The Fear of Moncroix

Vampire crime mystery in a well realised world. The Fear of Moncroix is a fascinating take on economy in world building. Everything here is here for a purpose and you end up with an incredibly strong sense of place, yet the story is remarkably short and self contained. We are introduced at the start to a kind of secret society dedicated to maintaining the balance between the different races/factions in Moncroix. Something goes horribly wrong leaving the Vampires with a dominant position. The bulk of the book is looking at unpacking what actually happened - what hidden conspiracy is at the heart of the failure.

This mystery setting in a vampire court with the inherent darkness of such creatures well realised gives a wonderful murky morality to everything going on. I love the unsuspected farming of humans as a concept, with people from different areas treated as different vintages like in wine... The rules and structure of the vampire court is cleverly defined. The pettiness that entails is well brought in to the story as well. The main issue I had was the way Davion infiltrated the court - somewhat contrived that he manages to rise to such a high position when apparently entering at a moment of great betrayal, and I was never quite able to let that go.

A fun shorter novel that works as a great palate cleanser between the bulkier fantasy epics out there. Enough grit and darkness to get your teeth into as well!