Review by Tamisha25 -- The Hand Bringer

[Tamisha25]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Hand Bringer" by Christopher J. Penington.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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The Hand Bringer is a fantasy novel centered around a governmental agency, named ASA, Apocalypse Suppression Administration. ASA has to find the vaccine against vampirism and try to stop the vampire army from destroying the human race.

Peter Hadrian and Luke McElroy, two law officers in Dallas have to go back in time to kill Vlad Dracula and save the world. They are helped by Bat, a prisoner that signed a risky contract with the ASA in order to be released and doctor Kolemis. Both, Bat and Kolemis are not what they seem to be in the beginning of the story. Before Peter leaves, Boriana, an ancient vampire gives him a rather confusing object, something like a dagger, that will help him in his mission.

Peter’s mother was a Romanian woman from Transylvania, that fact gave him partially the knowledge that he needed on his journey(language, religion and beliefs, customs). When he goes back in time to medieval Romania, dealing with the people seemed to be a challenge. In fact, when he lies, he has to make it plausible enough for their current mentality, taking into consideration their religious and superstitious culture. Otherwise he would have been impaled, on numerous occasions he came so close to death. That method of executing the enemies, was and still is, difficult to imagine. There is also a scene, where the author, Christopher J. Penington gives us a very good description of the horrible method.
I would not recommend the book for those sensible or offended by violent scenes.

Peter’s crew encountered Sergumir who helped them meet Count Dracula, who was still human at that time. Peter offended Adorian, a German from the court of Mihail cel Bun that served Dracula, by sparing the life of a Turk, Musa Hussad. In order to clear his name and to gain the trust of the count he will fight Adorian in a duel after his wounds would heal. Kolemis remains at Dracula’s side, while Peter, Luke and Bat leave for Castel Fagaras, where Peter will duel with Adorian. To his surprise, Peter finds Boriana in the past as well. There he wins the battle with Adorian, but at the same time all hell brakes loose, when Mihail and Adorian under Dracula’s orders find Deycheaba, the source of vampirism. Finding her meant for Peter a chance to exterminate vampires for good.

All in all we see Peter, Petru(the Romanian name) guided by Ioan the Blind (directly) and God (indirectly) in his mission. He puts his whole faith in the signs God shows him. But this faith was not there when he started this mission. Our protagonist acquires and accepts the Romanians total belief in God. It was a long and tedious process that our main character had to go through, otherwise he would not have prevailed in his battle with evil. Peter lived among good and religious people that supported him. Being exposed to the strong belief of these people helped him build this faith.

While some reviewers or readers have stated that the author did not mention in the book why Peter was called The Hand Bringer. There are a lot of hints and probably being so captivated by the action readers usually miss it. I don’t want to be a spoiler, so I will just mention the page and a small hint, in order to make it crystal clear(page 188, Deycheaba).

The Romanian culture was impressively described by Christopher J Penington. The author had 3 Romanian friends that helped him have a good general view and a better understanding of their religion and silly superstitions. The book was an unexpected twist to the legend of Count Dracula.

I rate The Hand Bringer 4 out of 4 stars mainly because the focus changes from Vlad’s legend to the legend of Deycheaba, while the reader sees the story from Peters point of view. It’s a unique take on the origin of vampirism and its evolution in time. There are a few errors, the book has been professionally edited. What I disliked most was that the Romanians made peace with the Turks, through history we learned that they had never been friendly with each another.

I recommend this book to the fans of: the legend of Count Dracula, the history of the Romanians and their battles with the Turks, the Romanian culture, the origin of vampirism and vampires being seen as villains.

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The Hand Bringer
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[MustaHarleen]

This is an amazing book written in great grammar. I love the way the characters are developed. Thanks for a wonderful review.