primarily seeks sustenance and live on the outskirts of civilization.
This is truly a different but still haunting Gothic novel. I enjoyed it very much. This last part I am putting under spoilers, but I need to get it out anyway.
Tanith Lee truly did something different than everyone else, and it is utterly profound.
5/5 stars
Sabella, or The Blood Stone is a Gothic sci-fi novel set on Novo Mars--not the Mars of our universe. It follows a young woman named Sabella Quay who is allergic to sunlight and needs to drink blood every so often. Yes, she's a vampire, and we know right off the bat. Sabella has been invited to her maternal aunt Cassi's funeral, where she meets a mysterious young man named Sand Vincent and is gifted a mysterious miniature coffin by her late aunt. Her aunt reveals to her, via a will, that she knows what she is and God has ordered her to destroy her. Pursued by Sand, Sabella tries to live as normal as a life as she can. But she's a vampire. So, Sand is entranced by her, and she needs to feed. And the wolves of Novo Mars call to her.
This is something completely different; and it's a great treat to my first Tanith Lee read. I consider this book the precursor to Gideon the Ninth, being a proper mishmash of Gothic and science fiction; albeit Gideon the Ninth is more Lovecraftian than Sabella. Lee makes it work for this genre mashup, and her lush, beautiful prose is the fine thread that is able to stitch everything together.
There are some of the traditional Gothic tropes found in the novella. A madwoman, an old house with a tragic backstory, and dark, undergrown (Martian) caverns that hold terrifying secrets. However, Lee does something different with them. The madwoman, Sabella's mother, is long dead and Sabella reflects on what happened between the two of them from when she was eleven--when she emerged from an old Martian cavern after her first period--up until her death. However, Sabella's mother still haunts the story, or at least Sabella herself. Her ghost haunts the old house where she died, metaphorically speaking. The Martian caverns themselves are different as they are the source of the vampire.
Ultimately, this is the story of woman wondering at her monstrosity, her Otherness, if you will, and wondering whether to flee from it or embrace it. When she was younger, Sabella would lure boys who catcalled and hit on her to drain their blood. She killed the first handful by accident and was terrified, but she eventually taught herself to only drain so much without killing. Some of these earlier encounters ended more horrifically for her. One man even raped her outside her house while her mother watched and did nothing. Her mother, too horrified by Sabella's initial ignoring of the catcalling boys and then further horrified by her vampirism, eventually became mad. This one fear hangs over Sabella and makes her question embracing her monstrosity.
Sabella is a fleshed out character. She is hiding a lot, she has to, but her spikes of rage and sorrow can really be felt throughout the novella. She is a literal monster wondering if she is to be considered beast or human. She even puts forth this question under religion. The religion on Novo Marts is Christian Revivalism; truthfully, it is just a slightly futuristic Catholicism. Nonetheless, Lee employs Christian symbolism and language around Sabella's journey. Sabella is a vampire with religion, though she isn't the most reverent follower. In fact, at one point Sabella calls Jesus a vampire (hello Midnight Mass); He shed His blood for the world so all could drink from it and be freed, and when people did not understand Him they drove (many) wooden stakes through Him. Sabella considers this thought blasphemy, but from what you learn about her along the way she also hopes that it's true. She wants a savior.
Sabella's desire for a savior ties into into her emotional reactions, and also her relationship with all the men in the book. As stated before, Sabella is often catcalled and hit on by men and some of those interactions end disastrously for her, other times disastrously for the men. There is a commentary about men being dangerous here, though it is more shown than told and not beaten over your head. Sabella being a vampire turns the danger against the men, but Lee's commentary goes more deeper than simply "Men are dangerous to women by default and women would have to become monsters to be actually dangerous to men" (a mouthful there, but you know what I'm referencing). As Sabella lets us into her mind behind these interactions with these men, particularly her uncle, Sand, and Sand's alluring brother Jace, we eventually see the power dynamics between men and women, but also, what Sabella truly wants out of these men.
She wants a savior. She wants someone not afraid of her monstrosity. Someone who she doesn't have to take from for selfish needs nor simply give him pleasure to satiate his typical male desires. Sabella wants what any person would want out of another: to be actually loved, to be actually seen. And, not to spoil things, Sabella eventually finds that through her monstrosity.
The other characters in the book, again mostly all men, do not get as huge a focus besides Sabella. Sand and Jace are pretty fleshed-out as is Sabella's mother despite being dead, but I think they fit into their roles well. Some of the smaller side characters like Sabella's aunt don't get much development but I wasn't totally bothered by that. I do wish that Sabella had more positive interactions with other women in the book.
This is an interesting study of a woman embracing her monstrosity. I've seen a lot of authors, even today, of any gender struggling with this. Sometimes they even back out of the descent into monstrosity. The vampire is a good choice for this motif because of the vampire's near constant sexualized Otherness and how its blood-sucking nature can tie into a woman's menstruation but also the blood of Christ in Catholicism. Additionally, there is some added imagery with the Martian wolves Sabella used to hunt with as a child. Feral creatures with base needs who primarily seeks sustenance and live on the outskirts of civilization.
This is truly a different but still haunting Gothic novel. I enjoyed it very much. This last part I am putting under spoilers, but I need to get it out anyway.
Tanith Lee truly did something different than everyone else, and it is utterly profound.
April 18, 2018
Tanith Lee can write depressed characters like nobody else, without ever saying the word "depressed."
She can put a new spin on vampires in 1980, well before the genre began to stale.
She can lure me into enjoying a story seemingly without a plot, and then astonish me with how everything ties together.
I don't always enjoy Lee's books, but when I do, her writing really moves me. Sabella is a haunted by childhood, and though she doesn't exactly *enjoy* being a vampire, she doesn't deny herself what she needs to live. (Unlike other vampires I know.) The romantic interest is both alluring and a bit douchey, as Lee often writes. Translation: WOULD BANG.
