Review by Ub_10 -- The Hand Bringer

[Urbashi Basu]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Hand Bringer by Christopher J. Penington ought to come with a statutory warning: readers are likely to forgo natural needs of food and water while trying to inhale the book. A pinch of science fiction, a dash of romance, and a little good stir of time travel has made this book a wonderful concoction to whizz past the time. It will warm the cockles of your heart as you follow the protagonists through their lives and afterlives.



To take up the theme of vampirism with Dracula as one of the characters post Bram Stoker's novel requires intrepidity.The author Penington and the hero Peter Hadrian he creates, possess an ample amount of this characteristic. The chronicle follows half-Romanian Peter and his associate of angels Luke and Matthew or 'Bat' as he is initially called, through time, to tackle the curse of vampirism. For Peter, this journey is a deal to try to save his son Stephen, and ends up being his journey through time to his love Boriana. Readers who enjoy fantasy, medieval history, and vampire stories will like this and crave for more by the author. The battle scenes are gory, and instances of mildly profane language makes it unsuitable for readers not comfortable with such issues.



Elementally the story is about the eternal conflict between good and evil, and the human free-will to choose sides with consequences thereof. The motifs of loyalty, treachery, bravery, faith and the cost of war on the common man and women are skilfully woven in the tale. The story has a few erotic scenes and minor instances of profane language but it blends with the narrative and nothing seems forced. Vampirism is a disease caused by parasitic 'seenjites' and Romania in the 14th century seems to be the epicentre of spread. If you are wandering about the success of Peter's mission back to time to eradicate it or his effort to save his son put your nose into the book and you won't regret it.



The things I loved about this story are the characters and the pace of events. The protagonist Peter is crafted along the lines of heroes of epic poems. An aura of melancholy surrounds this genius man who has lost his only child, five years old Stephen. Peter is extremely fit, but depressed cop, who is recruited to the secret 'Apocalypse suppression Association' post his encounter with a vampire. He is inoculated against vampirism by the anti-hero Dr. Kolemis and then journeys through time to medieval Romania, showing his prowess to fight for greater good. Of the female characters Elizabeth and Boriana, Boriana is the driving force making the story come to the full circle and she is layered with complexity and contradictions as well. The love of Peter and Boriana literally stands the 'tests of Time'. The other interesting concept is the absence of absoluteness; everything is relative. Dealing with unrelated evil is relatively easy but how to deal with it if you are attached to it. Peter goes to remove vampirism, yet he leaves behind Boriana and Elizabeth alive while killing a thousand others. I am rating this book 3 out of 4 for a very gripping, well rounded story with wonderful characters. The book is professionally edited.



Now, I told you that this book was 'unputdownable'. So, why did I rate it 3 out of 4? Well the title is misleading because throughout the story it is unexplained why Peter is called 'the Hand Bringer'. The continuous battle scenes building to the climax tend to be a bit dragging towards the end. The other grievance I have is the author does not reveal how 'seenjites' actually came into being and here the story steps away from science leaning too much on religion. Building up on that might make it more interesting.

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The Hand Bringer
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