In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.
Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down.
Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.
But Gévaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war.
The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan is absorbing and compelling, with a twist on magic, demons and a re-invented history both dark and deep, full of secrets and intrigues. The blend of historical and fiction, truth versus fantastical is what makes the story so incredibly compelling. The character of Sebastian is both charming and absorbing, a character that is both likable but with dark power. The story takes the idea of the French revolution and puts a new spin on the origins.
The relationship between Sebastian and Antoine is haunting and lovely, a story that delves into the machinations of the Almighty, the Church and how power can twist and warp those who wield it, both mundane and mystical. I love the twists of fates that the characters endure and the way the author swept the deeply personal together with the history of the time along with a unique view of magic.
If you like stories that blend historical and fiction, magic and realism, this story is for you. The relationships are haunting, the power a hunger and the story deeply absorbing and compelling. I really would love more of Sebastian and his life.
Rating: 5 out of 5 beasts
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