This is a very short book, but packed with lovely writing and sympathetic characters (including the bangable douchey romantic interest).
She can put a new spin on vampires in 1980, well before the genre began to stale.
She can lure me into enjoying a story seemingly without a plot, and then astonish me with how everything ties together.
I don't always enjoy Lee's books, but when I do, her writing really moves me. Sabella is a haunted by childhood, and though she doesn't exactly *enjoy* being a vampire, she doesn't deny herself what she needs to live. (Unlike other vampires I know.) The romantic interest is both alluring and a bit douchey, as Lee often writes. Translation: WOULD BANG.
This is a very short book, but packed with lovely writing and sympathetic characters (including the bangable douchey romantic interest).
August 22, 2026
I don't think I've read an author who can follow dream logic as well as Tanith Lee does, because all of her books feel like those strange, weirdly vivid and compelling dreams that have you wanting to tell everyone about what happened, even as the details already fade away. SABELLA fits into this niche perfectly. It's a vampire story set in space, on a futuristic colony. Sabella keeps blood in the fridge, wears sunglasses, and hides from the sun, while doing her best to subsist on animals. But she's imperfect. Sometimes she feeds from humans.
When her aunt dies, she makes the journey to collect her inheritance but then she finds out that it was a trap. Her aunt became a weird born again Christian-type religious zealot towards the end of her life and basically sold her out to be slayed. So she ends up on the run, hunted down by people who want the bounty, or who just want her for the novelty, and it ends up feeling almost like a grim interstellar road trip with a depressed and lonely vampire fleeing from her past.
The writing is absolutely beautiful-- I swear to god, nobody writes like Lee-- but the compelling writing also sometimes ends up feeling like a literary ouroboros; you get lost in it, and sometimes at the expense of the story. I'd find myself reading passages over and over, both to appreciate the writing but also to figure out what the hell was going on. Still, I'm super glad I've read it! SABELLA has been on my TBR for a long time and it was worth it!
3 stars
When her aunt dies, she makes the journey to collect her inheritance but then she finds out that it was a trap. Her aunt became a weird born again Christian-type religious zealot towards the end of her life and basically sold her out to be slayed. So she ends up on the run, hunted down by people who want the bounty, or who just want her for the novelty, and it ends up feeling almost like a grim interstellar road trip with a depressed and lonely vampire fleeing from her past.
The writing is absolutely beautiful-- I swear to god, nobody writes like Lee-- but the compelling writing also sometimes ends up feeling like a literary ouroboros; you get lost in it, and sometimes at the expense of the story. I'd find myself reading passages over and over, both to appreciate the writing but also to figure out what the hell was going on. Still, I'm super glad I've read it! SABELLA has been on my TBR for a long time and it was worth it!
3 stars
May 26, 2015
This is a tale of terrible beauty. So I finished reading "Sabella"... two times in a row. I love this novella and yet, it's hard to explain why. How can 157 pages pack in so much? Let me first start by saying that it took me by surprise. The premise sounded ok but I'd never read a sci-fi vampire story and wasn't too keen on the idea of mixing those two. Second, it got me a couple of pages to get used to the narrative voice. At first, I was kind of lost and didn't really understand what was going on.
As I re-read it though, I could see what the narrator intended. The narrator of this story is someone who is reflecting on the story she's telling. While she's telling it in chronological order, more or less, she's doing so fully aware of the outcome. So all the parts that seem ambiguous or references that seem a bit obscure are comments on the ending of the story, or the story as a whole, in a sense.
Sabella is someone who struggles with her identity, her needs and her nature. She's a predator, but a broken one. Haunted by guilt and loneliness. Some parts of her story are truly heartbreaking and can be hard to read. While I personally didn't find the descriptions explicit, Sabella has been the victim of violence and brutality. But it is not all despair, and the end is so amazing that is worth all the pain.
I'm very glad to have discovered Tanith Lee. This is my first time reading her and I'm amazed at her storytelling, especially at her ability to convey so much in just a few words. It's like those actors that can skip many lines and convey them using a simple gesture instead. There are so many lines, so many great moments of "Sabella" that I can't get out of my head. So many questions...
And I guess that is what made me read the story twice, and quite possibly will make me read it many more times: there is so much in only a 157 pages, and even more in what's left unsaid between the lines.
As I re-read it though, I could see what the narrator intended. The narrator of this story is someone who is reflecting on the story she's telling. While she's telling it in chronological order, more or less, she's doing so fully aware of the outcome. So all the parts that seem ambiguous or references that seem a bit obscure are comments on the ending of the story, or the story as a whole, in a sense.
Sabella is someone who struggles with her identity, her needs and her nature. She's a predator, but a broken one. Haunted by guilt and loneliness. Some parts of her story are truly heartbreaking and can be hard to read. While I personally didn't find the descriptions explicit, Sabella has been the victim of violence and brutality. But it is not all despair, and the end is so amazing that is worth all the pain.
I'm very glad to have discovered Tanith Lee. This is my first time reading her and I'm amazed at her storytelling, especially at her ability to convey so much in just a few words. It's like those actors that can skip many lines and convey them using a simple gesture instead. There are so many lines, so many great moments of "Sabella" that I can't get out of my head. So many questions...
And I guess that is what made me read the story twice, and quite possibly will make me read it many more times: there is so much in only a 157 pages, and even more in what's left unsaid between the lines.
June 12, 2022
Bloodsucking Space Jezebel
Is this YA? Or adult? It could be both: it could be read as a vampire Bildungsroman, but just as easily as moody, trashy science fiction.
It's about sucking blood and murdering people but also about inheritances, familial ties and lies.
The titular Sabella is persona and character all at the same time: we can feel her emotions clearly, yet at the same time she is the person her "setting" has made her as well: an outcast without wanting to be one but also a confidant woman at the same time.
