Review by Dragonwings948 -- The Hand Bringer

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

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2 out of 4 stars

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The Hand Bringer by Christopher J. Penington is an intense vampire thriller that combines classic vampire myths and modern science fiction. The story revolves around Peter Hadrian, a police officer of Romanian descent who gets bitten by a vampire. After being experimented on by a secret government organization Peter not only recovers from the bite and is made superhuman, but he also becomes the cure for the vampire plague. He and four others are sent back in time to the Middle Ages to pay a visit to the famous Dracula and wipe out the vampires before they run rampant. However, everyone involved in the mission is not what they seem, and everything becomes much more complicated as Peter falls in love and tries to outwit opponents while trying to destroy the threat of the vampires.

As a lover of both fantasy and science fiction, I liked this idea of blending the two genres in a unique way. However, this also made me more critical of the fact that the science fiction elements were not explained very well. Time travel and portals just happened to be involved and there was very little to tell how the technology was developed and kept secret. The rules of time travel in this book’s universe were also unclear. While the science fiction elements of the book fell short, I did appreciate that the history of the vampire myths in Romania and the time period of the Middle Ages seemed to be well-researched.

The basic plot of The Hand Bringer was pretty simple, but at many times it was drawn out through detailed descriptions of various missions and battles that had questionable relevance to the whole story. Many times I found myself wondering when we were going to get back to the main plot. There were wonderfully complex moments in the plot, but unfortunately most of the time they were laid out in a confusing manner, which then forced long exposition segments. These sections were also rather tedious and ended up detracting from the story rather than adding to it.

The exposition issue contributed to another recurring problem in the book: sacrificing the essence of a character so that they could say and do things that helped move the plot forward. The result was that after spending almost 400 pages with the main characters I felt like I hardly knew them. There was an authentic dimension that was lacking in all of them, especially the two main women in the book, who seemed to be there only to serve as objects of pursuit and confusion for the men.

I would recommend this book to people who enjoy stories about vampires, especially their origins. While the book was entertaining at parts, I felt that it lacked real depth overall. The characters did not interest me, and the plot, while interesting, was lacking in the way it was presented. I also found many editing errors throughout the book. Therefore, I rate this book two out of four stars. It was an okay read, but I wouldn’t pick it up again.

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The Hand Bringer
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