Immortal Pleasures by V Castro

I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price – £14.99 paperback £5.99 Kindle eBook

Hundreds of years ago, she was known as La Malinche: a Nahua woman who translated for the conquistador Cortés. In the centuries since, her name has gone down in infamy as a traitor. But no one ever found out what happened to La Malinche after Cortés destroyed her people.

In the ashes of the empire, she was reborn as Malinalli, an immortal vampire. And she has become an avenger of conquered peoples, traveling the world to reclaim their stolen artifacts and return them to their homelands.

But she has also been in search of something more, for this ancient vampire still has deeply human longings for pleasure and for love.

When she arrives in Dublin in search of a pair of Aztec skulls--artifacts intimately connected to her own dark history--she finds something else: two men who satisfy her cravings in very different ways.

For the first time she meets a mortal man--a horror novelist--who is not repelled by her strange condition but attracted by it. But there is also another man, an immortal like herself, who shares the darkness in her heart.

Now Malinalli is on the most perilous adventure of all: a journey into her own desires.

Vampires tend to have the edge on being scary and sexy from Dracula, Angel and Lestat there has been a lot of charismatic pretty people with fangs owning the night. Now in V Castro’s erotic horror tale Immortal Pleasure we have a fascinating lead character who has lived 500 years and crossed continents but it’s a tale with so much packed into it I’m slightly feeling it would have worked better as two books.

Malinalli has arrived in Island for a break before she resumes a search for ancient Aztec skulls – objects that as well of great historical significance have had a personal connection to her. Long ago she lived in the time the Americas were conquered by Cortez and the Spanish Conquistadors. Her life was brutal passed from man to man as an object of desire and forced to work as a translator for Cortez. She however was turned into a vampire as a last act of resistance and has since spent centuries trying to find her own way of living. A chance encounter with a young attractive horror writer sparks emotions Malinalli thought could never have been possible for her. However, lurking in the background is another much more violent vampire – Cortez himself.

Now I’ve been a fan of V Castro for several books now. They’re a skilled horror writer who uses history and explores attitudes to women in interesting ways. I had not quite realised this was a more erotic horror so just be prepared that this particularly in the first half has several strong, explicit and sensual sex scenes. It is not really my kind of thing to read but it is a key part of the wider story. Malinalli is despite living for 500 years at a crossroads and finding Colin a young Irish horror writer who makes her finally find a connection. Sparks fly and for the first time we see Malinalli consider – can she actually have a life of her own?

In many ways this feels like two books rather than one. The first half focuses on Malinalli and Colin with it all in Malinalli’s distinctive voice. She’s smart, self-effacing, sensual and has a sense of humour but also provides a sense of loneliness eating away at her. In regular flashbacks we see her when she was alive and the terrible life she had being a slave for Cortes and whichever noble she was passed to – including bearing children for. We can see through this why she may have steered clear of relationships. The first half is primarily about this internal conflict being finally beaten.

The second half then really expands the concept that also as a vampire is Cortez himself and also we meet the Slave Trader John Mann. So while Malinalli has dedicated her vampiric life to rescuing stolen artefacts we have these two profiting still from loot centuries later. Malinalli, Colin and the really interesting vampire bounty hunter Alexander J (and his origin story is rather huge! Nah not spoiling that) get into a more regular conflict as each plan to stop the other.

All of this is interesting, but the novel feels lopsided neither storyline quite feels allowed to breath and the ideas and histories of these characters feel a little rushed. Colin arrives as a potential amazing love interest but then Malinelli loses interest. It feels a little undercutting he first half’s passion and while great that a character is not falling too much into insta-love and matched up for un-life this felt underexplored as her first proper relationship in a long time. There is a whole world of vampires, secret histories and more to explore that really this could be a very long-running series of magic, erotic encounters, and vampires – there is a long history in the genre of this so as a standalone it feels a little incomplete.

I continue to look forward to V Castro’s stories – this proves they will always surprise where they go next. I think reads who joy what I think some call ‘spice’ will find this quite warming and for those of more standard horror there is still quite a lot to enjoy. Ideally this world and character could be explored again but I think one readers will have to make a judgement call how much these mixed elements will appeal.