Finally, Tanith Lee is simply an amazingly accomplished author. Her prose is beautiful throughout and I love vampires so this one was pure gold for me.
Is this YA? Or adult? It could be both: it could be read as a vampire Bildungsroman, but just as easily as moody, trashy science fiction.
It's about sucking blood and murdering people but also about inheritances, familial ties and lies.
The titular Sabella is persona and character all at the same time: we can feel her emotions clearly, yet at the same time she is the person her "setting" has made her as well: an outcast without wanting to be one but also a confidant woman at the same time.
Finally, Tanith Lee is simply an amazingly accomplished author. Her prose is beautiful throughout and I love vampires so this one was pure gold for me.
May 11, 2020
This short book was a re-read and unlike quite a few of the author's novels did not disappoint. Sabella has a secret and it is gradually revealed, along with the background of what happened to her when she was about 11 years old and why she now has problems going out in the sun and a few other aspects traditionally associated with vampires.
The setting is Novo Mars, a planet colonised by human beings, where the original inhabitants died out, but have left behind a legacy for a select few. I did at one point think it was straying into the 'dodgy' territory of female masochism etc seen in many other of the author's works, but in this instance there is a sensible biological reason for Sabella's "submission". I liked the dry ironic tone of the story which is told from the title character's perspective. A vampire novel with a difference, and a keeper, which cannot be said about many of the books I read, so a well-deserved 5 star rating.
The setting is Novo Mars, a planet colonised by human beings, where the original inhabitants died out, but have left behind a legacy for a select few. I did at one point think it was straying into the 'dodgy' territory of female masochism etc seen in many other of the author's works, but in this instance there is a sensible biological reason for Sabella's "submission". I liked the dry ironic tone of the story which is told from the title character's perspective. A vampire novel with a difference, and a keeper, which cannot be said about many of the books I read, so a well-deserved 5 star rating.
April 4, 2016
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/20...
Sabella is a science fiction vampire novel written by Tanith Lee. Sabella is your stereotypical vampire: she drinks blood, is sensitive to sunlight, and is beautiful and seductive. Much like Anne Rice’s vampires, Sabella struggles with regret because she is a predator by nature. She doesn’t want to kill people, but finds it difficult to stop herself. And yet, she’s also motivated by survival, and does what she has to in order to get by.
Near the beginning of the novel, Sabella travels to her aunt’s funeral, only to receive a cryptic note from her aunt’s will stating that she knows what Sabella is, and that God will judge her. Sabella is emotionally thrown off by the note, and as she’s trying to work through her thoughts and feelings, she stumbles upon the handsome Sand Vincent, upon whom she feeds. She tries and tries to get rid of Sand, but he keeps coming back to her for more orgasmic blood-sucking, until finally she accidentally bleeds him dry and he dies as she’s trying to save him. She hides the body and moves on with her life, until Sand’s brother Jace comes knocking on her door. Jace is the first man who doesn’t fall under Sabella’s spell, and is incredibly handsome. Sabella sees Jace as more than just prey. She runs from him, and he follows.
I grew up on Tanith Lee’s Claidi Journals, but have only recently started exploring her adult writing. I had mixed feelings on The Birthgrave, but am happy to report that Sabella is a vast improvement. Sabella had a sense of agency that the protagonist in The Birthgrave did not. But as in The Birthgrave, I found with Sabella’s ending a compelling twist that made me see everything that came before it in a different light.
Tanith Lee is one of the few writers I know whose writing always seems to evoke a particular atmosphere. (Patricia McKillip is another, with her knack for ethereal and lyrical prose.) Lee evokes a raw sensuality, an alien seductiveness, which draws you in and haunts you and makes you want her books to never end. Her words are dark and beautiful and lovely, and tease you on an intellectual level.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/20...
Sabella is a science fiction vampire novel written by Tanith Lee. Sabella is your stereotypical vampire: she drinks blood, is sensitive to sunlight, and is beautiful and seductive. Much like Anne Rice’s vampires, Sabella struggles with regret because she is a predator by nature. She doesn’t want to kill people, but finds it difficult to stop herself. And yet, she’s also motivated by survival, and does what she has to in order to get by.
Near the beginning of the novel, Sabella travels to her aunt’s funeral, only to receive a cryptic note from her aunt’s will stating that she knows what Sabella is, and that God will judge her. Sabella is emotionally thrown off by the note, and as she’s trying to work through her thoughts and feelings, she stumbles upon the handsome Sand Vincent, upon whom she feeds. She tries and tries to get rid of Sand, but he keeps coming back to her for more orgasmic blood-sucking, until finally she accidentally bleeds him dry and he dies as she’s trying to save him. She hides the body and moves on with her life, until Sand’s brother Jace comes knocking on her door. Jace is the first man who doesn’t fall under Sabella’s spell, and is incredibly handsome. Sabella sees Jace as more than just prey. She runs from him, and he follows.
I grew up on Tanith Lee’s Claidi Journals, but have only recently started exploring her adult writing. I had mixed feelings on The Birthgrave, but am happy to report that Sabella is a vast improvement. Sabella had a sense of agency that the protagonist in The Birthgrave did not. But as in The Birthgrave, I found with Sabella’s ending a compelling twist that made me see everything that came before it in a different light.
Tanith Lee is one of the few writers I know whose writing always seems to evoke a particular atmosphere. (Patricia McKillip is another, with her knack for ethereal and lyrical prose.) Lee evokes a raw sensuality, an alien seductiveness, which draws you in and haunts you and makes you want her books to never end. Her words are dark and beautiful and lovely, and tease you on an intellectual level.
June 4, 2015
I sat down on the couch this evening and didn't leave it until I finished this book three hours later.
