During the Great War, she married an American who was then killed. The character from whose point-of-view almost every scene is told is Norah Blackstone, a 26-year-old Englishwoman who has only just come to Los Angeles. Instead she seamlessly inserts details that the narrator observes or considers at a given moment and that are relevant to her situation right then. A lot of information about Hollywood’s early history and the making of silent movies is included yet Barbara Hambly never begins to bore with lengthy descriptions. Everything is described in a highly evocative, sensual manner so that as a reader, you can see the scenery clearly in your inner eye, hear the sounds, and almost smell the smells. The novel is set among the film-makers in 1923 Los Angeles. Written long before the present craze for fantasy and paranormal novels, in addition to being very well-written, this book has the great advantage of being fresh and original. I still remembered what was about to happen, and could properly appreciate details in the descriptions and the development of the characters that I previously had passed over. On rereading, I found new details to savor, ones that I had overlooked before because I had been too caught up in the excitement of the plot. On rereading Barbara Hambly’s Bride of the Rat God for the purpose of writing this review, I was surprised once more by what a truly superb novel it is.
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