From Publishers Weekly
Vampires and snipers and lust, oh my! Bennett, who stars as La Croix, vampire patriarch of TV's Forever Knight, and Elrod, author of Ace's Vampire Files series, cut their collaborative teeth on this tale of Arthurian vampires who fight modern terrorism. Richard d'Orleans, tournament champion and third son of a noble Norman family, is recruited into full-fanged vampirehood by the seductive Lady Sabra. After an initiation that perversely mixes sex and blood, Richard gets a new job opportunity as bodyguard to the legendary King Arthur. Bennett and Elrod then blithely skip a millennium or so, as Richard must save Canada's prime minister from a 1996 IRA assassination. In his spare time (while avoiding daylight), he must also find the Holy Grail, in order to heal Lady Sabra from the fatal beastliness inherent to even these comparatively ethical vampires. In their own quest to leave no loathsome stone unturned and no bodily fluids unsluiced, the authors have produced a campy parody of dark fantasy. This wallow in bloodsucking, mind-bending, flesh-rending and incest, told in fulsome, fluorescent prose, depicts such acts as not only acceptable and entertaining but as downright alluring. Perhaps it's an acquired taste? Author tour. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In Gaul at the dawn of the Middle Ages, Lord Richard was his family's fighting man, its invincible champion--until some force twisted his blade from his hand. And then he met the Lady Ardis, who soothed his wounds, healed his pride--and turned him into a vampire under her tutelage. His new job: Keeper of the King of England. True to Ardis's wishes, the English king was keeping civilization alive. Richard's object in unlife: keep the king alive at all costs. But that was then--now it's the 1990s and Richard's job isn't over. HC: Baen.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Vampires and snipers and lust, oh my! Bennett, who stars as La Croix, vampire patriarch of TV's Forever Knight, and Elrod, author of Ace's Vampire Files series, cut their collaborative teeth on this tale of Arthurian vampires who fight modern terrorism. Richard d'Orleans, tournament champion and third son of a noble Norman family, is recruited into full-fanged vampirehood by the seductive Lady Sabra. After an initiation that perversely mixes sex and blood, Richard gets a new job opportunity as bodyguard to the legendary King Arthur. Bennett and Elrod then blithely skip a millennium or so, as Richard must save Canada's prime minister from a 1996 IRA assassination. In his spare time (while avoiding daylight), he must also find the Holy Grail, in order to heal Lady Sabra from the fatal beastliness inherent to even these comparatively ethical vampires. In their own quest to leave no loathsome stone unturned and no bodily fluids unsluiced, the authors have produced a campy parody of dark fantasy. This wallow in bloodsucking, mind-bending, flesh-rending and incest, told in fulsome, fluorescent prose, depicts such acts as not only acceptable and entertaining but as downright alluring. Perhaps it's an acquired taste? Author tour. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

As in the audio adaptation of Butcher's first Dresden Files novel, Storm Front, Marsters (who played Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) slips easily into the role of down-on-his-luck wizard Harry Dresden. Marsters's self-deprecating tone fits the character perfectly; he reads with a dry, ironic humor that doesn't mask Harry's genuine concern for the lives of innocents. Marsters also displays a remarkable skill for lending even the strangest characters and creatures voices-including gentleman gangster Johnny Marconi, his henchmen, a sexy female werewolf and Bob, the British-accented talking skull. In this outing, Harry is again out of cash, and police detective Karrin Murphy, who's still angry at him over the events of the first book, isn't inclined to throw work his way. But soon a series of mysterious, violent murders sends her to Harry for help. Are the killings the work of a local motorcycle gang? Or a werewolf-and if so, which werewolf? Mac Finn, the werewolf environmentalist? The group of idealistic college kids who voluntarily become werewolves by night? Or the trigger-happy group of FBI agents turned werewolf vigilantes? Though the price of this audio package may put off some listeners, Marsters's lively telling makes it worth every penny. Based on the Roc paperback. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

The offbeat Dresden Files is an expanding series of detective novels about Harry Dresden, a wizard with a consulting practice in modern-day Chicago. Harry's profession offers him little money, lots of mockery, the suspicion of his magical colleagues, plenty of danger, and not much income. It offers readers some unconventional detective work, whimsy, humor, and suspense. Here Dresden discovers that mobsters have enlisted occult forces for nefarious purposes. The casting of James Marsters of TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" to narrate indicates who the intended audience is. Marsters does a nice, low-key job with the first-person narrative, flagging slightly at the home stretch (as does the text), but perking up for the finish. He handles the male and female, and the human and para-human, characters with equal aplomb, even managing some moving pathos out of unpromising moments. Y.R. (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Harriet J. Klausner

"...a unique, very special experience...for lovers of the supernatural, fantasy, horror, and police procedural....A refreshingly creative vampire novel like this one comes along once in an immortal's lifetime...this particular one is very special, a keeper above keepers." -- The Midwest Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

A vampire Lancelot battles to save Canada's prime minister from a vampire assassin: The publisher's Starline imprint features novels by actors (Bennett appears in the series Forever Knight) and collaborators. Back in post-Roman Britain, warrior Richard d'Orleans is smitten, then bitten by the beautiful Sabra, vampire priestess of the Goddess, and becomes the Lancelot of legend. Now, as Toronto security consultant Richard Dun, he's called in by the police to thwart the planned assassination of the prime minister by an IRA-paid hit man. He keeps running into striking but suspicious Irishwoman Sharon Geary—is she IRA?—and gradually learns that the hit man, code-named Charon, is Professor Neal Rivers—another vampire! Further complications ensue when Sabra admits that she's turning into a monster and can be saved only by the healing powers of the Holy Grail, hidden at Glastonbury hundreds of years ago by Sabra herself.

Moves at a fair pace, with lots of action and gore and an agreeable distaff lead; pity about the dim-witted hero, who invariably does something stupid at the crucial moment.