It was a rocky start - it took a while to get into the rhythm of Tanith Lee's language. It helps if you think of it as free verse poetry with the line breaks removed. But Sabella, remote and lonely in her darkened home, captivated me. And then the plot kept me wondering and intrigued.
This is one of those rare books where I genuinely couldn't guess how it would end. Would Sabella be redeemed, in the Christian way of admitting to her sins and seeking absolution? Would she reach a dire end, punished for her sins? (Yes, the Christianity is heavy in this book, displaced to an alien landscape but still unchanged.) But the ending is unexpected and pleasingly so, which always delights me when that happens.
Tanith Lee is from a previous generation of feminists, the kind of feminist who reveres the mystical goddess within every woman by nature of her womb and who relishes the feminine powers of understanding mysteries beyond the reach of logical man. One line is particularly memorable: "Women tend[...]to turn into clans when thrown in with too many of their own gender, and then those clans practice mysteries." Sabella's ending is of this brand of feminism, which exalts the mystical, unfathomable power of women, while yet unable to let go of the imperative that the hero be an alpha male, dominant and above all other men. It's charming and familiar and weird enough to delight.
It was a rocky start - it took a while to get into the rhythm of Tanith Lee's language. It helps if you think of it as free verse poetry with the line breaks removed. But Sabella, remote and lonely in her darkened home, captivated me. And then the plot kept me wondering and intrigued.
This is one of those rare books where I genuinely couldn't guess how it would end. Would Sabella be redeemed, in the Christian way of admitting to her sins and seeking absolution? Would she reach a dire end, punished for her sins? (Yes, the Christianity is heavy in this book, displaced to an alien landscape but still unchanged.) But the ending is unexpected and pleasingly so, which always delights me when that happens.
Tanith Lee is from a previous generation of feminists, the kind of feminist who reveres the mystical goddess within every woman by nature of her womb and who relishes the feminine powers of understanding mysteries beyond the reach of logical man. One line is particularly memorable: "Women tend[...]to turn into clans when thrown in with too many of their own gender, and then those clans practice mysteries." Sabella's ending is of this brand of feminism, which exalts the mystical, unfathomable power of women, while yet unable to let go of the imperative that the hero be an alpha male, dominant and above all other men. It's charming and familiar and weird enough to delight.
November 15, 2021
Wow, this was amazing. I've come very late to the Tanith Lee train, but I'm really glad I'm here.
Sensual loveliness. A slow build. Euphoria that's dialed down to a slow burn. A well organized and written story with just the right amount of every little thing to make this story unputdownable.
I could've done without the constant prose and poetry-like sentences, tho. It worked so well in some places, and in others, I wished Lee was a little more blunt and forthcoming.
Other than that: God, my love for vampires will never die. Especially when, after 100s of books read in that genre, I can still find gems like this one that turns the vampire genre on its head. I only wished it was longer.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
Sensual loveliness. A slow build. Euphoria that's dialed down to a slow burn. A well organized and written story with just the right amount of every little thing to make this story unputdownable.
I could've done without the constant prose and poetry-like sentences, tho. It worked so well in some places, and in others, I wished Lee was a little more blunt and forthcoming.
Other than that: God, my love for vampires will never die. Especially when, after 100s of books read in that genre, I can still find gems like this one that turns the vampire genre on its head. I only wished it was longer.
Happy reading, Goodreads fiends.
October 5, 2016
3.75 (don't know if it's 3 or 4)
Read this one with Cari :3
I really liked some things, but overall something was missing for me. I think the setting wasn't what I was looking for, like it turned the novella into a mash-up of too many genres in a way.
RTC
Read this one with Cari :3
I really liked some things, but overall something was missing for me. I think the setting wasn't what I was looking for, like it turned the novella into a mash-up of too many genres in a way.
RTC
December 23, 2023
a vampire book set on mars ???? this was plucked out of my dreams
January 23, 2026
Tanith Lee's Sabella is a wild thing, a mix and blend of so many genres and concepts in such a short amount of time - Horror, Pulp, Sci-fi, Romance, Mystery, Thriller, more - and yet all of it grounded in this almost pedestrian, prosaic story about finding yourself through the mire of budding sexuality, religious control, and gendered roles... Sabella is a vampire, a cool collected femme fatale, who nevertheless is aware of the power she holds over men, and the consequences that can come from indulging in it - what she doesn't know is why, and when a new man starts following her, starts butting into her maintained equilibrium, the past starts unravelling and things get messy.
Of all I've read from Tanith Lee, this is maybe her best writing - which is saying a lot, because holy shit the lady could write - Sensuous and Majestic, everything this arch romantic pulp, pinks and purple swirls, grand and gothic, but always with a drive, a purpose, a character - there's no languishing in total floridity or getting bogged down in description. There's no staid character robotics or notebook exposition. It's all simultaneously flowery and potent, and perfectly mirrors the deadly beauty of the vampire concept.
As gripping as it is - the book would be dead easy to finish in one sitting if you have a couple hours - at its core it has very personal and subdued themes in mind. This is not a flashy, action heavy vampire story, but one where relationships are tested, sex and violence blend and what's at stake isn't really the world, but a personal self worth - I think this will notably be a more potent a book for women. It is heavily gendered throughout, with clear lines drawn between the the curse of vampirism and female sexuality, blood of the victim with blood of menstruation - not always in negative terms mind you - I do think by the end it may take this gendered aspect a bit too far, especially for the modern reader, the finale leans more towards a two gender essentialism than I really like or wanted, but the mystery that Lee provides is more than strong enough to make up for what's really just a small blip or oddity in the last moments.
This is just such a cool book, and one I hope doesn't get lost among its equally powerful brethren.
Of all I've read from Tanith Lee, this is maybe her best writing - which is saying a lot, because holy shit the lady could write - Sensuous and Majestic, everything this arch romantic pulp, pinks and purple swirls, grand and gothic, but always with a drive, a purpose, a character - there's no languishing in total floridity or getting bogged down in description. There's no staid character robotics or notebook exposition. It's all simultaneously flowery and potent, and perfectly mirrors the deadly beauty of the vampire concept.
As gripping as it is - the book would be dead easy to finish in one sitting if you have a couple hours - at its core it has very personal and subdued themes in mind. This is not a flashy, action heavy vampire story, but one where relationships are tested, sex and violence blend and what's at stake isn't really the world, but a personal self worth - I think this will notably be a more potent a book for women. It is heavily gendered throughout, with clear lines drawn between the the curse of vampirism and female sexuality, blood of the victim with blood of menstruation - not always in negative terms mind you - I do think by the end it may take this gendered aspect a bit too far, especially for the modern reader, the finale leans more towards a two gender essentialism than I really like or wanted, but the mystery that Lee provides is more than strong enough to make up for what's really just a small blip or oddity in the last moments.
This is just such a cool book, and one I hope doesn't get lost among its equally powerful brethren.
July 8, 2010
Just re-read this book in a day (8-Jan-2011) and: loved it all over again! Realised that these themes have been haunting me since my first reading (whenever that was - 20 years ago?): self, belief, isolation, burial, transformation, and of course redemption.
Loved Lee's lyrical, active descriptions & the physical awareness (self-awareness?) of her prose. Thought this a much more rich, dense book than SILVER METAL LOVER, though I know a lot of people would disagree with me. Brilliant take on the vampire trope.
Loved Lee's lyrical, active descriptions & the physical awareness (self-awareness?) of her prose. Thought this a much more rich, dense book than SILVER METAL LOVER, though I know a lot of people would disagree with me. Brilliant take on the vampire trope.
June 20, 2007
I checked this book out of the Valle Vista Branch Library when I was in my early teens. The descriptions of untrammeled sexual ecstasy and erotic vampirism easily surpass Anne Rice at her best. Disturbing, fascinating and engrossing in equal measure.
December 31, 2020
tanith is as always a certified freak but this is the best possible ebony dark'ness dementia raven way
March 1, 2021
Beautiful, languid, gripping and melancholy. No one writes lyrical dark prose better than Tanith Lee.
June 6, 2022
One of Tanith Lee's SF books, even if the narrator (Sabella) is a vampire by any other name -- it's set in the future on a colony world, with a mild SF explanation for her condition. Sabella has for the most part learned to live with her particular ... appetites, and lives a life of isolation. But when an aunt dies, she has to leave her home to go hear the will read, a journey which will bring her in contact with people who will upend her carefully-constructed existence and possibly learn more about her true origins.
August 19, 2012
Oct 2018, 3rd read, 5 stars: Liked it even better the third time around! Upgraded to 5 stars.
Oct 2015, 2nd read, 4 stars:
This has to be one of the strangest and most unique vampire stories I've read (though admittedly, I haven't read that many vampire stories). Sabella Quey is a reclusive young woman living on her own in Novo Mars when she receives an invitation to her aunt Cassi's funeral. Cassi has left her some money, some items, and an ominous letter stating that she found out Sabella's secret and that is where everything begins... It's really hard to talk about this story without giving away a lot of its twists and intrigue. The plotline is pretty unexpected as Tanith Lee makes a lot of unusual choices and I could not predict what would happen at the end (though it's my second time reading it, I had forgotten much of the story).
At the core, this is a story about self-discovery, acceptance, and redemption. The main character deals with a lot of emotional issues and has to come to terms with herself. I was really impressed with how Tanith Lee pulled off such an usual tale (downright bizarre at times!) about a bloodsucking creature and yet made it so relatable. Sabella herself is a very compelling character. Alluring and cynical, she has a weird sort of sinister appeal and like her victims, you can't help but be drawn in. She's essentially a predator, a killer-- her exploits are often simultaneously sensuous and horrifying-- and yet everything about her reads as incredibly emotionally true. Lee manages to make us sympathize with her and feel for her.
The setting is very unique-- it's a vampire story that's also a science fiction, taking place on a future, human-colonized Mars. The technology reflects what people in the 80s thought the future would be like-- there are self-driving cars and electric flash-guns, but there are also mailmen who deliver letters and packages. Meanwhile, wolves with champagne-coloured fur live in the Martian wilds, and the planet is not without its own long history: "There are genuine ruins (beware tourist traps) here and there. Thin pillars soaring, leveled foundations crumbling, cracked urns whispering of spilled dusts-- all the Martian dreams that old Mars denied to mankind. Though this prior race, whose wreck men inherited, left small self-evidence beyond their architecture. Maybe men find it, anyway, more romantic to guess."
I really enjoyed reading this one again and foresee myself picking it up again in the future.
Oct 2015, 2nd read, 4 stars:
This has to be one of the strangest and most unique vampire stories I've read (though admittedly, I haven't read that many vampire stories). Sabella Quey is a reclusive young woman living on her own in Novo Mars when she receives an invitation to her aunt Cassi's funeral. Cassi has left her some money, some items, and an ominous letter stating that she found out Sabella's secret and that is where everything begins... It's really hard to talk about this story without giving away a lot of its twists and intrigue. The plotline is pretty unexpected as Tanith Lee makes a lot of unusual choices and I could not predict what would happen at the end (though it's my second time reading it, I had forgotten much of the story).
At the core, this is a story about self-discovery, acceptance, and redemption. The main character deals with a lot of emotional issues and has to come to terms with herself. I was really impressed with how Tanith Lee pulled off such an usual tale (downright bizarre at times!) about a bloodsucking creature and yet made it so relatable. Sabella herself is a very compelling character. Alluring and cynical, she has a weird sort of sinister appeal and like her victims, you can't help but be drawn in. She's essentially a predator, a killer-- her exploits are often simultaneously sensuous and horrifying-- and yet everything about her reads as incredibly emotionally true. Lee manages to make us sympathize with her and feel for her.
The setting is very unique-- it's a vampire story that's also a science fiction, taking place on a future, human-colonized Mars. The technology reflects what people in the 80s thought the future would be like-- there are self-driving cars and electric flash-guns, but there are also mailmen who deliver letters and packages. Meanwhile, wolves with champagne-coloured fur live in the Martian wilds, and the planet is not without its own long history: "There are genuine ruins (beware tourist traps) here and there. Thin pillars soaring, leveled foundations crumbling, cracked urns whispering of spilled dusts-- all the Martian dreams that old Mars denied to mankind. Though this prior race, whose wreck men inherited, left small self-evidence beyond their architecture. Maybe men find it, anyway, more romantic to guess."
I really enjoyed reading this one again and foresee myself picking it up again in the future.
October 12, 2021
Loved the prose. Hated the ending. Hated Jace. Kind of wish Sabella had ripped off his head and eaten it like a praying mantis.
December 19, 2022
A moody, thoughtful space Gothic. Sabella reads like a layered mystery: as each piece is revealed, another question emerges. It's a nice quick read, too!
June 8, 2024
A coworker professed to me
The pleasures of reading Tanith Lee
I responded in kind
By cracking a spine
And how right they turned out to be!
Although, there's not much spine to crack on this piece of Weird Fiction. "Vampires on Mars" might be the basic concept, but what Lee with it does in just 165 pages is much more than just that. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the prose, intoxicatingly weird and unabashedly sensuous. Sabella Quey knows what she is and what she must do to survive, but can't help enjoying herself a bit in the process, even when fleeing across the blood-toned desolation of the Mars prairie, to places and from people you'll never predict because Lee has no qualms about bending and breaking genre lines.
Now, that page count should keep things tight and focused, but Sabella turns out to be longer on mood than plot. A flashback-heavy structure gives it a slightly stuttering rhythm, and what seems like a revelatory twist comes so late its impact is negated by an equally abrupt ending.
Still, as a feminist allegory of a seemingly otherworldly creature in another world, Lee's spell hits hard and fast enough that you'll be sad when it lets you go.
Content warning: This is the kind of vampirism that tends to leave you dead. Which is perfectly understandable when some victims want it so bad, they resort to rape. Lee isn't the biggest fan of religion, either.
The pleasures of reading Tanith Lee
I responded in kind
By cracking a spine
And how right they turned out to be!
Although, there's not much spine to crack on this piece of Weird Fiction. "Vampires on Mars" might be the basic concept, but what Lee with it does in just 165 pages is much more than just that. Most of the heavy lifting is done by the prose, intoxicatingly weird and unabashedly sensuous. Sabella Quey knows what she is and what she must do to survive, but can't help enjoying herself a bit in the process, even when fleeing across the blood-toned desolation of the Mars prairie, to places and from people you'll never predict because Lee has no qualms about bending and breaking genre lines.
Now, that page count should keep things tight and focused, but Sabella turns out to be longer on mood than plot. A flashback-heavy structure gives it a slightly stuttering rhythm, and what seems like a revelatory twist comes so late its impact is negated by an equally abrupt ending.
Still, as a feminist allegory of a seemingly otherworldly creature in another world, Lee's spell hits hard and fast enough that you'll be sad when it lets you go.
Content warning: This is the kind of vampirism that tends to leave you dead. Which is perfectly understandable when some victims want it so bad, they resort to rape. Lee isn't the biggest fan of religion, either.
May 4, 2022
weird
July 19, 2017
2020 reread: So it turns out I'd forgotten basically everything about this book. Even reading my review really didn't spark anything. After rereading the book, my thoughts are somewhat similar.
This book is still middle of the road for me. I do think the book is spacey enough - it's clearly set in the future and not on Earth. The point of the book isn't Mars though, it's Sabella and her relationships with others and herself. I don't think we need a bunch of spaceships or crazy tech to tell that story.
What I did want more of was vampire antics. This is definitely a non-traditional vampire story. Sabella does some blood-sucking and remembers more, but I wanted more of a sense of her out and about being a vampire. I wanted her to be out there kicking ass and taking names LOL.
I did still think the relationships in this story were a little fast and furious. But I got a better sense of Sabella's internal struggles and the brief backstory at the end didn't bother me.
Overall, I feel differently about some of the aspects of the story, but it's still a middling read for me. I think it's just not the type of vampire story that I'm looking for. But if you're into more of the internal struggles of someone who relies on blood-sucking and her issues with forming relationships, then maybe this is more your style. As usual, I still love Tanith's tone, so it's not a total bust.
~~~
This review and others posted over at my blog.
I loved Sabella as a character, but as a book, not so much.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a bad book, but more middle of the road than I was expecting. I mean, I basically expect to expire from joy after every Tanith book I read because her words are like a godsend to me, but obviously, that doesn’t happen.
I signed up for vampires on Mars and I did get one sexy (there’s quite a bit of sex), sultry, somewhat depressed vamp babe, but not much else. I did enjoy the way Tanith painted this future planet – just enough cool-sounding gadgets and pink sand to know it’s somewhere beyond our means, but not so much tech that it was taking away from the story. Yet, I wished it had been a bit more spacey? I mean, I can’t think of when I’ve read anything close to vamps in space – the vampire books I generally pick up (which probably isn’t all that often, now that I think about it) usually feel more like fantasy than sci-fi so I was intrigued.
But this book is more about Sabella’s relationships with those she preys on and her aunt’s last will and testament than anything necessarily space or future related. Sabella’s relationship with the man she meets en route to the funeral and the one that follows afterward were strange and often didn’t make sense. Oftentimes Tanith’s characters form a sort of instant attachment or relationship (as in, you pretty much know who is going to partner up), yet it usually ends up more developed by the time the two characters are fully together. In this book, by the end, I was really wondering why the hell Sabella ended up with the man she did and what kind of twisted relationship she was in.
There is an extra…extra-terrestrial plotline thrown in at the end, a sort of origin story for Sabella that links this book further with the sci-fi realm and I wish there had been more development of that earlier on. I was more interested in how vamps ended up on Mars or what happened to turn Sabella than which guy she was going to end up with.
I do always enjoy Tanith’s writing (her language?), even if I don’t enjoy the subject. You are probably thinking that doesn’t make sense. But her words always seem to cast a spell over me and her worlds are so vivid, so even if I’m not interested in all the characters or the plot, there’s still magic in her books for me. Overall, not a favorite of mine, but it’s something different if you’re looking for vampires in space and/or a lady who wears lots of black and has awesome jewelry.
This book is still middle of the road for me. I do think the book is spacey enough - it's clearly set in the future and not on Earth. The point of the book isn't Mars though, it's Sabella and her relationships with others and herself. I don't think we need a bunch of spaceships or crazy tech to tell that story.
What I did want more of was vampire antics. This is definitely a non-traditional vampire story. Sabella does some blood-sucking and remembers more, but I wanted more of a sense of her out and about being a vampire. I wanted her to be out there kicking ass and taking names LOL.
I did still think the relationships in this story were a little fast and furious. But I got a better sense of Sabella's internal struggles and the brief backstory at the end didn't bother me.
Overall, I feel differently about some of the aspects of the story, but it's still a middling read for me. I think it's just not the type of vampire story that I'm looking for. But if you're into more of the internal struggles of someone who relies on blood-sucking and her issues with forming relationships, then maybe this is more your style. As usual, I still love Tanith's tone, so it's not a total bust.
~~~
This review and others posted over at my blog.
I loved Sabella as a character, but as a book, not so much.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a bad book, but more middle of the road than I was expecting. I mean, I basically expect to expire from joy after every Tanith book I read because her words are like a godsend to me, but obviously, that doesn’t happen.
I signed up for vampires on Mars and I did get one sexy (there’s quite a bit of sex), sultry, somewhat depressed vamp babe, but not much else. I did enjoy the way Tanith painted this future planet – just enough cool-sounding gadgets and pink sand to know it’s somewhere beyond our means, but not so much tech that it was taking away from the story. Yet, I wished it had been a bit more spacey? I mean, I can’t think of when I’ve read anything close to vamps in space – the vampire books I generally pick up (which probably isn’t all that often, now that I think about it) usually feel more like fantasy than sci-fi so I was intrigued.
But this book is more about Sabella’s relationships with those she preys on and her aunt’s last will and testament than anything necessarily space or future related. Sabella’s relationship with the man she meets en route to the funeral and the one that follows afterward were strange and often didn’t make sense. Oftentimes Tanith’s characters form a sort of instant attachment or relationship (as in, you pretty much know who is going to partner up), yet it usually ends up more developed by the time the two characters are fully together. In this book, by the end, I was really wondering why the hell Sabella ended up with the man she did and what kind of twisted relationship she was in.
There is an extra…extra-terrestrial plotline thrown in at the end, a sort of origin story for Sabella that links this book further with the sci-fi realm and I wish there had been more development of that earlier on. I was more interested in how vamps ended up on Mars or what happened to turn Sabella than which guy she was going to end up with.
I do always enjoy Tanith’s writing (her language?), even if I don’t enjoy the subject. You are probably thinking that doesn’t make sense. But her words always seem to cast a spell over me and her worlds are so vivid, so even if I’m not interested in all the characters or the plot, there’s still magic in her books for me. Overall, not a favorite of mine, but it’s something different if you’re looking for vampires in space and/or a lady who wears lots of black and has awesome jewelry.
August 19, 2019
This was such an odd little book, but I did enjoy it. It’s sort of gothic science fiction? Nonetheless, I’m glad I decided to check this one out because spending time reading Tanith Lee is always a bit of a treat.
Where do I start? Let’s talk about the writing style, because for me that’s the best thing about this book. I haven’t read a lot of things by Tanith Lee, mostly short fiction, but she had a way of creating atmosphere that seems almost effortless, just by the way she tells the story and the information she imparts to us, the reader. When we’re introduced to Sabella we are shown how she’s not quite right, she’s something a bit dangerous, someone who stands out while also trying to live her life in isolation from others. She’s got History and Baggage and that is revealed over the course of the story but you feel the weight of all that she carries from the very start because Tanith Lee was an absolute master at this sort of thing. It does feel very gothic at times, and not just because the main character is a vampire, but just the mysteriousness and uncertainty that runs throughout the story. We’re kept wondering at times what exactly is happening and what is this journey that Sabella has found herself on.
As far as characters, well, I didn’t particularly love any of them. Sabella in particular seems hard to love, but I think that’s on purpose. Her character thinks she can’t be loved and so she makes herself unlovable to some extent. She keeps her distance, she can be rude, she can also be a bit of a monster when she wants to live up to how she sees herself. Honestly you can’t blame her for much of her behavior when you get to know her history a little better, but I still never fully empathized with her. We meet a few other characters along the way, most of whom are either mysterious strangers or total jerks. I have to say, I enjoyed the mysterious strangers a lot, even though I also wish they would have been, well, more upfront. Well, at least one of them was very upfront about why they were there, but there was still an air of mystery. Gotta keep that atmosphere rolling. 🙂
I’m not quite sure why this needed to be set on Mars, or Nova Mars, except that Lee did tie in Sabella’s existence into the history of the world later on in the story. She gives us some explanation, again, but leaves us in the dark in regards to other things. There’s not a ton of world-building in this story other than you get that it’s a newer (relatively) settlement on Mars built on top the remains of an older civilization and, other than it feeling slightly otherworldly, it could pass for any slightly futuristic setting. Still, I’m not knocking it. I very much enjoyed reading a vampire on Mars story if nothing else than for the novelty of it all.
Of course, there are a few things I found disturbing about this story, and I guess that also feeds back into the overall gothic atmosphere of things. As expected with a vampire story (maybe) there is some weird sex, blood, death. There’s also mention of rape. The way Sabella talks about sex in general and how she uses her body and lets other’s use it is especially disturbing. This story does go to some dark places.
The end was interesting and in some ways the perfect gothic science fiction fairy tale ending I normally would have wanted, if only I’d have cared more about what happened to the characters. Still, others that are able to connect a little better than me may enjoy this quite a lot. If nothing else, Lee’s writing was gorgeous as always and I was happy to immerse myself in her storytelling. 3/5 stars.
Where do I start? Let’s talk about the writing style, because for me that’s the best thing about this book. I haven’t read a lot of things by Tanith Lee, mostly short fiction, but she had a way of creating atmosphere that seems almost effortless, just by the way she tells the story and the information she imparts to us, the reader. When we’re introduced to Sabella we are shown how she’s not quite right, she’s something a bit dangerous, someone who stands out while also trying to live her life in isolation from others. She’s got History and Baggage and that is revealed over the course of the story but you feel the weight of all that she carries from the very start because Tanith Lee was an absolute master at this sort of thing. It does feel very gothic at times, and not just because the main character is a vampire, but just the mysteriousness and uncertainty that runs throughout the story. We’re kept wondering at times what exactly is happening and what is this journey that Sabella has found herself on.
As far as characters, well, I didn’t particularly love any of them. Sabella in particular seems hard to love, but I think that’s on purpose. Her character thinks she can’t be loved and so she makes herself unlovable to some extent. She keeps her distance, she can be rude, she can also be a bit of a monster when she wants to live up to how she sees herself. Honestly you can’t blame her for much of her behavior when you get to know her history a little better, but I still never fully empathized with her. We meet a few other characters along the way, most of whom are either mysterious strangers or total jerks. I have to say, I enjoyed the mysterious strangers a lot, even though I also wish they would have been, well, more upfront. Well, at least one of them was very upfront about why they were there, but there was still an air of mystery. Gotta keep that atmosphere rolling. 🙂
I’m not quite sure why this needed to be set on Mars, or Nova Mars, except that Lee did tie in Sabella’s existence into the history of the world later on in the story. She gives us some explanation, again, but leaves us in the dark in regards to other things. There’s not a ton of world-building in this story other than you get that it’s a newer (relatively) settlement on Mars built on top the remains of an older civilization and, other than it feeling slightly otherworldly, it could pass for any slightly futuristic setting. Still, I’m not knocking it. I very much enjoyed reading a vampire on Mars story if nothing else than for the novelty of it all.
Of course, there are a few things I found disturbing about this story, and I guess that also feeds back into the overall gothic atmosphere of things. As expected with a vampire story (maybe) there is some weird sex, blood, death. There’s also mention of rape. The way Sabella talks about sex in general and how she uses her body and lets other’s use it is especially disturbing. This story does go to some dark places.
The end was interesting and in some ways the perfect gothic science fiction fairy tale ending I normally would have wanted, if only I’d have cared more about what happened to the characters. Still, others that are able to connect a little better than me may enjoy this quite a lot. If nothing else, Lee’s writing was gorgeous as always and I was happy to immerse myself in her storytelling. 3/5 stars.
August 6, 2016
This is relatively early Tanith Lee, meaning she still hasn't quite figured out when description is necessary and when it isn't, and where cities are always being set on fire by a gorgeous red sunset and every building and person drowns in this beautiful deep red suffusing the landscape every other chapter.
But still.
I liked that this story was a cross between Sci-Fi and a vampire story, I didn't predict the ending but it wasn't a surprise to me. I appreciate the amount of world-building, though I finished this mini-novel wanting a little more. I think the story was saved from being a wreck by the unusual circumstance and premise that the novel started out with, which required significant worldbuilding and (one would hope) some kind of explanation in the end. This unfortunately, towards the end of the novel, resulted in a rather heavy-handed exposition, .
But still.
I liked that this story was a cross between Sci-Fi and a vampire story, I didn't predict the ending but it wasn't a surprise to me. I appreciate the amount of world-building, though I finished this mini-novel wanting a little more. I think the story was saved from being a wreck by the unusual circumstance and premise that the novel started out with, which required significant worldbuilding and (one would hope) some kind of explanation in the end. This unfortunately, towards the end of the novel, resulted in a rather heavy-handed exposition, .
March 18, 2016
When I was a teenager, one of my hobbies was collecting secondhand paperback editions of Tanith Lee novels from bookshops. This is more involved than you'd think, since she wrote well over 70 novels in total (I had less than 40 by the time I stopped looking actively). I feel like nowadays she's all but forgotten as an author unless you're really into classic SF/F – and it's so undeserved! I know very few authors who write with quite the same intensity of mood and atmosphere as her. The plot here is so simple it's summed up as "vampire girl on Mars", but what an inadequate way to describe Sabella, a woman who thinks of herself as a monster but can't make herself stop, who cowers in the shadows from the red glare of the sun and hears the wolves howling in the hills. It's prose that must be read to be felt.
February 16, 2013
Love, passion, vampires, strog women, science fiction, all together for a bigger purpose; introduces us to a very new point of view of people's relationships in the future. Written in 80's, the author takes us to a ride in a new plant where people share interests between future and past... and look forward to meet the reality into the modern life.
September 8, 2020
Oh Tanith, my gothic princess. You set the standard for me and even the older books are still wonderful. I had missed reading Sabella for some reason and was glad to come across this little gem of a reprint. Vampires on Mars! Yes! Sabella is not a terribly sympathetic character, but she is interesting and the ending was very satisfying.
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